Present and past hydroecology of the Old Crow Flats, YT, 2007-2011

The hydroecological research initiative described here comprises one of many components of a multidisciplinary and collaborative research program supported by the Government of Canada International Polar Year (IPY) Program. Furthering knowledge of the hydroecology of OCF ecosystem is central to addressing concerns expressed by the community of Old Crow and will contribute to the Park Management Plan for Vuntut National Park. Research will assess the relative importance of hydrological processes that govern present-day lake water balances and whether currently declining lake levels represent a unique directional change or reflect natural hydrological variability. Contemporary hydrological variability in the OCF will be determined using water isotope tracers. Parallel studies will characterize the limnological conditions of the lakes and identify relationships between water chemistry and basin hydrology. Records of hydroecological variability over decadal to centennial timescales will be derived from multi-proxy analysis of lake sediment cores obtained from selected basins in the OCF.