NASA and Ice Measurement

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is once again sending a team of scientists to the Arctic to assess the thickness and extent of polar ice.

As I have noted on numerous occasions, the Arctic, is where climate change is happening first.

Science recognizes that fact and knows that what happens in our home is a forerunner of what will happen elsewhere on the planet, so they are keeping a very close watch on the Arctic ice.

Using DC-8 aircraft specially outfitted with radar, high resolution video cameras, and laser measuring devices, NASA will take ice measurements around Greenland that will be compared to those taken in previous years. Polar ice has been monitored in this manner, or by satellite imagery, for a number of years, and from the data already collected we know that glaciers are melting and the amount of older, multi-year ice, is declining.

According to a recent National Snow and Ice Data Center report Arctic sea ice coverage for February 2010 was 14.58 million square kilometres - 1.06 million square kilometres less ice cover than the 1979 to 2000 average for February.

This is something that should be of concern to everyone as the ice in our homeland plays more than just a role in allowing Inuit to engage in traditional activities such as hunting, it also plays a critical role in moderating the global climate by reflecting sunlight and heat away from the earth. As multi-year ice is lost the Arctic absorbs more and more sunlight and heat, and the overall temperature of our planet will rise.

One of the things that I consistently note in climate change articles and information is the lack of Inuit involved in the scientific data collection. It is a slow process to change this, but Inuit are doing it. As co-chair of the ArcticNet Board of Directors I am ensuring that Inuit input is increasingly included in scientific work in the Arctic.

ArcticNet is a Network of Centres of Excellence of Canada that brings together scientists and managers in the natural, human health and social sciences with their partners from Inuit organizations, northern communities, federal and provincial agencies and the private sector to study the impacts of climate change in the coastal Canadian Arctic.

Research projects are increasingly focused towards Integrated Regional Impact Studies (IRISes) dedicated to the consequences of change on the society and ecosystems in the coastal Canadian High Arctic, Eastern Arctic and Hudson Bay. An IRIS summarizes and combines knowledge and models of relevant aspects of the ecosystems of a region affected by change, with the objective of producing a prognosis of the magnitude and socio-economic costs of the impacts of change.

Each Arctic region also has an Inuit Research Advisor (IRA) working to increase the number of Inuit-led projects. The IRAs connect Inuit and youth to research projects in their communities.

As well, earlier this year ITK launched the Inuit Knowledge Centre (IKC), which plays a role in coordinating Arctic Research. Inuit scientists and researchers are working at the Nunavik Research Centre in Kuujjuaq, currently expanding its facilities once again. The new research centre under construction in Inuvik will also benefit from this work, as will those in Nain and Kangidluasuk in the Nunatsiavut region. The Nunatsiavut Government is holding Tukisinnik “to understand”, a special community forum on Research in Nunatsiavut in early June to advance these issues.

One day soon I hope there will be Inuit researchers and Inuit scientists engaged in these projects, including the Arctic research conducted by NASA.

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