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. Model results 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).

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated January 16, 2026, 20:41 (UTC)
Created January 16, 2026, 20:41 (UTC)
contains_pii non
crisis_categories Canicules
criticality_level Faible
data_formats GeoTIF; HTML; PDF; XLS
fair_openness Level 2 - Machine-readable
geographic_scope Québec
sensitivity_level Faible
source_inventaire Inventaire_W
source_url https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/ac5d0559-d47c-432b-905a-d69d9d71b2a5
subject form_descriptors, nature_and_environment, science_and_technology
update_frequency not_planned
year_most_recent 2025-05-01 19:27:31.489000
year_start 2022-03-29 22:45:21.034000