Climate change and globalization are rapidly transforming the Arctic and Subarctic regions, disproportionally impacting ecosystems and the health and lifestyle of local, mostly Indigenous, populations. These changes also have global consequences with permafrost thaw releasing potent gases, melting sea ice affecting ecosystems, ocean productivity and shipping lanes, and glacial melt raising sea levels in populated coastal areas worldwide. In response to these pressing challenges, a comprehensive understanding of the Arctic's metamorphosis, from microbiomes to ecosystems, is imperative. Achieving this necessitates fostering national and international collaboration, sharing expertise and infrastructure, involving northern experts, conducting transformative research, deploying cutting-edge technologies, and training the next generation of interdisciplinary researchers.
At the forefront of Arctic and Subarctic research, Université Laval (Quebec City, Canada) has emerged as a global leader, spearheading interdisciplinary studies focused on the distinctive challenges and opportunities in these regions. Over the past decades, the university has cultivated a robust research capacity, boasting over 60 professors and their teams across diverse fields, pushing the boundaries of science to enhance our comprehension of a changing Arctic and its impacts. The university serves as a hub for large collaborative research initiatives, uniting experts from the North and South, within Canada and internationally, to address critical issues such as climate change impacts, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, public health, food security, clean water access, sustainable development, and social justice in the Arctic and northern regions.
As a testament to these international collaborations, Université Laval Professor Pascale Roy-Léveillée and her colleagues from Canada, the United States and Italy, recently published unexpected findings in Nature Climate Change regarding the effects of climate change on major rivers in the Arctic regions of Canada and Alaska. Using timelapse analysis of satellite imagery, the team has challenged established theories and model predictions by revealing a significant 18.5% reduction in the lateral migration of these expansive Arctic rivers over the past five decades, averaging a decline of 3.7‰ annually. "Our latest field observations demonstrate a strong correlation between permafrost thaw and the emergence of plants with deeply anchored roots, contributing to the stabilization of riverbanks. We are now inviting other geomorphologists to join us in formulating and testing new hypotheses to explain what is lacking in our models. The discussion is far from over,” says Professor Roy-Léveillée.
This research not only deepens our comprehension of the transformations occurring within the Arctic environment but also underscores the critical importance of providing the global Arctic research community with reliable, safe, and easily accessible facilities and infrastructure across the extensive northern and Arctic territories. Université Laval leads the coordination of Canada's most extensive array of Arctic research facilities, encompassing a wide range of land and marine scientific infrastructure that are openly available to researchers worldwide. This capacity includes coordinating international scientific expeditions aboard the Canadian research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen and granting access to a widespread network of 12 research stations and over 100 meteorological stations that span seven bioclimatic zones and extending across 36 degrees of latitude to the most remote areas of northern Canada. These facilities are crucial for facilitating critical research in these rapidly changing environments, thereby fostering further international collaboration and breakthrough discoveries.
