The Arnaud River (formerly known as the Payne River) is a river in Nunavik,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada, flowing from the low

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

x of the

Ungava Peninsula The Ungava Peninsula of Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, is bounded by Hudson Bay to the west, Hudson Strait to the north, and Ungava Bay to the east. This peninsula is part of the Labrador Peninsula, and covers about . Its northernmost point is Ca ...

through a series of

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s to

Ungava Bay Ungava Bay (french: baie d'Ungava, ; iu, ᐅᖓᕙ ᑲᖏᖅᓗᒃ/) is a bay in northeastern Canada separating Nunavik (far northern Quebec) from Baffin Island. Although not geographically apparent, it is considered to be a marginal sea of the ...

. Its mean discharge is approximately 15 km³ per year, but the river flows only in the summer as it is frozen to several metres for the rest of the year. The total length of the river is about 377 kilometres, but there are several main channels in the upper reaches of the river, most of them unnamed and hardly sighted even by the native

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

. The Inuit village of Kangirsuk lies near the mouth of the Arnaud River on the north shore of Payne Bay, inland from the western coast of Ungava Bay. About upstream from Kangirsuk is the Hammer of Thor archaeological site. Most of the basin is almost totally barren owing to the harsh

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

- the mean temperature is only about even at the height of summer and continuous permafrost extends deep from only half a metre below the surface. The only vegetation is low shrubs at the lower levels, for no trees grow within the Arnaud basin even in the most sheltered sites, and the river freezes for too long to make

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

development feasible.

Gallery

File:Payne River, Nunavuk.jpg, Payne River at Kangirsuk File:Inuit Encampment, Payne River (Arnaud) (2241).jpg, Inuit Encampment, Payne River (Arnaud) (2241)

References

{{Commons category, Rivière Arnaud Rivers of Nord-du-Québec Nunavik Tributaries of Hudson Bay