Fieldwork · February 2024
Nain Field Campaign — Nunatsiavut, Labrador
Instrument deployments, in-situ observations, and community engagement on the sea ice outside Nain, in support of my M.Sc. research at McGill University.
In February 2024 I travelled to Nain, the northernmost community in Nunatsiavut, to carry out field research for my M.Sc. thesis at McGill University. The campaign combined instrument work on the sea ice, careful data collection under Arctic winter conditions, and time spent with researchers and local partners who make this kind of northern fieldwork possible.
The observations we gathered are used alongside satellite products, ERA5 reanalysis, and CESM climate-model simulations to sharpen regional sea-ice projections for Labrador — work that matters both for climate science and for the community that lives with the ice every winter.
01 · Field operations
Instruments on the sea ice
I installed, operated, and maintained an automatic weather station on the sea ice, along with visible and infrared cameras for continuous environmental and ice monitoring. A radiometer was deployed to measure surface radiation fluxes relevant to the local surface energy balance. Every deployment involved calibration, on-site troubleshooting, and daily checks in Arctic winter conditions.
02 · Data & integration
From observation to model
The in-situ records were validated and quality-controlled on return, then used as a ground-truth reference for satellite retrievals and ERA5 reanalysis over Labrador. The same observations anchor comparisons with CESM simulations, helping translate a single winter's data into sharper regional projections of sea-ice change.
03 · Community engagement
In conversation with Nunatsiavut
The campaign was carried out in close collaboration with researchers and local partners in Nain. I presented the research objectives, methods, findings, and community relevance to the Nunatsiavut Research Centre — an exchange that shaped how the work is framed and communicated back to the region.
Field notebook
A short visual record
Click any photograph to open the lightbox. Use ← → to move between images, Esc to close.
Selected photographs from the February 2024 campaign. Additional imagery is retained in the project archive.