CL I M A T E T H ROUG H G EOSCI E NCE Humans ha v e only obse rv e d and r e cor de d t he clima t e dir e ctly using r e liab le me asuring e quipme nt f or le ss t han a cent ur y b ut ge oscie nt ist s can fnd e vide nce of drama t ic past clima t e c hange on al l t ime scale s ranging fr om hundr e ds t o millions of y e ar s Using e vide nce colle cte d fr om lake b ot t om se dime nt s or ice t e ns of t housands of y e ar s old ge oscie nt ist s can r e const ruct past clima t ic condit ions t o be t t e r unde r st and t he na t ural v ar iabilit y in t he clima t e syst e m T his backg r ound inf or ma t ion is ne e de d t o pr ope r ly asse ss t he impact humans ar e ha ving on t he clima t e t oda y P R O TE C TI N G TH E M O ST VU LN E R AB LE T HE PERM A FR O S T PR O BL EM Mor e than half of Canada is unde r lain b y pe r mafr ost a fr o z e n subsurface la y e r t ha t can range fr om a fe w me tr e s t o hundr e ds of me t r e s t hick Man y comm unit ie s in nort he r n Canada ar e b uilt on pe r mafr ost and t he y ar e no w on t he fr ont line s of clima t e c hange P e r mafr ost is t ha wing and w ha t w e r e pr e viously st ab le landscape s ha v e sudde nly be come wa t e r log ge d and unst ab le and subje ct t o slumping and failur e Ge oscient ist s ar e obse rving the se se nsit iv e Ar ct ic landscape s me asuring and mapping subt le c hange s using sa t e llit e image r y as w e ll as clue s g aine d fr om subsurface drill cor e s to he lp unde r stand and inf or m our r e sponse t o t he c hanging landscape B EY ON D OU R BOR DE R S Canada has ple dge d it s be st e fort s t o under st and and adapt t o clima t e c hange Ge oscie nt ist s w or k to unde r st and the pot e nt ial e fe ct s of clima te c hange on t he land and he lp us adapt t o it s impact s T hr ough int e r na t ional collabora tion e vide nce g a t he r e d b y Canadian geoscie nt ist s is fe d int o t he g lobal clima t e models w hic h help t o pr e dict fut ur e clima t e c hange and land syst e m r e sponse s Geoscientists using their understanding of climate var iations throughout E ar ths hist ory play a critical rol e in helping society understand presentday climate c hange humanitys infuences on these changes and developing best strategies to adap t t o climate change Geoscientists will continue to serve a critical role in helping society monitor and adapt to these chang es Decisionmakers need r obust scientifc informat ion about the Earths past and present cl imate to det ermine the potent ial range of future chang es 8 GEOSCIENCE AND CANADA UNDERST ANDING OUR EARTH THE VIT AL ROLE OF CANADAS GEOSCIENTISTS DI D Y OU KNO W that one of the worlds frst projects to evaluate a commercialsc ale c arbon c apture and stor age C C S system was in Canada At W e yburn S ask atche wan a p r o j e c t was launched in 2000 and completed in 20 1 2 to monitor and study carbon dioxide C O 2 injection and storage in a depleted oilfeld C arbon dioxide injected into the W e yburn Oilfeld enhanced oil recover y increasing the felds oil production by an additional 1 0 000 barrels per day and demonstrated the technical and economic feasibility of permanent capture and storage of carbon dioxide in geological formations CLIMA TE CH ANGE C Bohm D F orbesF B Y Denis Lacelle