Claudio Aporta

Mapping Inuit Sea Ice Knowledge, Use, and Change in Nunavut, Canada (Cape Dorset, Igloolik, Pangnirtung)

This chapter reviews the efforts under SIKU-ISIUOP to expand upon previous research that characterized the importance of sea ice processes, use, and change around the Baffin Island communities of Cape Dorset, Igloolik, and Pangnirtung, Nunavut. In these three communities, local ice conditions are intertwined with daily activities and provide a means of traveling and hunting, as well as sustaining marine wildlife and aspects of Inuit culture. In order for people to effectively travel and hunt on the sea ice, they have to become knowledgeable about the complexity and dynamism of the oceanic environment. Through these understandings and long-term experience and observation, local experts (such as Inuit elders and active hunters) are acutely aware of the local and regional manifestations of climate change, as indicated by long-term changes and increased unpredictability of sea ice. Specifically, Inuit have observed changes in floe edge position, weather, the timing of freeze-up and breakup, ice thickness, and the presence of multi-year ice. This chapter reviews specific indicators used to evaluate sea ice changes, offers a regional comparison of sea ice changes in the three communities, and provides an overview of some of the local implications of sea ice changes.

The Sea, the Land, the Coast, and the Winds: Understanding Inuit Sea Ice Use in Context

This chapter attempts to place Inuit sea ice knowledge in a broader context, first in connection to the knowledge of other environmental features and second within the practices of Inuit spatial orienteering and travel. The premise of this chapter is that any attempt to understand aspects of Inuit environmental knowledge without taking into account the context of mobility is limiting, as travel was an integral part of Inuit life before their establishment in permanent settlements. Inuit identities and environmental knowledge were historically connected not only to specific places (like a camp or the floe edge) but also, and significantly, to life on the move. The land, the sea, the floe edge, the shores, the sky, and the winds are all inseparable parts of the environment in which Inuit live. This chapter describes the two distinctive environments in which Inuit life takes place, namely the land and the sea, as well as the highly significant environment constituted by the shores, and how they all fit into a broader spatial framework constituted by the winds. The research for this chapter was undertaken in Igloolik, Nunavut.

SIKU: International Polar Year Project #166 (An Overview)

The SIKU (Sea Ice Knowledge and Use) project emerged in response to the growing public and scholarly attention to the environmental knowledge of the Arctic residents, as well as to the rising concerns about the impact of climate change on Arctic environment and polar sea ice. The special momentum for the SIKU project was created by International Polar Year (IPY) 2007–2008 that launched a new era of international and interdisciplinary collabration and partnership with northern communities. This introductory chapter tells how the SIKU project has originated and developed in 2004–2005; it reviews its structure made of various regional and individual initiatives, and covers major activities undertaken by the team during 2006–2009. It summarizes the key scientific outcomes and public messages of the SIKU project, as well as its contribution to the overall science program of IPY 2007–2008. It ends up with the synopsis of the present volume with the acknowledgements to many institutions and individuals who were instrumental to the success of the SIKU project.