Welcome to the Water and Ice Research Laboratory (WIRL)
Water in its liquid and solid phases is critically important to Canadian landscapes and ecosystems. Climate warming will modify many aspects of the hydrological cycle, leading to issues related to water quantity/quality, ecosystem services, cryospheric change and the resultant threat to northern infrastructure. As the impacts of climate change increase, our understanding of these processes must improve in order to provide managers with the best monitoring and modelling tools in an uncertain world. The overarching objective of WIRL is to create a cluster of research and training that is focused on aquatic and cryospheric environments and climate change impacts. We aim to improve scientific understanding of key hydrologic processes, and provide monitoring and modelling tools using a blend of field, laboratory and computing methods. Research at WIRL falls under two broad topical areas associated with Dr. Mueller and Dr. Richardson. Click here for a map of our current and past research sites.
Water
- Threats to freshwater resources and aquatic ecosystem services in Canada
- Water-balance simulation in complex terrain
- Landscape limnology models for cumulative effects assessment
Ice
- Impacts of climate change to extreme coastal ice features
- Changes in High Arctic ice shelves and the fiords they occupy
- Remote sensing techniques for ice island and cryospheric change detection
- Ice island/iceberg drift and deterioration
Latest News
WIRL research on the Milne Glacier reveals grounding line retreat
Congratulations to PhD candidate Yulia Antropova who just published a study on the grounding line of the Milne Glacier on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. This comprehensive study used InSAR and Ice-penetrating radar to map the grounding [...]
Paper on ice island calving now out in Cold Regions Science and Technology
Former WIRL graduate student, Anna Crawford, led this article on predicting the deterioration of ice islands due to the 'footloose-type' calving mechanism. This paper was co-written by Adjunct Research Prof. Greg Crocker and former MSc [...]
New research on Milne Fiord oceanography published
Congratulations to Jérémie Bonneau on his modelling study of Milne Fiord. He ran a simulation of the ocean circulation and was able to conclude that there are different modes of circulation that switch periodically. You [...]