Great Bear Lake Surface Water Temperature Monitoring 2021-2024

Fisheries and Oceans Canada collected surface water temperature data from Great Bear Lake from 2021 to 2024 as part of a multi-decade study on fisheries and environmental change. The research, conducted with strong community involvement including the Guardian Program, monitors trends in water quality to assess impacts on lake trout and other harvested species. This data contributes to understanding climate change effects on large northern lake ecosystems.

Use Cases

• Analyze surface water temperature trends from 2021 to 2024 to model thermal habitat suitability for cold-adapted lake trout.
• Correlate water temperature data with fisheries harvest levels to evaluate sustainable management strategies for Great Bear Lake.
• Use the multi-year temperature time series as a benchmark for monitoring climate change impacts on sub-Arctic aquatic ecosystems.
• Integrate community-collected temperature data with other water quality metrics to assess cumulative environmental impacts on primary productivity.

Strengths

• Data collection spans a defined four-year period from 2021 to 2024, providing a recent time series.
• Strong community and institutional collaboration involving Délı̨nę partners, the Renewable Resources Council, and the University of Manitoba.
• Part of a two-decade research series aimed at long-term synthesis of environmental change and fisheries impacts.

Limitations

• The specific data structure, including row count and column names, is not provided in the input.
• Geographic coverage is limited to the Great Bear Lake area within the Sahtú Settlement Area.
• Data availability is contingent on the agreement of the Délı̨nę Renewable Resources Council.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in collaboration with the Community of Délı̨nę, Délı̨nę Renewable Resources Council, Sahtú Renewable Resource Board, and University of Manitoba.

Collection Method

Surface water temperature data collected at depths of 0.1 to 1.0 meters using an RBR Maestro3 through community-led and collaborative sampling.

Time Range

2021 to 2024

Freshness

Data covers up to 2024, with metadata last updated in March 2026.

Geography

Great Bear Lake, located in the sub-Arctic and Arctic Circle within the Sahtú Settlement Area, Canada.