Members of PeCaBeau (Permafrost Carbon on the Beaufort Shelf), a project funded under the Arctic Research Icebreaker Consortium (ARICE), travelled to Québec City in Canada to take part in a two-day planning workshop held by Amundsen Science. The aim of the workshop was to present and refine the general science plan for the 2020 oceanographic campaign aboard the Canadian Coast Guard Ship (CCGS) Amundsen supporting several Canadian marine-based programs, as well as the international PeCaBeau project.
The participants (see Fig. 1) had the chance to discuss synergistic activities with members of the several academia and government entities involved in the scientific campaign (ex. ArcticNet, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sentinel North). Numerous topics were discussed: life on board the icebreaker, the pool of equipment available on this research platform, as well as the overall timeline of planned activities, from the mobilization of equipment in mid-June to the fine detail of the 113 days of scientific activities planned for 2020.
During its dedicated ship time in the Beaufort Sea, PeCaBeau (a H2020 Integrating Activity for Starting Communities) will use cutting edge analytical techniques to track the movement and transformation of material from permafrost thaw along the land-to-ocean continuum. This represents an ideal continuation of the work carried out in Nunataryuk. The multi-disciplinary endeavor will allow the integration of previous results gathered from the Beaufort Sea as well as the creation of new knowledge that will feed ongoing pan-Arctic studies and improve assessments of the Beaufort shelf as a source or sink of carbon.
