Biography
I was born and grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. My early interest in geography
was cultivated by frequent family hiking and skiing trips to the Rocky
Mountains. I was also fortunate to spend a disproportionate part of my
youth in peatlands and bogs in northern Alberta working with bryologists
learning about these environments. During my undergraduate program in
Geography at the University of Alberta (B.Sc. (Hons) –1990), I was
introduced to earth science fieldwork and took my first opportunity to
carry out research in the Canadian High Arctic. That early mentorship
encouraged my interest in research in the north that continues today.
My graduate degrees were acquired at the Climate Laboratory at the University
of Massachusetts, Amherst (M.S. – 1994) and with the northern research
group at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University
of Alberta (Ph.D. – 1998). I was awarded an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship
that was held at Queen’s University from 1998-1999. In 1999 I accepted
an academic position in the Department of Geography at Queen’s University
in Kingston.
Teaching Interests
My primary teaching interests are in water resources, hydrology, hydroclimatology,
geomorphology and environmental change. I am particularly keen to get
students into the field to learn first hand, and many of my undergraduate
courses have a field component. We collect samples, carry out snow surveys,
and measure spring melt as part of a learning environment intended to
link fundamental measurements, observations and theory, to conceive of
and answer complex questions about the environment around us. When I can
offer it, the highlight of my teaching comes from extended field courses
where we really get to immerse ourselves in physical geography.
My graduate students pursue a range hydrological, geomorphic and paleohydrological
research, centered on trying to develop quantitative measures of past
hydroclimatic behaviour to better understand the role of landscape stability
and climate forcing mechanisms. They investigate terrestrial and aquatic
ecology, limnology and biogeochemical indicators as tools to decipher
current system function and as proxies for understanding longer term changes.
I have supervised students whose research and field work has extended
across all three northern territories and Alaska, as well as British Columbia,
Ontario and Québec (but we’re trying to figure out how to
do this kind of work in warmer places, like the south Pacific).
Courses Taught:
GPHY 103*: Water Resources
GPHY
210*: Geographical Perspectives on Global Change
GPHY
306*: Natural Environmental Change
GPHY 307*: Field studies in Physical Geography
GPHY 312*: Watershed Hydrology
GPHY 817*: Physical Processes in Hydrology
GPHY 825*: Paleoclimatology
Research
My research is focused on understanding the linkages between climate,
hydrology and geomorphology in permafrost and landscapes. This research
is driven by the need to understand how terrestrial landscapes are sensitive
to climate variability and resource development. Research work within
my Environmental Variability and Extremes (EVEX) Laboratory has focused
on a number of related themes: contemporary fluxes of sediment and particulate
organic carbon in the streams; climatic controls over streamflow and sediment
transport; the impact of rainfall on catchment processes; sedimentary
processes in lakes; varved lake sediments as records of past hydroclimate
and landscape disturbance; aquatic ecosystem linkages and subfossil indicators
of past ecological change and long term sediment transport dynamics.
Current work is directed a number of projects in the North American Arctic,
including the High Arctic, Kitikmeot region of Nunavut, and southwestern
Alaska. A major emphasis has been at the Cape Bounty Arctic Watershed
Observatory (CBAWO), located on south central Melville Island in Nunavut.
This program, established in 2003, is directed a number of integrated
landscape and hydrological initiatives in collaboration with a number
of researchers (see http://geog.queensu.ca/cbawo/).
My current research interests and projects reflect understanding the magnitude
and relaxation of sediment fluxes from surfaces that have been disturbed
at different times, the influence of snow pack on river processes, runoff
generation and sediment transport characteristics, evaluation of the hydroclimatic
and landscape disturbance signal in varved lake sediments, dendrochronological
techniques for dating past slope failures, the chemical evolution of the
lakes in the region and the application of hydrological modelling to watershed
and sedimentary processes. Collaborative work currently links stream processes
with the transport, characterization and origin of organic carbon in the
watersheds. My work contributes to both the overall research program at
Cape Bounty, and to the SEDIBUD (http://www.geomorph.org/wg/wgsb.html)
and ITEX programs.
A second major project in collaboration with Darrell Kaufman at Northern
Arizona University (http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~dsk5/S_AK/index.htm)
is focused on the use of varved sedimentary records to reconstruct hydroclimatic
and glacial runoff during the past c. 2000 years. This work also includes
monitoring of the lake sedimentary processes to develop a quantitative
framework for investigating the sedimentary records.
A new initiative is to evaluate paleohydrological and sediment yield
characteristics in large (>5000 km2) watersheds in the Kugaaruk region
of Nunavut. This work will investigate shallow marine sediments with high
sedimentation rates to scale long term hydrogeomorphic processes from
c. 100-10 000 km2 watersheds.
Finally, I am a member of the Canadian PASADO team, part of a large international
initiative to recover and evaluate the long sedimentary record from Laguna
Potrok Aike, Argentina (http://www.ete.inrs.ca/projets/pasado/PASADO-Canada/Welcome.html).
This long lacustrine sedimentary record will provide critical comparison
to Antarctic ice cores during the late Quaternary.
Publications
Select recent peer-reviewed publications
Chutko, K.J. and Lamoureux, S.F., in press. Biolaminated sedimentation
in a High Arctic freshwater lake, Sedimentology, 30 manuscript
pages, 3 tables, 7 figures (accepted October 2008).
