Far North Science

Rainbow over Coronation Gulf, Arctic Canada

Two British explorers traveling the Arctic Coast of Canada in Feathercraft folding kayaks and sled dog teams have reached the end of their journey in Kugluktuk, in the far reaches of Nunavut. But not before finding insight into the resilience of Inuit and Athabascan people in the face of climate change.

Northern people have always adapted, says Glenn Morris, in his final blog entry posted on Aug. 16.

Maybe it’s the people of the South who will struggle when the temperature rises above 100, the hurricanes blow and the droughts dry the fields.

“One point that was made to us and it’s the only time this point has been made to us — but it was very profound — and that is as a culture the aboriginal people — the Inuit, the Inuvialuit, the Gwich’in and everyone else are very, very adaptable people,” Morris wrote.

And it was put to us that a lot of these people here, the native people here, will adapt. They will take on the challenges of changing environment and climate change but in actual fact city dwellers and people who live down south will not be able to do that because they don’t intrinsically have the necessary skills of living in the environment and being able to adapt to it in simple terms.

Morris and Stephen Doughty completed a 3,000-mile kayak and dog-sled Arctic Voice expedition to visit Inuit villages and create links to schools in England and give publicize Native views.

During the trip, the expedition published an detailed website with links on Inuit culture, climate change, schools and weekly blogs about from the travelers. They confronted ice, bears, stiff headwinds, frigid waves and rigors of long hours paddling the flexible Feathercraft kayaks.

As they approached Cape Kendall only a few weeks ago, they spied two people fishing on a peninsula in the distance. It was Joanne and Jack, president of the local Hunters and Trappers Association. Over an Arctic charr dinner, Jack explained some of the changes seen in the village as the seasons shift.

Jack with the Arctic charr

We wondered why the seas seemed very barren in terms of life. He told us that the fish are tending to move further north. In fact all the indications we are getting from most of the people we are meeting, hunters and otherwise are that new insects are appearing, new flowers are appearing and animals that previously lived in the lower environs are now moving north. There are big, big changes going on.

He was also telling us that the ice rink — ice hockey is of course very popular in these parts — indeed Canada all over — they have a covered ice rink in Kugluktuk and in recent years it is no longer freezing over.

So there are marked rises in the temperature and they’re impacting on people’s lives here really quite dramatically — actually changing their lifestyles.

Arctic Voice kayak route

The Arctic Voice project is only one of several Far North expeditions this summer connected to the International Polar Foundation, many focused on gathering insight into how global warming and shifting climate has begun to change life for people, animals and ice in the Arctic.

People have been be skiing, walking, traveling by dog team, visiting villages, gauging how the cryosphere has changed. Most of these trips provide extensive on-line portals into their daily challenges, with features aimed at school children, satellite phone dispatches and photographs, and occasional live feeds.

Eight different endeavors link to the IPF’s Polar Expeditions website, including a French schooner drifting (on purpose) in the pack ice and a 2008 mission to measure ice thickness by flying over the pole in a zeppelin.