With limited meteorological and hydrological data available in the Canadian High Arctic, climate and hydrological processes and the full range of their variability are not completely understood. As such, proxy climate and hydrological records (e.g., high-resolution lake sediments) can be used to examine past variability and place recent changes into context.
My doctoral research, supervised by Dr. Scott Lamoureux at Queen’s University, focuses on regional climate and catchment hydrology
reconstruction in the Canadian High Arctic, using the annually-laminated (varved) sedimentary record of a meromictic lake on the
northern coast of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. The research objectives involve developing a 3000-year record of sedimentation in
Lake A, identifying climate forcing factors in the northern extreme of the Canadian Arctic using this record, and comparing the
Lake A varve record with that of a nearby lake (Lake C2) to develop a regional hydroclimatic record. Additionally, through
collaboration with Drs. Dermot Antoniades and Warwick Vincent (Université Laval), the paleoecological record of this lake and water
column structure are being examined and combined with the paleohydrological record in order to develop a history of the lake
environment and an understanding of regional hydroclimatic variability. The study area has undergone recent notable environmental
changes, including reduced summer ice cover and major fracturing of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf (located immediately north of Lake A)
and this research will contribute to understanding these changes within the context of the region’s long-term climate history.
Publications: Tomkins, J.D. and Lamoureux, S.F. 2005. Multiple hydroclimatic controls over recent sedimentation in proglacial Mirror Lake, southern Selwyn Mountains, Northwest Territories. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 42: 1589-1599.
Jessica Tomkins, PhD Candidate
Environmental Variability and Extremes (EVEX) Laboratory
Department of Geography
Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario, K7L 3N6
Tel.: (613) 533-6000 ext. 75913
Email:
