Permafrost in Nunavik

**Permafrost** is any soil or rock whose temperature has remained below 0°C for years. In the extreme north of Quebec, it is omnipresent and very thick. At its boreal margin, further south, it appears in the landscape in the form of isolated thin plates, whose thickness is generally less than 10 m. Permafrost contains ice in various forms, whose origin is closely linked to the sedimentary characteristics and drainage conditions of the land.

The mapping of permafrost conditions for Nunavik (territory located north of the 55th parallel), carried out by the Center for Nordic Studies at Laval University, was done by applying a simple model called TTOP (Temperature at the Top Of Permafrost) for the period from 2000 to 2016. The results of the model are presented in the form of a raster file that illustrates the distribution of continuous, discontinuous, and sporadic permafrost, as well as isolated islands.

Under the effect of global warming or poorly adapted human activities, permafrost heats up or even thaws, which leads to settlements and ground movements affecting ecosystems as well as infrastructures. Thus, the susceptibility of the territory to thermokarstic subsidence was evaluated for the same territory taking into account the ice content and the temperature at the top of the permafrost. A matrix file (raster) of the susceptibility of the territory to ground subsidence associated with permafrost thaw presents three susceptibility classes (high, moderate, and low) as well as areas generally without permafrost.

**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

Simple

Date ( RI_367 )
2021-12-02
Date ( RI_366 )
2021-12-02
RI_418
  Government and Municipalities of Québec; Government and Municipalities of Québec; Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts - 🍃 Secteur des Forêts - Direction des inventaires forestiers (DIF) ( )
https://www.donneesquebec.ca
Status
historicalArchive; archiveHistorique RI_594
Maintenance and update frequency
notPlanned; nonPlanifié RI_542
Keywords ( RI_528 )
  • Sagging
  • arctic
  • Geocryological characteristics
  • Thermal characteristics
  • Risk Factors
  • Northern Quebec
  • Nunavik
  • Permafrost
  • Permafrost distribution
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus Thésaurus des sujets de base du gouvernement du Canada ( RI_528 )
  • Government information
Use limitation
Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution (CC-BY) licence – Quebec (https://www.donneesquebec.ca/fr/licence/)
Access constraints
license; licence RI_606
Use constraints
license; licence RI_606
Spatial representation type
grid; grille RI_636
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Metadata language
fra; CAN
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information
Begin date
0001-01-01
N
S
E
W
thumbnail


Reference system identifier
unknown / unknown / unknown
Distribution format
  • GeoTIF ( unknown )

  • HTML ( unknown )

  • PDF ( unknown )

  • XLS ( unknown )

RI_418
  Government and Municipalities of Québec; Government and Municipalities of Québec; Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts - 🍃 Secteur des Forêts - Direction des inventaires forestiers (DIF) ( )
https://www.donneesquebec.ca
OnLine resource
Permafrost distribution ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GeoTIF;fra

OnLine resource
Susceptibility to subsidence associated with permafrost thawing ( HTTPS )

Dataset;GeoTIF;fra

OnLine resource
ĐOpen forest ( HTTPS )

Dataset;HTML;fra

OnLine resource
Original metadata (https://www.donneesquebec.ca) ( HTTPS )

Dataset;HTML;fra

OnLine resource
READ ME ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;fra

OnLine resource
Map of permafrost in Northern Quebec ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;fra

OnLine resource
Susceptibility to subsidence associated with permafrost thawing ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;fra

OnLine resource
Production of the 2nd approximation of the permafrost map of Quebec according to geomorphological and ecological parameters and physical processes related to climate ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;fra

OnLine resource
Determination and analysis of vulnerabilities in Nunavik based on environmental components and natural physical processes related to climate: Phase 1 ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;fra

OnLine resource
Data code dictionary ( HTTPS )

Dataset;XLS;fra

File identifier
ac5d0559-d47c-432b-905a-d69d9d71b2a5 XML
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Hierarchy level
dataset; jeuDonnées RI_622
Date stamp
2025-11-11
Metadata standard name
North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003 - Geographic information - Metadata
Metadata standard version
HNAP ISO:19115 - 2003
RI_418
  Government and Municipalities of Québec; Government and Municipalities of Québec; Ministère des Ressources naturelles et des Forêts - 🍃 Secteur des Forêts - Direction des inventaires forestiers (DIF) ( )
https://www.donneesquebec.ca
 
 

Overviews

overview

Spatial extent

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W
thumbnail


Keywords


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