Seasonal methylmercury patterns in discontinuous permafrost streams

I am recording seasonal patterns of methylmercury, carbon, and water quality indicators in five streams across the Dehcho of the Northwest Territories in collaboration with the forWater network, Mike Low of the Dehcho AAROM program, and the Fort Smith GNWT ENR.

In 2019, I intensively sampled Smith Creek and Scotty Creek with a Spectro::lyser, which measured the UV absorbance of the streams every three hours between May - September, accompanied by daily autosampler measurements and monthly grab samples.

Although COVID-19 did not permit the installation of these instruments in 2020, collaboration with the Dehcho AAROM program allowed the expansion of seasonal sampling to include Kakisa River, Jean Marie River, and the Sambaa K'e (Trout) River.

In 2021 and 2022, the Dehcho sites and additional sites in the South Slave Region (Salt River, Buffalo River, Little Buffalo River, and Hay River) were monitored in the open water season.

Many thanks to Melaine Simba, Tarek Chicot, Donovan Landry, Mike Low, Christopher Cunada, and Kevin Smith for their assistance in this project.

A portion of the data from this work have been published, while a journal article is in preparation:

• University of Alberta and Dehcho-AAROM. 2022. "Seasonal Monitoring of Smith Creek and Scotty Creek, 2019-2021" (dataset). DataStream. https://doi.org/10.25976/y9yi-no57