Who runs Project ICEWATER?
Project ICEWATER is made up of five Primary Investigators (PIs), their graduate students, and numerous undergraduate research assistants and collaborators (The Team). Each PI and their graduate students lead research in specialized topics in aquatic science, which as a whole, will make up the largest water quality assessment ever published in our study system. Where are our study sites? Our team works in the headwaters of the Athabasca, North Saskatchewan, and Bow Rivers in Banff and Jasper National Parks, Alberta. These rivers all stem from glaciers residing in the Eastern slopes of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, which are rapidly losing mass as a consequence of climate change. What is water quality? Water quality is a general term that refers to any measured parameter that helps identify the health of a body of water. For our research, we look at water chemistry (things like nutrients, trace elements, carbon, and contaminants), as well as microbial, algal, invertebrate, and fish populations, which together help us frame the story of water quality in our study rivers. Why is the research we're doing important? Glacial landscapes along the Eastern Slopes of the Canadian Rockies are rapidly evolving as human-driven climate change accelerates. Water originating as glacier melt travels from the high elevations of Alberta’s mountains to several watersheds across the Province of Alberta - and across Canada - via streams and rivers, supplying Indigenous communities, agriculturists, municipalities and ecosystems with critical services along the way. However, climate change is causing glaciers to shrink rapidly, and in some cases disappear, putting the resources glaciers supply and the communities that rely on them at risk. The water quality work we are doing now will act as a baseline dataset that scientists working at these sites in the future can compare their data to. This will help the scientific community assess how changes in water quantity (as a result of climate change and/or glacier mass loss) will impact water quality over time. - Jessica & Karson
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