• Arctic and Sub-arctic Lowlands
• Trail Valley Creek
• Havikpak Creek
• Scotty Creek
• Baker Creek

14. Baker Creek, NWT

Aerial view over part of the Baker Creek basin (Photo: Chris Spence)

Location and Physical Characteristics

• Baker Creek is located just a few kilometers north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (62°35'N, 114°26'W), with a draining area of about 150 km²;
• Stream network characterized by lakes connected by short channels;
• Landscape is predominantly exposed bedrock, open black spruce forest, lakes, and bogs, fens, and peat plateaus;
• Basin is in the zone of discontinuous permafrost;
• 1971-2000 climate (Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC), Yellowknife A) is characterized by cool, short summers with average July and January temperatures of 17 °C and -27 °C, respectively;
• Annual total precipitation is on average 281 mm, with 42% falling as snow.

History

• The research basin was established to support the Mackenzie GEWEX Study (MAGS II), and has since been used as a research platform for the IP3 Network, and CCRN; (Students from the University of Saskatchewan and Carleton University have worked here);
• Baker Creek has also been used as part of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada's (AANDC) cumulative impacts monitoring programme;
• Agency support has come from Environment Canada, AANDC, and Natural Resources Canada.

Current Science Focus and Instrumentation

• Research focus is mainly on runoff processes and storage dynamics involving lakes, exposed bedrock, soil-covered hillslopes, and wetlands;
• Long-term monitoring in or near Baker Creek includes MSC station at Yellowknife A and a Water Survey of Canada (WSC) gauge on Baker Creek at the outlet of Lower Martin Lake;
• Basin is instrumented in a nested fashion so as to build long term records at six additional hydrometric gauges on key tributaries;
  • six wells and soil moisture and temperature nests in representative soils columns;
  • one deep (<10 m) ground thermistor string;
  • five climate towers (one with turbulent flux sensors); and,
  • five water chemistry stations.
• The basin has been flown with LiDAR, and a 1 m horizontal resolution DEM exists, and land cover distribution was determined with SPOT 5 imagery in 2009.   

Other Resources and Further Information

• Data catalogue for Baker Creek;
• Presentation on Baker Creek at CCRN's Targeted Process Studies Workshop, Hamilton, ON, September 12-13, 2013

For further information contact: