Precariously located in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, Sable Island, has limited freshwater resources. Small surface water ponds that support the island’s unique ecosystem are sourced from naturally discharged groundwater in a “freshwater lens”, a lens-shaped freshwater zone that ‘floats’ above denser seawater in the island’s permeable sands. In recent years declines in the groundwater-fed freshwater ponds and extensive flooding and erosion from large ocean storms highlights the vulnerability of the island’s freshwater resources. Monitoring with geophysics and monitoring wells has captured pond and groundwater dynamics and motivated the development of a novel, wireless monitoring system to track ocean processes and pond water quality and quantity.
About the presenter: Julia Cantelon is a PhD candidate in the Centre for Water Resources and Department of Civil and Resource Engineering at Dalhousie University. She is a member of the Dalhousie Coastal Hydrology and her work is supervised by Dr. Barret Kurylyk. In 2019 she completed her BSc. in environmental science at Western University and joined the Dalhousie Coastal Hydrology Lab for her project focusing on the precarious freshwater resources of Sable Island. Her work focuses on monitoring and modeling the fresh surface and groundwater resources of Sable Island and the influence of a changing marine environment.
These virtual presentations replace our bi-annual fundraiser. If you learned something new about Sable Island please consider a small donation towards our education programs at https://sableislandfriends.ca/product/donation/
We are very grateful to this session’s sponsor, The Dalhousie Coastal Hydrology Lab, for their contribution towards our scholarship programs.
Watch Julia’s presentation below….