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The Canadian Foundation for Climate and
Atmospheric Sciences funded
the international research
project "The Pingualuit Crater Lake Project" to investigate the unique
climate record of this impact crater lake which might cover several
interglacials. The project started with a presentation of the
planned project to the community in Kangiqsujuaq (see
photos).
The project was well received
and the fieldwork in May 2007 will be supported by the community.
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| Contact us Project description Fieldwork in May 2007 | |
| Impressions
from the
public hearing in Kangiqsujuaq
in May 2006 |
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 We thank you for your hospitality and we are looking forward to coming back in May 2007 |
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Project
description Earth's
climate is changing rapidly, with the global temperature now
rising at a rate unprecedented in modern history. These climate changes
are
being experienced particularly intensively in the Predictions of
the extent and
impact of future climate change depend on our ability to reliably model
past
climatic regimes. Of particular significance is determining when,
where, and
how rapidly climate has varied during the Pleistocene and Holocene,
when
boundary conditions were similar to today. The need for high-resolution
paleo-records
is especially pressing for high latitude regions given that they are
now
subject to increasing physical perturbation caused by anthropogenic
changes in
the Earth’s atmosphere in combination with cyclic forcing. Until now
the only terrestrial
climate record of the arctic which covers
several interglacials is the impact crater
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| Fieldwork May 2007 In
May 2007 an international group of researchers took about 8.5 m of fine grained
sediments of the Crater Lake under the leadership of Reinhard
Pienitz
from the Centre d'études
nordiques at the Université
Laval. An UWITEC corer was used with the
field assistance of Richard Niederreiter from Austria.
We arrived in Kangiqsujuaq (Wakeham Bay) in the afternoon of May 5. After we went to the Coop store to get some supplies we had the Sunday off to get acclimatized to the winterly conditions. Originally it was planned that our gear and ourselves would be transported by helicopter to the cabins. However, we had to change plans as the only available helicopter needed repairs. After 5 hours of snowmobile ride under the guidance of Yaaka Yaaka we arrived at the newly build cabins. |
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 Yaaka Yaaka explains the route |
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The first three days were spent
by schlepping the equipment to the deepest part of the lake, making a
1 square meter hole for the ground plate through the 1.70 m thick ice,
setting up
the tripod and placing the ground plate.
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 Arrival at our cabin |
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 1 square meter ice hole for the ground plate |
 Innukshuk made out of ice cubes |
An Innukshuk was built with the
recovered ice cubes. The
mayoress of Wakeham Bay, Mary
Pirlutuut, said she had never seen blue ice before.
The first encouraging results were the investigation with a Knudson echosounder by Guillaume St-Onge. The lake basin holds over one hundred meters of laminated fine grained sediments. The same day we took short cores. Over the next 6 days we recovered 8.5 m of sediment cores under harshest conditions. Every day we had snowstorm and came "home" after 10 pm. This May was unusually cold after a mild April. Although the weather conditions were at the limit, a warmer temperature would not have allowed us to transport our gear to the crater by snowmobiles. We had to thaw every screw and every stiff rope with hot water. Uttermost precautions were made because the lake water is exceptionally clear. It is in the extreme protection zone of the Pingualuit National Park, the first northern National Park, which will open in September 2007. Besides sediment cores, water samples and fishes were taken and measurements of water transparency with a PUV-500 instrument were done. Fish genetics will be investigated to help understanding when the lake got isolated. In addition, their ear bones are an archive for environmental change that will be investigated by Derek Muir from Enviroment Canada. |
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 Knudson echosounder |
 Signal of Knudson |
 Tripod with funnel which guided the corer |
 Holocene sediments |
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We'd like to thank Robert
Fréchette, director
of the Parc National des Pingualuit, for providing the cabin
and the indispensable help of the park
employees; Nathalie
Girard from the Kativik
Regional Government, who is responsible for the education and
conservation of the park; Mary
Pirlutuut, mayoress and
regional councillor from
Kangiqsujuaq;
Bill Doidge, Director Nunavik Research Centre, Kuujjuaq; Yaaka Yaaka,
proprietor
of Yaaka Yaaka Manufacturing, for developing the pulley system to haul
down the gear from the crater rim to the crater lake and for general
help and guidance; Peter Kiatainaq, Markusie Qisiiq and Tivi Alaku for
help in the field and lots of thanks for all other park employees for
driving us to the crater and back.
We thank the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences for financial support. Further we like to thank the Ministère du Développement durable, de l’Environnement et des Parcs du Québec for their support. |
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 Veli-Pekka Salonen, Richard Niederreiter, Guillaume St-Onge |
 Almost at home |
The Fieldwork Team
 From left top:
Not on the
picture:
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| Contact: |
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| Reinhard Pienitz Principal Investigator Laboratoire de Paléolimnologie-Paléoécologie Département de Géographie & Centre d'études nordiques Pavillon Abitibi-Price, room 1232 Université Laval Québec, Québec CANADA, G1K 7P4 Phone: 418-656-2131 ext. 7006 FAX: 418-656-2978 Email: reinhard.pienitz@cen.ulaval.ca http://www.cen.ulaval.ca/paleo/membres/people.html |
Sonja Hausmann Scientific Project Manager University of Arkansas Phone: 479-575-3159 |
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