Meteorology and soil temperatures, Hot Weather Creek, Ellesmere Island, NWT, Canada, Version 1

The High Arctic Integrated Research and Monitoring Area (IRMA) of the GSC was established on Fosheim Peninsula to support interdisciplinary studies related to environmental change. Research carried out between 1989 and 1994, had as primary objective to determine relationships between geomorphic processes and climate in order to help predict the potential geologic impact of global change. Establishment of detailed paleoclimatic records for this region has also been considered essential to provide a context for ongoing climate change.

Paleoecological studies (records of peat cores, lakes cores, ice cores, sea cores and archeological records) in concert with other methodologies have been used to outline climatic variability (short, middle or long-term variabilities) and are a primary research component in the region. A major compilation of 20 papers has been produced (see Garneau in press) involving 34 participants from government, universities and industry.

The synthesis includes the results from studies of modern conditions (climate, flora and fauna), quaternary geology and glacial history, paleoenvironmental records (i.e. ice cores, ocean, lakes, peat, archeological sites), permafrost dynamics and hydrologic systems. Nine appendices complete the document including a comprehensive bibliography and various data series (climate, vegetation, insects, geophysics, plant and arthropod macrofossils and radiocarbon dates) to provide background forfuture projects in the area.

These data are on the CAPS Version 1.0 CD-ROM, and were identified for inclusion through the efforts of Kathy Young, Ph.D. graduate of Department of Geography, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.