Far North Science

Alaska Natives have warned that the Earth “moves faster,” seasons have shifted. Break-up comes sooner, ice forms later. The old ways of reading the land and sea have been undercut as the climate changes.

Spotted seal in the Bering Sea
NOAA Photo Library

Scientists have increasingly listened to these observations, recognizing that such “Traditional Ecological Knowledge” offers data and insight into the Arctic world.

Canadian researchers have also begun to focus on the value of Native knowledge in studies discussed this past week at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

“The Inuit have spent thousands of years working and living in the Arctic,” begins a release from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. “However, climate change is forcing them to change the traditional way of doing things.”

Bering Sea ice floes
NOAA Photo Library

Working with a research council grant, University of Guelph geographer Barry Smit has been studying how Inuit deal with climate change in the high Arctic village of Arctic Bay, and how knowledge gets shared between elders and youth.

In the face of rapidly changing climate, the Inuit don’t always get the tools they need to make the correct decisions for their lifestyles, Smit said during a discussion at the AAAS conference.

“We have plenty of climate change models for the Arctic, but often they do not measure the things the Inuit rely on to make the best decision on how to use their resources,” says Smit, the Canada Research Chair in Global Environmental Change. Smit is also a lead author in the fourth assessment by the International Panel on Climate Change.

In studies of how the Inuit adapt to climate change, Smit and colleagues go to coastal communities such as Arctic Bay, at the north end of Baffin Island.

From the release:

What interests Smit is that the transfer of knowledge between the old and the young does not happen as often – and the knowledge itself is no longer as relevant.

“The young are spending much more time in school. That’s time they used to spend out with their elders, learning how to hunt and fish,” says Smit. “But even if they were out on the land, the lessons their elders have to teach them no longer apply.

“A generation ago, Inuit used dogs to travel over sea ice. Now they use snowmobiles, which are faster and more convenient, but don’t sense thin ice like dogs do. As ice becomes more unpredictable with climate change, this is becoming a serious problem. Degradation of the permafrost is affecting travel on the land and the stability of some structures.”

Connecting traditional knowledge with modern science is a goal Smit pursues as part of ArcticNet, a Network of Centres of Excellence that studies the impact of climate change in the North.

“For the Inuit, the strength and direction of the wind is important for their travel and safety,” Smit said. “They also take note of changing ice breakup patterns, how close to the shore the ice is melting, and how quickly it is disintegrating. But we, the scientists, have detailed information on temperature, but less on the relationships between ice behaviour and Inuit travel and livelihoods.”