This text is part of the special issue of Relève en recherche
A master’s student in oceanography at the Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), Aude Flamand has composed an illustrated tale to popularize her research on the impact of permafrost thaw on Indigenous territory. This original project earned him a ticket to Iceland, to present his results in the final of the My Nordic Project competition, which promotes the next generation of scientists interested in issues related to Nordicity.
It was over 100,000 years ago. While strolling on the Arctic coast, a young man named DOM hits his head and falls into a deep coma. Over time, his body is buried, then trapped under the ice, which preserves it from degradation. On a very hot day, the cliff crumbles and now, exposed to the open air, the protagonist’s body begins to decompose. When she sees him, Féérique, a young girl who was passing by, throws herself on him to protect him.
Here is the singular story of the fairy tale imagined by Aude Flamand in order to popularize her research on the thawing of permafrost, an impermeable layer of soil that has remained frozen for at least two years. Through incubation tests, she observed how the organic matter present in the coastal permafrost behaves when it thaws. Fluorescence and absorbance techniques allow him to determine the optical signature, that is to say the presence of matter from land to water.
“My results show that part of the material is quickly sequestered by iron oxides,” she says. When iron oxidizes, it absorbs the material, thus protecting it from degradation in the form of greenhouse gases. In the tale of the researcher, the process is represented by DOM, an acronym for the English term dissolved organic matterwhile Féérique embodies iron.
A Fragile Friendship
This phenomenon was already known, but it is less documented in a coastal environment where the ground has been frozen for millennia. However, marine sediments represent a very important carbon sink. According to climate predictions, approximately 40% of permafrost will disappear by the end of the century. And it contains twice as much carbon as the atmosphere. “When permafrost material is released, it goes into aquatic systems and the atmosphere, sustaining global carbon stocks,” says Aude Flamand.
Documenting what happens to this organic matter resulting from the thawing of the permafrost, its composition and what it becomes is therefore fundamental, since it is a considerable source of greenhouse gases. “Féérique and DOM have a great friendship, but that could change, because it is not permanent, underlines the researcher. The protected material could once again be subjected to environmental tests linked to climate change. »
Work with the community
To collect the necessary data, the researcher spent several months in the distant Northwest Territories, among the Inuvialuit community of Tuktoyaktuk. “I made very good friends, but I felt a disappointment from the community towards the scientists, who do not often show the repercussions of their work, she explains. However, its members have valuable knowledge and directly observe climate change in their territory. »
Faced with this observation, Aude Flamand decides to compose a story in order to present it to the community. This summer, the student worked with an elder from Tuktoyaktuk to include in her book Sleeping DOM terms in Inuvialuktun. This indigenous language, which includes several dialects, is in danger, but it has not said its last word.
In mid-October, the researcher flew to Reykjavik, Iceland, to present this tale during the finals of the popularization contest My Nordic Project, run by the Institut nordique du Québec. “It’s an opportunity to make science more accessible while making our creativity work, because scientists are also creative,” she says, a bit mischievous. The event takes place as part of theArctic Circle Assemblythe largest international network of cooperation on the future of the Arctic, involving governments, organizations, companies, universities, and many others.
An internship at UNESCO
A Frenchwoman who has lived in Quebec for 11 years, Aude Flamand developed an interest in chemistry right from CEGEP. “I had an amazing teacher who pushed me to go into biochemistry at university,” she says enthusiastically. After a bachelor’s degree at Concordia University, she joined the Institute of Marine Sciences of Rimouski, at UQAR, more precisely in the laboratory of Professor Gwénaëlle Chaillou. “It clicked right away, I’ve always had an interest in climate change and the ocean,” continues the young woman.
The student should submit her dissertation by the end of the fall semester. From November, an internship at the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) awaits him in Paris. ” [La Commission] has a desire to include indigenous knowledge in the management of ocean sciences,” she says. A dream come true for the passionate young scientist.
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