CatchNet Research Package 2

Work Package 2 focus for instant on how permafrost in transition impact on groundwater-surface water interactions and the project is a collaboration between Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Canada (NWMO), McGill University, and Dalhousie University.

In cold regions, the subsurface thermal regime controls the hydrogeological context and resultant groundwater flow and transport processes as the hydraulic conductivity contrast between frozen and unfrozen ground is several orders of magnitude. Nuclear waste management organizations are tasked with the eventual design and operation of long-term storage facilities (often deep geological repositories) for nuclear waste, and the storage design must allow for the impacts of future glacial-interglacial cycles and concomitant permafrost formation or thaw.

This research package (RP2) address the following research question:  How does permafrost in transition impact groundwater-surface water interactions, hydrologic connectivity, and solute transport at landscape and catchment scales?

This specific research package is for a collaborative project between the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Canada (NWMO), McGill University, and Dalhousie University.

Team of supervisors

Dr. Jeffrey McKenzie, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at McGill University.

Dr. Barret Kurylyk, Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) at Dalhousie University in the Department of Civil and Resource Engineering and the Centre for Water Resources Studies.