Tomkins, J.D., Lamoureux, S.F., Antoniades, D. and Vincent, W.F., in
press. Sedimentary pellets as an ice cover proxy in a High Arctic ice-covered
lake. Journal of Paleolimnology, doi 10.1007/s10933-008-9255.
Lamoureux, S.F. and Lafrenière, M.J., 2009. Fluvial impact of
extensive active layer detachments, Cape Bounty, Melville Island, Canada.
Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, 41.
McDonald, D.M. and Lamoureux, S.F., 2009. Hydroclimatic and channel snowpack
controls over suspended sediment and grain size transport in a High Arctic
catchment. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (accepted July
2008).
Fortin, D. and Lamoureux, S.F., 2008. Multidecadal hydroclimatic variability
in northeastern and northern North America since 1550 AD. Climate Dynamics,
doi: 10.1007/s00382-008-0422.
Lafrenière, M. and S.F. Lamoureux, 2008. Seasonal dynamics of
dissolved nitrogen exports from two High Arctic watersheds, Melville Island,
Canada. Hydrology Research, 39, doi: 10.2166/nh.2008.008.
Chutko, K.J. and S.F. Lamoureux, 2008. Estimating melt season characteristics
at a plateau ice cap: model sensitivity between fixed and variable vertical
lapse rates. International Journal of Climatology, doi: 10.1002/joc.1722.
Tomkins, J.D., S.F. Lamoureux and D. J. Sauchyn, 2008. Reconstruction
of climate and glacial history based on a comparison of varve and tree-ring
records from Mirror Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. Quaternary Science
Reviews, 27: 1426-1441.
Cockburn, J.M.H. and S.F. Lamoureux, 2008. Inflow and lake controls on
short-term mass accumulation and sedimentary particle size in a High Arctic
lake: implications for interpreting varved lacustrine sedimentary records.
Journal of Paleolimnology, doi 10.1007/s10933-008-9207-5, 20 p.
Tomkins, J.D., Antoniades, D., Lamoureux, S.F. and Vincent, W.F., 2008.
A simple and effective method for preserving the sediment-water interface
of sediment cores during transport, Journal of Paleolimnology, 40: 577-582
doi 10.1007/s10933-007-9175-1.
Chutko, K.J. and S.F. Lamoureux, 2008. Identification of coherent links
between interannual sedimentary structures and daily meteorological observations
in Arcticproglacial lacustrine varves: potentials and limitations, Canadian
Journal of Earth Sciences, 45: 1-13.
Stewart, K.A., S.F. Lamoureux and B.P. Finney, 2008. Multiple ecological
and hydrological changes recorded in varved sediments from Sanagak Lake,
Nunavut, Canada, Journal of Paleolimnology, 40: 217-233, doi: 10.1007/s10933-007-9153-7.
Cockburn, J.M.H. and S.F. Lamoureux, 2008. Hydroclimate controls over
seasonal sediment yield in two adjacent high arctic watersheds, Hydrological
Processes, 22: 2013-2027, doi: 10.1002/hyp.6798.
Cockburn, J.M.H. and S.F. Lamoureux, 2007. Long term variations in major
autumn rainfall events recorded over seven centuries in subannually laminated
lacustrine sediments, White Pass, British Columbia-Alaska, Quaternary
Research, 67: 193-203.
Lamoureux, S.F., D.M. McDonald, J.M.H. Cockburn, M. Lafrenière,
D. Atkinson and P. Treitz, 2006. An incidence of multi-year sediment storage
on channel snowpack in the Canadian High Arctic, Arctic, 59: 381-390.
Gilbert, R., J.R. Desloges, S.F. Lamoureux, A. Serink and K.R. Hodder,
2006. The sedimentary environment of Atlin Lake, northern British Columbia
and the geomorphic and paleoenvironmental value of sedimentary records
from large Cordilleran lakes, Geomorphology, 79: 130-142.
Hambley, G.W. and S.F. Lamoureux, 2006. Recent summer climate recorded
in complex varved sediments, Nicolay Lake, Cornwall Island, Nunavut, Journal
of Paleolimnology, 35:629-640.
Lamoureux, S.F., Stewart, K.A., Forbes, A.C., Fortin, D., 2006. Multidecadal
variations and decline in spring discharge in the Canadian middle Arctic
since 1550 AD. Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L02403, doi 10.1029/2005GL024942.
Refereed book chapters
Pienitz, R., Doran, P.T. and Lamoureux, S.F., 2008. Origin and geomorphology
of lakes in the polar regions. In High Latitude Lake and River Ecosystems
– Polar Limnology, edited by W.F. Vincent and J. Laybourn-Parry,
Oxford University Press, Oxford, p. 25-42.
Lamoureux, S.F. and Gilbert, R., 2004. Physical and chemical properties
and proxies of high latitude lake sediments. Chapter in Developments in
Paleoenvironmental Research (DEPR) Volume 8-Long-term environmental change
in Arctic and Antarctic lakes, edited by R. Pienitz, M.S.V. Douglas and
J.P. Smol, Springer, Dordrecht, p. 53-87.
Lamoureux, S.F. and Bollmann, J., 2004. Image acquisition. Chapter in
Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research (DEPR) Volume 7-Image analysis
in paleoenvironmental research edited by P. Francus, Springer, Dordrecht,
p. 11-34.
Other refereed contributions
Lamoureux, S.F., Beylich, A.A. and Decaulne, A., 2007. Sediment budgets
in cold regions: tracking the climate sensitivity of sediment source to
sink processes, EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 88:52,
Dec. 25, p.580.
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Dr.
Scott Lamoureux
Biography