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KITIKMEOT
To help communities with a climate change adaptation plan and address gaps in permafrost mapping, the Geological Survey of Canada is monitoring permafrost temperatures in four Kitikmeot communities.

The initiative is an expansion of a 2008 community-based permafrost monitoring project in Nunavut with six sites in the Baffin region. In 2009, four more sites - Kugaaruk, Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak and Repulse Bay - were added.

A cable with eight temperature sensors, set deep inside a 15-metre hole, continuously record the permafrost's temperature in each community, said Sharon Smith, permafrost scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada. She said the territorial government and the communities expressed interest to have information about permafrost with the sites selected based on logistics. The data will be used, for instance, for a national map of permafrost temperatures, said Smith. She added preliminary numbers are expected this spring.

"We hope they can use the information that's collected to help with (the territorial government's) climate change adaptation plan because that was part of the stimulus for it," said Smith.

Only seven Nunavut communities - Cyde River, Hall Beach, Iqaluit, Cambridge Bay, Arviat, Whale Cove and Kugluktuk - have climate change adaptation plans.

Akulliq MLA John Ningark said at the legislature on March 7 the network will be useful for community land use planning, .

Enuk Pauloosie, the senior administrative officer in Gjoa Haven, said the land thaws only four feet deep during the summer in his community.

"It's interesting to find out how the permafrost is acting up ... because our community sits right on very sandy land," he said.

Kugaaruk Mayor Stephan Inaksajak has lived in the community pretty much all his life and said he has not noticed any changes with the permafrost in the past few years.

"It's important to know about the permafrost," he said.

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