Overview
Polar Bear Pass National Wildlife area protects a vast wetland that forms an Arctic oasis on Bathurst Island. This area has relatively abundant tundra and wetland vegetation attracting wildlife including caribou, muskoxen and polar bears. Detailed observations of the meteorology, snowpacks, and hydrology were initiated in the mid-2000s by researchers at York University and their collaborators. Primary motivation for this effort is to better understand how Arctic wetlands are responding to climate change. Dedicated efforts are made to collect measurements on all water budget terms including precipitation, snow accumulation and melt, and runoff.
The dataset includes time series of river discharge at 30-minute intervals from the snowmelt period to late summer.
Provider's contact information
Dr. Kathy L. Young’s Homepage: http://www.yorku.ca/klyoung/
Licensing
Licence: N/A
Variable name and units:
River discharge [m3 s-1] or river runoff [mm]
Spatial coverage and resolution:
- Polar Bear Pass (75.7°N, 109.5°W) on Bathurst Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Nunavut
- Point-scale hydrological data representative of the watershed-scale runoff
- Two sites: Landing Strip (0.2 km2) and Windy (4.2 km2) creeks (unofficial names).
Temporal coverage and resolution:
Temporal coverage varies depending on site. The earliest data start in 2007 up to 2015.
Data are seasonal and available at 30-minute intervals.
Information about related datasets
Additional meteorological, soil, vegetation, and water data are available for these sites.
Limitations and strengths for application in Northern Canada
Observations of discharge at two hydrometric gauges on Bathurst Island where there is an absence of Water Survey of Canada data. Limitations with the dataset include no data prior to 2007 or post-2015 and lack of cold season data.
References to documents describing the methodology or/and the dataset
Young, K. L., J. Assini, A. Abnizova, and N.De Miranda, 2010: Hydrology of hillslope-wetland streams, Polar Bear Pass, Nunavut, Canada. Hydrological Processes, 24: 3345-3358.
Young, K. L., M. J. Lafrenière, S.F. Lamoureux, A. Abnizova, and E. A. Miller, 2015: Recent multi-year streamflow regimes and water budgets of hillslope catchments in the Canadian High Arctic: Evaluation and comparison to other small Arctic watershed studies. Hydrology Research, 46(4), 533-550.
Link to download the data and format of data: