In search of climate archives in eastern Canadian lakes

Until July 15, 2025, marine researchers from Kiel University are conducting an expedition in the canadian province Quebec. They are focusing their investigations on three major lakes: Lac Saint-Jean, Lac Témiscouata, and Lac Matapédia. They aim to obtain high-resolution geophysical data from the sediment archives to gain a comprehensive understanding of past environmental and climatic conditions. The expedition, called POUTINE (Paleo UndersTanding of Canadian lacustrine Environments), will contribute to a better understanding of North America's long-term climate history and the dynamics of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) and its influence on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

Over the past four weeks, the researchers have thoroughly investigated the lakes using high-resolution reflection seismic measurements. "Our goal is to develop the most complete picture possible of past climate changes. To achieve this, we are following a 'land-to-sea' approach — integrating data from lakes in the Canadian interior with sediment records from the Labrador Sea," explains Dr. Kai-Frederik Lenz of Kiel University's Institute of Geosciences. The results obtained so far are crucial for further sampling. "Our data sets show great potential for for retrieving valuable sediment cores. Analyzing these cores will be essential for reconstructing past deglaciation events and for building robust climate models," Lenz adds.

Eastern Canada is a key region in the global climate system, both historically and with regard to future climate change. To better understand the long-term climate history of North America, the international research team, consisting of researchers from Kiel University and the Université Laval in Quebec, is focusing on the dynamics of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) and its climatic effects in particular. In the Labrador Sea, the AMOC links warm, saline surface waters with cold deep waters as part of the global thermohaline circulation. During the last glaciation (Wisconsinan), and particularly during the transition to the Holocene around 12,000 years ago, the LIS's massive freshwater inflows resulted from melting and led to significant AMOC system disruptions — with climatic consequences reaching as far as Europe.

"By systematically integrating data from lakes, fjords, and continental shelf regions, we aim to reconstruct glaciation and meltwater events in the Northern Hemisphere with greater precision — and thereby improve the reliability of future climate projections," says Dr. Felix Groß of Kiel University's Institute of Geosciences and the Center for Ocean and Society (CeOS), part of the Kiel Marine Science (KMS) research priority area. The project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under the SPP 1006 priority program of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP).

Original release from the research priority area Kiel Marine Science (KMS) at Kiel University