The Climatology, Hydrology and Paleo-Environmental Lab (CHAPEL)

Overview

The Climatology, Hydrology and Paleo-Environmental Lab (CHAPEL) was started in January, 2017. Research in CHAPEL is focused on North American climatology and hydrology of the past 2000 years, the present and the near future. Our goal is a better comprehension of decadal-to-centennial climate variability, just beyond the scale of instrumental records, yet vital for our understanding of regional climate and hydrology, anthropogenic global warming impacts, and water management for infrequent extremes, such as sustained droughts and floods.

We use a wide variety of methods and approaches. For paleoclimate and paleo-hydrology reconstructions, we use tree-rings, pollen preserved in lake sediments, and other biological and physical proxies from lake sediments (i.e., diatom, charcoal, grain size, megnetic susceptibility, and varved sediment analysis). Research tools that we use for modern and near-future projected climatology and hydrology include: instrumental climatological and hydrological databases and archived GCM and RCM runs. Our research is heavily statistical, and methods used include multivariate statistics, time series analysis, Monte Carlo techniques and regression analysis.

Photo courtesy of David Ward. Cross-section view of tree rings of Northern white cedar (Thuya occidentalis) sampled from the Parc national de la Gaspésie.

CHAPEL is presently completely equipped for tree-ring based climate reconstructions, including extensive lab space, Windows computers, dissecting microscopes, WinDENDRO measuring software and other tree-ring software, a LA2400 Calibrated Color Optical scanner (2400 dpi resolution) and field equipment. It is also equipped for pollen based paleo-environmental reconstructions with two Leica DM2500 compound microscopes with cameras. Additionally, CHAPEL is equipped for sediment charcoal analysis to reconstruct forest fire frequencies with a Leica M80 dissecting microscope and WinSEEDLE image analysis software.

I collaborate closely with Professor Matthew Peros (CRC Tier II Chair) of Bishop’s University. We have full access to his extensively equipped paleo-environmental research laboratory.

About

Jeannine-Marie St-Jacques

(Ph.D. Queen's, 2007)
Associate Professor

Jeannine-Marie St-Jacques received a PhD in Biology, specialty in environmental science, from Queen’s University in 2007 and joined Concordia’s Department of Geography, Planning and Environment in 2017. She holds master’s degrees in botany and mathematics. After her PhD, she worked for nine years as a Research Associate at the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative, University of Regina. Dr. St-Jacques’ expertise is in paleoclimatology, climatology and hydrology. Dr. St-Jacques is funded by NSERC. She collaborates with a broad spectrum of colleagues and students, who have expertise in environmental studies and sciences, climatology, climate modeling, botany, geology, statistics, aquatic ecology and Indigenous studies.

Read her full profile

Publications

Teaching

Research

Current Research Projects

NSERC CREATE grant, Science Leadership for Global Sustainability Grant 2020-2026, D. Matthews PI, with C. Potvin, E. Bennett, J. Cardille, P. Peres-Neto, C. Bulle, N. Mousseau, G. MacDonald, A. Luers and S. Turner. St-Jacques as co-investigator
FRQNT New University Researchers Start-Up Grant 2018, Environmental Change in Southeastern Québec During the Past Millennium, Principal Investigator.
NSERC Discovery Grant, 2017, Low-frequency Variability in Canadian Hydroclimate, Principal Investigator.
NSERC Collaborative Research and Development Grant, 2017, Supporting Adaptation Planning in the Athabasca River Basin with Advances in the Projection of Hydroclimatic Variability, co-Principal Investigator.

Past research activities

Summer 2022 – Gaspesie tree coring
Summer 2022 – Newfoundland sediment coring
Summer 2021 – Gaspésie fieldwork
Summer 2020 – Peatbog coring in the Îles de la Madeleine, Quebec
Summer 2019 – Gaspésie tree-ring fieldwork
Summers of 2017 and 2018 – Gaspésie tree-ring fieldwork
Summer 2018 – Mount Orford lake coring

See all of Dr. St. Jacques' publications on her faculty profile

Students

Current students

Name	Degree	Research Area	Co-supervisor
Alexandre Pace	PhD student, January 2021-present	Tree-ring-based climate reconstructions of southern Québec	Dominique Arseneault, UQAR
Fateme Salemi	PhD student, September 2021-present	Paleo-flood reconstruction for the Ottawa River valley	M. Peros, Bishop’s University
Duane Noel	MSc masters student September 2019-present	The influence of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation on flood frequency on the western North American margin
Antoine Lachance	MSc student, July 2020-present	Paleotempestology in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Québec	M. Peros
Megan Tremblay	undergraduate hounour's BSc student, September 2021-present	Fire history of Albany Pine Bush, New York State	M. Peros
Ryan Collins	MSc candidate, September 2022-present	A pollen-based reconstruction of the Acadian forest of New Brunswick over the last millennium	Prof. Les Cwynar, University of New Brunswick
Charlotte Whyte	summer undergraduate research assistant 2021 Concordia undergraduate student research award	Forest fire reconstruction for Scotstown Bog, Québec for three millennia after Deglaciation	M. Peros
Thomas Cheung	undergraduate honour’s student fall 2024-winter 2025 and summer 2024 undergraduate research student

Past students

Name	Degree	Research Area	Co-supervisor
Marc-Olivier Brault	post doctoral fellow June 2018-May 2019	Hydroclimate projections for the Athabasca River Valley, Canada, using CORDEX
Alexandre Pace	MSc May 2018-July 2020	A 211-year river reconstruction of the Chic-Choc and McGerrigle Mountains of the Gaspésie from tree-rings
Claire O'Neill-Sanger	MSc May 2018-July 2020	A 2300-year reconstruction of environmental change from Mont-Orford National Park, southeastern Québec, using high-resolution pollen, charcoal and X-ray fluorescence records
Taline Kalindjian	MEnv September 2017- May 2018	Understanding the public’s perception towards nuclear wastes by assessing public participation in environmental assessment: a dual case study of radioactive waste management in Canada
Sabrina Mruczek	undergraduate honour’s BSc student, September 2020-May 2021	Paleo-flood records from the Eastern Townships, Québec	M. Peros
Charlotte Whyte	undergraduate honour’s BSc student, August 2020-May 2021	Forest fire reconstruction for Scotstown Bog, Québec for three millennia after Deglaciation	M. Peros
Jessica Lapenna	undergraduate honour’s BSc student at Bishop’s University, September 2020-May 2021	Common Era fire history of two peat lands on the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Québec using micro charcoal analysis	M. Peros
Sabrina Mruczek	summer undergraduate research assistant, June 2020-August 2021	Paleo-flood records from the Eastern Townships, Québec	M. Peros, Bishop’s University
Duane Noel	NSERC undergraduate research assistant May 2018-August 2018, and May 2019-August 2019 and Undergraduate Honour's BSc	Effects of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation on flood maxima and frequency on the North American West Coast
Zachary Masson	undergraduate research assistant Fall 2018-winter 2019
Alexandre Pace	CUSRA undergraduate research assistant May 2017-May 2018
Anna Michetti	summer undergraduate research assistant 2017

Student first-author publication from CHAPEL

O’Neill-Sanger, C.E., J.M. St-Jacques, M. Peros and K.A. Schwartz (2021)
Reconstructed high-resolution forest dynamics and human impacts for the past 2300 years from the Parc national du Mont-Orford, southeastern Québec, Canada. Holocene, 31: 1019-1032