The ecological impact of a destructive salt-water storm surge from 1999 on the Mackenzie Delta region in Canada is unprecedented in 1,000 years, according to researchers at Queen’s and Carleton universities.
The storm surge has had a lasting impact on the region, including killing the majority of the surrounding vegetation, high concentrations of salt in the soil more than a decade later, and a change in the aquatic life from fresh to salt-water species.
“Our findings show this is ecologically unprecedented over the last millennium” said researcher John Smol. “The Arctic is on the front line of climate change. It’s a bellwether of things to come: what affects the Arctic eventually will affect us all.”
Read more at Queen's University