These ice caps vary in size and sensitivity to change, and there are researchers working to understand these changes, but the same recent climate has had an important impact on our research at Cape Bounty. In particular, and the widespread permafrost disturbance that we observed occurred in late July 2007 and occurred at a time when temperatures were greater than 20degC on some days.
One of the most visible forms of permafrost disturbance at Cape Bounty are slope failures called active layer detachments, or ALD for short. These slides can be very large, up to 600 m long and 200 m wide, and move down slope long distances. They move like a carpet slowly sliding down a slope, a thin layer that keeps moving until some obstruction slows it down. As it loses momentum, the moving soil piles up in folds and comes to rest.
ALD are a potential risk to roads and other infrastructure that might be built in this region, and they impact water quality by increasing sediment erosion and causing additional salts to be released. Other impacts likely occur, particularly by the release of soil organic matter that was buried for thousands of years, and allowing soil and water microorganisms to consume this different material. How this affects the soil and water ecosystem remains poorly understood and is one of the topics we are studying at Cape Bounty.
While it is difficult to determine trends, especially with so much year to year variation in weather, both the ice caps and permafrost are responding to recent warming in the Canadian Arctic. From the perspective of Cape Bounty, even if this trend reverses itself, the impact will remain on the land and affect the water for many years to come.
