Department of Geography
    Memorial University of Newfoundland
    St. John's, NL
    A1B 3X9

    Office: SN 1042
    Tel: (709) 864-2525
    Fax: (709) 864-3119
     E mail: tbell[at]mun[dot]ca
                                                          

Research

	Society, Knowledge & Values
	Health & Well-being
	Sustainable Communities & Regions
	Climate & Environmental Change

I am a geographer who studies the Canadian landscape from a variety of perspectives, including recent geomorphic evolution, climate change impacts and human-environment interactions. I am a field scientist with a geographical focus in Arctic and Atlantic Canada.

In chronological terms, my program of research extends from the Pleistocene glaciation (the most recent Ice Age) to the present-day. My record of scholarship ranges from cultural adaptations to climate change of prehistoric peoples to health impacts of urban geochemical landscapes.

Over my 30-year career, I have created a unique intellectual signature of innovative interdisciplinary research that characterizes a particular and distinctive approach to understanding how environments have changed in the past and the impacts of those changes on natural and human systems.

Sample Community-Based Research Projects

SmartICE

The SmartICE sea-ice monitoring and information service was developed with Inuit to integrate their knowledge of ice safety with new community-based monitoring technology and satellite imagery—a world’s first in climate change adaptation.

CARRA

The basic premise of the Coastal Archaeological Resources Risk Assessment is that coastal heritage is at risk from climate change and heritage managers are largely unaware of the magnitude of the issue or what should be done about it.

LeadNL

The primary objective of the LeadNL bio-monitoring survey was to determine if there is an increased exposure for children to residential lead in older housing stock in St. John’s.

Lake Melville: Avativut, Kanuittailinnivut (Our Environment, Our Health):
The primary research objective was to understand how the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric development would impact the Lake Melville ecosystem and Inuit who depend on it for their wellbeing.

Education

Post-Doc (1992-1994) McGill University
PhD (1993) University of Alberta
MSc (1987) Memorial University of Newfoundland
BA (Mod) (1983) Trinity College Dublin

General interest/Popular articles:

2021

How Inuit avoid falling through thinning Arctic ice. National Geographic
Predicting Arctic Ice Cover-A Marriage Between Tradition and Technology. The Culture Cure Podcast; Spotify

2020

Sea-Ice Knowledge for Travel Safety by Inuit for Inuit. ECO Magazine In Canada, Inuit Communities Are Shaping Research Priorities. Undark MagazineSea Ice. Science for the People podcastSmartICE: Supporting Inuit knowledge of the landscape with technology. CBC Quirks and QuarksSmartICE: Tracking Ice Safety in a Changing Climate. Root & Stem Magazine

2018

Making Sea-Ice Travel Safer. Above & Beyond – Canada’s Arctic Journal
The SmartICE social enterprise: innovative climate-change adaptation. Policy – Canadian Politics and Public Policy
Finding safe routes across melting Arctic ice with new tech and Inuit knowledge. The Narwhal
How 'smart ice' is helping to save lives on Canada's thinning sea ice. The Guardian
People of the Sea Ice See Cracks Forming. Hakai Magazine

Select Publications 2018-present

2021

Wilson, K.J., Arreak, A., Itulu, J., Sikumiut, Ljubicic, G.J., and Bell, T. “When we’re on the ice, all we have is our Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit”: Mobilizing Inuit knowledge as a sea ice safety adaptation strategy in Mittimatalik, Nunavut. Arctic.

Calder, R.S.D., Schartup , A.T., Bell T., and Sunderland, E.M. Muskrat Falls: Methylmercury, Food Security and Canadian Hydroelectric Development. In S. Crocker & L. Crocker (eds.), Muskrat Falls: How a Mega Dam Became a Predatory Formation. St. John's, Canada: Memorial University of Newfoundland Press.

2020

Wilson, K.J., Bell, T., Arreak, A., Koonoo, B., Angnatsiak, D., and Ljubicic, G.J. Changing the role of non-Indigenous research partners in practice to support Inuit self-determination in research. Arctic Science (doi.org/10.1139/as-2019-0021).

2019

Misiuk, B., Diesing, M., Aitken, A., Brown, C.J., Edinger, E.N., and Bell, T. A spatially explicit comparison of quantitative and categorical modelling approaches for mapping seabed sediments using Random Forest. Geosciences, 9: 254.

Misiuk, B., Bell, T., Aitken, A., Brown, C.J., and Edinger, E.N. Mapping Arctic clam abundance using multiple datasets, models, and a spatially explicit accuracy assessment. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 76: 2349-2361.

Miszaniec, J., and Bell, T. Charcoal Analysis Reveals Dorset Use and Selection of Firewood at Phillip’s Garden, Northern Peninsula, Newfoundland, Canada. Canadian Journal of Archaeology/Journal Canadien d’Archéologie, 43:24–39.

2018

Bell, T. and Brown, T.M. 2018. From Science to Policy in the Eastern Canadian Arctic: An Integrated Regional Impact Study (IRIS) of Climate Change and Modernization. ArcticNet, Quebec City, 560 pp.

Misiuk, B., Lecours, V., and Bell, T. A multiscale approach to mapping seabed sediments. PLoS One, 13: e0193647.

Ford, J.D., Couture, N., Bell, T., Clark, D.G. Climate change and Canada’s north coast: Research trends, progress, and future directions. Environmental Reviews, 26: 82-92.

Barrand, N. E., Way, R. G., Bell, T., and Sharp, M. J. Recent changes in area and thickness of Torngat Mountain glaciers (northern Labrador, Canada). The Cryosphere, 11: 157-168.

Ford, J.D., Couture, N., Bell, T., Clark, D.G. Climate change and Canada’s north coast: Research trends, progress, and future directions. Environmental Reviews, doi.org/10.1139/er-2017-0027.

Forbes, D.L., Bell, T., Manson, G.K., and Couture, N.J. Chapter 8: Coastal Environments and Drivers. In Bell, T. and Brown, T.M (eds), From Science to Policy in the Eastern Canadian Artic: An Integrated Regional Impact Study (IRIS) of Climate Change and Modernization. ArcticNet, Quebec City, 211-249.

Lamoureux, S.F., Bell, T., Medeiros, A., Shirley, J., Hayward, J., Jamieson, R., and Lamhonwah, D. Chapter 14: Water Security. In Bell, T. and Brown, T.M (eds), From Science to Policy in the Eastern Canadian Artic: An Integrated Regional Impact Study (IRIS) of Climate Change and Modernization. ArcticNet, Quebec City, 369-391.

Lemay, M., Allard, M., and Bell, T. Chapter 15: Living on Permafrost: Background and Case Studies for Adapting Community Infrastructure in a Changing Climate. In Bell, T. and Brown, T.M (eds), From Science to Policy in the Eastern Canadian Artic: An Integrated Regional Impact Study (IRIS) of Climate Change and Modernization. ArcticNet, Quebec City, 393-415.

Deering, R., Bell, T., Forbes, D.L., Campbell, C., and Edinger, E. Morphological characterization of submarine slope failures in a semi-enclosed fjord, Frobisher Bay, eastern Canadian Arctic. In Lintern, D. G., et al. (eds), Subaqueous Mass Movements. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 47: 367-376.