Context:

Ubiquitous across the circumpolar Arctic, permafrost is the foundation of northern ecosystems and infrastructure. Permafrost stability is under threat because of recent warming, which has been 3 to 4 times as rapid across the Arctic compared to elsewhere around the globe. The thawing of ice-rich permafrost, or ‘thermokarst’, results in the formation of numerous ponds and lakes varying in morphology, surface area and depth. This significantly reshapes local to regional topography and hydrology and provides useful sediment archives for deciphering past environmental conditions. Hence, lake-rich permafrost landscapes, or ‘limnoscapes’, can serve as useful climate change sentinels. We can therefore reconstruct environmental conditions from the past in lake-rich permafrost landscapes based on the study of lake sediment archives and remote sensing approaches.

Main goal and work:
This internship aims at introducing the student/trainee to paleolimnological research (the history of lakes), focused on the physico-chemical properties of lake sediment cores collected during previous fieldwork campaigns. Laboratory analyses such as grain size, water/organic content (loss-on-ignition) and fossil diatoms (microscopic algae) will be conducted. To characterize the more recent context of lake-rich landscapes, satellite images and older aerial photographs will be analyzed.

Deliverables:

Laboratory results in a usable format (.xls, .csv or equivalent).

Maps of the study area at different epochs (last decades).

Applying:

Send a CV, academic transcripts and a motivation letter to Prof. Frédéric Bouchard (Frederic.bouchard5@usherbrooke.ca). Deadline to apply: June 30th, 2025.