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I received my PhD from McMaster University in 1983, and was a Research Scientist at the ECCC National Hydrology Research Centre in Saskatoon from 1984 until 2013. During this time, my research focused on the hydrology of the Canadian High Arctic and the Mackenzie River Basin, with much of my research over this period of time carried out in the Mackenzie Delta region of the NWT, with hydrologic studies of the Mackenzie Delta and the uplands to the east of the Delta. Since joining Laurier as a Canada Research Chair, my research has continued to focus on climate change issues in the NWT, and specifically at two long term research watersheds near Inuvik, NWT. These include Havikpak Creek and Trail Valley Creek.
This research is integrated into the Laurier – Government of the NWT Partnership program.
The primary focus of my research is the understanding of, and ability to predict the impact of climate change on the hydrology of arctic Canada. Specifically I am interested in understanding the integrated impact of changes in: climate, vegetation, permafrost, and snow, on lake levels and streamflow. My research integrates field observations of changes in hydrology in the western Canadian Arctic with both remote sensing and high resolution, numerical modelling, in order to better understand past and future changes in hydrology.
Funded Research
- US Dept of Energy - Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment Arctic (2025-27)
- C-CORE. (2025-26)
- New Frontiers in Research Funds - Exploration. (2023-25)
- Canada-Inuit-UK Arctic Research Project. (2022-2025)
- Canada Foundation for Innovation (2016)
- Changing Arctic Network (CANet) (2013-25)
- Cold Regions Water Science Polar Knowledge Canada (2015-2018)
- ArcticNet (2015-18)
- NSERC Discovery Grant (2016-27)
- Northern Water Futures (2017-25)
- Canada Research Chairs (2013-27)
Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America
J. Tuzo Wilson Award, Canadian Geophysical Union
I am frequently recruiting highly qualified students for MSc, PhD and Postdoctoral Fellows in fields of Arctic Hydrology. I am especially interested in students who have northern research experience, have expertise in model development and application and are dedicated to carrying out research in the Canadian Arctic.
- Recent, selected journal papers Krogh, S. A., Pomeroy, J. W., & Marsh, P. (2017). "Diagnosis of the Hydrology of a Small Arctic Basin at the Tundra-Taiga Transition using a Physically Based Hydrological Model". Journal of Hydrology, 550, 685–703.
- Derksen, C., Xu, X., Dunbar, R. S., Colliander, A., Kim, Y., Kimball, J., P. Marsh… J. Stephens. (2017). "Retrieving landscape freeze/thaw state from Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) radar and radiometer measurements." Remote Sensing of Environment, 48–62.
- Wrona, E., Rowlandson, T. L., Nambiar, M., Berg, A. A., & Marsh, P. (2017). "Validation of the Soil Moisture Active Passive ( SMAP ) Satellite Soil Moisture Retrieval in an Arctic Tundra Environment." Geophysical Research Letters, 44, 4152–4158.
- Woo, M. k., & Marsh, P. (2016). "Snow Distribution and Snowpack Characteristics". In V. P. Singh (Ed.), Handbook of Applied Hydrology (Second Edi). New York: McGraw Hill Book Co.
- Pan, X., Yang, D., Li, Y., Barr, A., Helgason, W., Hayashi, M., … Li, Y. (2016). "Bias Corrections of Precipitation Measurements across Experimental Sites in Different Ecoclimatic Regions of Western Canada." The Cyrosphere, 10, 2347–2360.
- Helbig, M., Wischnewski, K., Gosselin, G. H., Biraud, S. C., Bogoev, I., Chan, W. S., … Sonnentag, O. (2016). "Addressing a systematic bias in carbon dioxide flux measurements with the EC150 and the IRGASON open-path gas analyzers." Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 228–229, 349–359.
- Shi, X., Marsh, P., & Yang, D. (2015). "Warming spring air temperatures, but delayed spring streamflow in an Arctic headwater basin." Environmental Research Letters, 10(6), 64003.
- Crasto, N., Hopkinson, C., Forbes, D. L., Lesack, L., Marsh, P., Spooner, I., & van der Sanden, J. J. (2015). "A LiDAR-based decision-tree classification of open water surfaces in an Arctic delta." Remote Sensing of Environment, 164, 90–102.
- Debeer, C. M., Wheater, H. S., Quinton, W. L., Carey, S. K., Stewart, R. E., Mackay, M. D., & Marsh, P. (2014). "The changing cold regions network: Observation, diagnosis and prediction of environmental change in the Saskatchewan and Mackenzie River Basins, Canada." Science China Earth Sciences.
- Yang, D., Shi, X., & Marsh, P. (2014). "Variability and extreme of Mackenzie River daily discharge during 1973–2011." Quaternary International, 1–10.
- Yang, D., Marsh, P., & Ge, S. (2014). "Heat Flux Calculations for Mackenzie and Yukon Rivers." Polar Science.
- Lesack, L., Marsh, P., Hicks, F., & Forbes, D. (2014). "Local spring warming drives earlier river-ice breakup in a large arctic delta." Geophysical Research Letters, 7.
- Lesack, L., Marsh, P., Forbes, D., & Hicks, F. (2013). "Timing, duration, and magnitude of peak annual water levels during ice breakup in the Mackenzie Delta and the role of river discharge." Water Resour. Res, 1–16.
- GEOG335: Snow and the Environment
- Geog381: Hydrology
- GEOG655: Snow Hydrology
The Laurier Trail Valley Creek (TVC) Research Watershed is located 50 km north of Inuvik, NWT and 80 km south of the Beaufort Sea. TVC is underlain by ice rich continuous permafrost and is dominated by Arctic tundra with patches of shrubs. TVC has over 30 years of continuous research data covering discharge, lake levels, weather stations, snowcover, permafrost conditions, vegetation, eddy covariance measurements of water, energy and carbon fluxes, and drone, aircraft and satellite remote sensing. It is a unique research site in the Canadian Arctic and attracts Arctic researchers from around the globe.
A portion of the data is deposited at: https://borealisdata.ca/dataverse/trailvalley
Contact Info:
Office location: Arts 3E18
Office hours: By appointment.