Simba the apparatus — not the lion — helping measure ice thickness in N.W.T.

ReSEC members talking about the research on monitoring lake ice conditions using SIMBAs in the NWT with CBC North.

To most people, the names Simba and Mufasa might be characters in The Lion King.

But to researchers out of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. they’re also the names of instruments monitoring snow and ice on lakes in the N.W.T., to better understand climate change and improve public safety.

Arash Rafat, a master of science student involved in the project, helped install a pair of snow and ice mass balance apparatuses — or SIMBAs for short — near the Ranney Hill trail outside of Yellowknife, back in November.