Climate change, permafrost decline and its hydrological impact in Northern Québec

The project aims at monitoring and modeling of permafrost decline, changes in the soil thermal regime and its hydrological response. Studies will be focused on the Sheldrake River watershed, Northern Québec. Permafrost decline is measured by means of remote sensing methods, measuring topographic deformation using differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (D-InSAR). Degradation of permafrost and changes in the inter-annual spatiotemporal patterns of frozen ground is expected to have a major impact on the seasonal flow regime by increasing groundwater recharge and also winter runoff. Hydrological impact in the subarctic region will be analyzed and interpreted by using a hydrological model coupled with a heat transport module.