Transcript:
For scientists at Scotty Creek Research Station in Northwest Canada, climate change is more than just a research topic. They are threats experienced by themselves.
In the fall of 2022, wildfires in the late season ripped through remote research stations – destroying buildings and equipment.
Dominico: “It's devastating. It's a huge setback. It's consumed the past two years of my life, just planning, rebuilding.”
That was Mason Dominico of Wilfrid Laurier University who worked at Scotty Creek.
He said the station had to be relocated for another climate-related reason 10 years before the fire: melting permafrost, a subject of his own research.
The Scotty Creek watershed is a historically dominated area of forest plateaus that rise from low-lying wetlands on frozen ground called Permafrost.
But the temperature rises faster than the global average. Permafrost is thawing, which can cause plateaus to shrink and collapse.
Dominico: “I've been there for six years and every year you see the landscape changes, 'Oh…this is deeper. Oh, this plateau has completely disappeared.'”
Therefore, for Dominico and others stationed in Scotty Creek, the signs of climate change seem impossible to ignore.
Report Credit: Sarah Kennedy/Chavobart Digital Media
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