Overview
The Cape Bounty Arctic Watershed Observatory (CBAWO) on Melville Island was established in the early 2000s by researchers at Queen’s University and their collaborators. Primary motivation for establishment of CBAWO is to collect measurements on environmental conditions in an undisturbed site in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago undergoing rapid climate change. The focus is on understanding the response of high Arctic watersheds to regional warming by tracking changes in hydrology, permafrost, and landscape stability. An integrated and interdisciplinary approach is adopted to assess the cumulative impacts of environmental change at various spatial and temporal scales.
The dataset includes time series of river discharge at 10-minute intervals from the snowmelt period to late summer.
Provider's contact information
Cape Bounty Arctic Watershed Observatory Project Page: https://capebountyresearch.com/
Licensing
Licence: N/A
Variable name and units:
River discharge [m3 s-1] or river runoff [mm]
Spatial coverage and resolution:
- Cape Bounty Arctic Watershed Observatory (74º55′ N, 109º35′ W) on Melville Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago
- Point-scale hydrological data representative of the watershed-scale runoff
- Four sites: East (8.0 km2) and West (11.6 km2) rivers, Goose (0.18 km2) and Ptarmigan (0.21 km2) creeks (unofficial names).
Temporal coverage and resolution:
Temporal coverage varies depending on site. The earliest data start in 2003 up to present.
Data are seasonal and available at 10-minute intervals.
Information about related datasets
Additional meteorological, soil, vegetation, permafrost, sediment and water data are available for these sites. Lake monitoring data and time-lapse images are also available.
Limitations and strengths for application in Northern Canada
Observations of discharge at four hydrometric gauges on Melville Island where there is an absence of Water Survey of Canada data. Data are available online at the Polar Data Catalogue. Limitations with the dataset include no data prior to 2003 and lack of cold season data.
References to documents describing the methodology or/and the dataset
General description at: https://capebountyresearch.com/scientific-infrastructure/
Beel, C. R., J. K. Heslop, J. F. Orwin, M. A. Pope, A. J. Schevers, K.Y. Hung, M. J. Lafrenière, and S. F. Lamoureux, 2021: Emerging dominance of summer rainfall driving High Arctic terrestrial-aquatic connectivity. Nature Communications, 12, 1448, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21759-3
Lamoureux, S.F., and M.J. Lafrenière, 2017: More than just snowmelt: integrated watershed science for changing climate and permafrost at the Cape Bounty Arctic Watershed Observatory. WIREs Water, 5(1), e1255, https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1255.
Link to download the data and format of data: