ThinIce

The grand goal of the ThinIce project is to provide essential insights into the ecological risks linked to drilling mud sumps  in the Mackenzie Delta under changing climate conditions. Therefore we also collaborate closely with regional partners like the Northwest Territories Geological Survey, Northwest Territories Department of Lands, and local stakeholders including the Inuvialuit Land Administration .

The specific project objectives are:

• to assess the vulnerability of drilling mud sumps in the Mackenzie Delta under different site conditions and climate change scenarios
• to determine the impact of toxic substances on key microbial species that characterize intact permafrost ecosystems.
• to understand the resilience of ecosystems to pollutants (self-healing ability)
• to assess pollutant mobilization caused by permafrost thaw
• to develop strategies for assessing and mitigating environmental risks in collaboration with local stakeholders.

To achieve the project goals the ThinIce project consists of an interdisciplinary research team that tackles the different aspects of the investigation:

AWI - Climatic conditions and thermal and hydrological processes

We will analyze the past, current and future climatic conditions of the McKenzie Delta to investigate their effects on the thermal and hydrological condition of the permafrost and the mud sumps. We will use simulations from the latest Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) to obtain future climate scenarios. These will drive the CryoGrid permafrost model to simulate thermal conditions for the mud sumps.

RWTH Aachen - Geotechnical condition and vulnerability of drilling mud sumps

We will use geophysical methods to determine the geometry of the sites. We will also extract permafrost cores to examine the geomechanical properties of the mud sumps and surrounding areas. The gained knowledge will be used in a next step to model the thermo-hydro-mechanical processes within the mud sumps by employing numerical, analytical, and machine-learning methods.

LUH - Effects of thawing of industrial contaminated sites on microbially driven processes in soils

We will focus on quantifying and evaluating the consequences of pollutant release from the mud sumps for the surrounding terrestrial ecosystems. We will quantify microbial processes, assess the diversity of the microbial community, and evaluate the consequences of the soil processes on element release into the hydrosphere.

TUBS - Contamination of aquatic thermokarst ecosystems by thawing industrial waste sites

We will assess the current level of pollution and the tolerance and adaptability of local aquatic ecosystems. Sediments taken from lakes surrounding drilling mud sumps will provide environmental archives. Our approach will combine present-day observations with paleo-reconstruction data to reveal shifts in contaminant levels, water quality, and biodiversity, while identifying highly threatened species and vulnerable areas.