The Nunavik Lake Ice Service S. Hughes 1, A. Lewis 2, O. Tsui 1, J. Suwala 1, A. Syed 1, A. Dean 1, T. Boivin 1, V. Blazevic 3 1 Hatfield Consultants, Suite Bellevue Avenue West Vancouver, British Columbia 2 Makivik Corporation, Nunavik Research Centre, C.P. 179 Kuujjuaq, Quebec 3 Strata360, 3745 rue St. Jacques Ouest, Suite 220, Montreal, Quebec

Nunavik Sub-arctic / arctic territory in northern Quebec Majority of land is tundra and taiga forest 10,000 inhabitants of mostly Inuit descent Bounded by the 55 th parallel to the south, Quebec / Labrador border to the East, Hudson Bay to the West, Hudson Strait to the north Over 660,000 km 2 Over 19,000 coastal islands

Background Lake ice monitoring service under PolarView Lake ice service provides regular updated information on ice conditions for specific regional lakes Two Inuit communities who rely heavily on Arctic char for subsistence Polarview Services include sea ice monitoring and forecasting, iceberg monitoring, ice edge monitoring, ice drift trajectories, river ice monitoring, lake ice monitoring, glacier monitoring, and snow monitoring Population of Kangirsuk is around 400, and population of Kangiqsualujjuaq is approximately 650

Goals Better management of Arctic char resources Update the current TEK data Introduce the benefits of EO data –Research staff & communities Understand impacts of climate change on char overwintering habitat Arctic char, Tasikallak

TEK Traditional Ecological Knowledge Policy in Canada Longer historical record than science Differ in observational intensity and geographic coverage May lead to separate conclusions TEK has been defined as the knowledge claims of persons who have a lifetime of observation and experience of a particular environment, and as a result function effectively in that environment, but are untutored in the conventional scientific paradigm (Usher, 2000)

TEK Collection Historical TEK collection through an interview process Current use of internet using an online data collection system The Northern Village Data Collection System (NVDCS) was designed and developed by the Makivik Corporation It allows users to draw points, lines and polygons via an online map. After drawing is complete, an attribute form is filled in All of the data is submitted to the server, verified, and added to the over 86,000 spatial records that already exist in the TEK database

Sites 100 km X 100 km Important areas within the zones were identified by TEK and interviews with community representatives –Overwintering areas –Historical numbers of char –Changes have been noticed –Fish die-offs, freezing to the bottom The northern village of Kangirsuk

Technology Ice conditions obtained from several data sources: –RADARSAT-1 Imagery –Envisat ASAR –Recorded and real-time weather conditions –Real-time ice profile data –Ground observations and TEK Satellite Linked HOBO weather station, Payne River

Data Ice classification based on RADARSAT-1 imagery –50 X 50 km, 8m res. Data gaps filled with Envisat ASAR imagery –100 X 100 km, 30 m res. –Too course Some RADARSAT-1 images bumped Tasikallak, December 6, 2006

Data HOBO weather stations –Temp, RH, Wind, Solar Shallow water ice profiler (SWIP) –Phases (bursts & profiles) –Ice thickness (post process) Data collection from Hunters –Ice & snow thickness Monitoring equipment is configured to an Iridium satellite transceiver The Iridium satellite constellation consists of 66 low-earth orbiting (LEO), cross-linked satellites operating as a fully meshed network and supported by multiple in-orbit spares. It is the largest commercial satellite constellation in the world SWIP

Methods Standard image processing steps –Speckle filter –Calibrate –Georeference Manual interpretation 2006 December 01 (F1 Asc. 22:00:55) / -3.6 o C Blowing Snow ThumbnailStatusDescription % Area Frozen Observation Initial Freeze-up Ice beginning to form on lake surface however does not cover entire lake 25% - 50% South km/h. Prior to previous acquisition: 7 day period of < 0 celsius. The Lake Ice Service provides approximate dates of freeze-up and break-up as CIS provides on the state of the Canadian Cryosphere (SOCC) website ce_current_e.cfm ce_current_e.cfm MANICE Manual (CIS) used to obtain correct terminology and colours for ice interpretation Ice classifications: Open water, initial freeze-up, completely frozen, initial breakup

Product Delivery Information delivery to local Inuit communities and hunters via an easy to use web-portal Standard display of contextual information – climate data, ice thickness, etc. Multi-year display of ice conditions Users can input comments and/or observations Multi-language Lake Ice Service The Lake Ice Service is a part of a larger portal called the “Nunavik Project Portal” where we are attempting to identify all research throughout Nunavik in hopes of informing the communities more efficiently about the work being done in their traditional territory

Enhancements Integration of EO and TEK Geographic expansion Sustainable funding Training of hunters to collect additional samples TEK collection using the NDVCS Geographic expansion to the Nephijee system We currently stock char from our hatchery Multi-year fish counts of fish moving into the system from Ungava Bay Fish tagging (U Waterloo) Use a split beam sonar unit to “count” or monitor fish movement through key areas

For further information contact: Adam Lewis, Makivik Corporation, Thomas Boivin, Hatfield Consultants,