Though itSA国际影视传媒檚 a long process with many complicating factors, if the climate were to continue changing in accordance with recent trends, that could mean some significant landscape changes up and down the Mackenzie Valley.

Ruth Errington, technician with the Canadian Forest Service, was in Inuvik this month re-measuring peatland and forest plots around the community that were established in 2007 during the International Polar Year.

The service has 69 plots throughout the Mackenzie Valley, from the southern border to Inuvik. The Mackenzie Valley is predicted to be one of the most sensitive areas to climate warming in Canada.

Errington studies peatland and peat plateaus, which are permafrost-containing bogs or areas of near-surface, ice-rich permafrost. Basically, they are wetlands where the soils are so cold and wet that dead plants rot more slowly than new plants grow.

SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 a big sponge that when it freezes, the ice expands, like youSA国际影视传媒檇 see in an ice cube in a freezer,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淲hen it collapses, it loses volume.SA国际影视传媒�

The collapse of the permafrost could lead to dramatic changes in vegetation and landscapes.

ItSA国际影视传媒檚 a long process for these sort of environment effects to take place, but if the permafrost were to thaw, lichen and trees would be lost, at least for a period of time.

SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 a very dramatic change on the landscape,SA国际影视传媒� said Errington. SA国际影视传媒淵ou lose things like caribou forage in the lichens. You would lose the ability to move across the landscape area quickly too (because of how wet it is).SA国际影视传媒�

After the thaw, areas would eventually drain out into rivers and the landscape would become much more dry.

On a long enough timescale and with current trends continuing, Errington predicts the landscape around Inuvik would start to look more like the Sahtu, which itself is starting to look more like the Dehcho once did.

SA国际影视传媒淭hese things donSA国际影视传媒檛 change overnight,SA国际影视传媒� said Errington. SA国际影视传媒淭hereSA国际影视传媒檚 inertia in the system. Things are adapted and you often need a disturbance to reset the ecosystem.SA国际影视传媒�

Sites this far north are very good at insulating permafrost and keeping it intact too, she added.

For now, Errington will be taking her research back to Edmonton to study it over the winter. She hopes to be able to re-check the plots again in another 10 years and better map the changes over time.

SA国际影视传媒淚 think for the most part Inuvik has been pretty stable,SA国际影视传媒� she said before being able to analyze her data properly. SA国际影视传媒淏ut weSA国际影视传媒檒l see. It would be a subtle change at this point.SA国际影视传媒