Other resources & reports
Northern resources
National Assessment: Northern Chapter
Through March 31, 2007, C-CIARN North participated in the Canadian Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Assessment. This nationwide effort, coordinated by Natural Resources Canada, examined our state of knowledge about Canada's vulnerability to climate change, in order to identify any gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed.
All About Sea Ice
The US National Snow and Ice Data Center's website, All About Sea Ice, offers a glimpse of the characteristics and different forms of sea ice, why it is so important to our environment, and popular scientific methods for studying it.
Inuvialuit Settlement Region Database
The Inuvialuit Settlement Region Database contains descriptions of more than 9300 publications and research projects about the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in Canada's Northwest Territories and Yukon.
Arctic Change
The US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration has launched Arctic Change, a near-real time Arctic change indicator website. It provides information on the present state of Arctic ecosystems and climate in historical context. Data and information from reputable scientific sources are presented with easy to read and understand narratives. The objective is to inform dialog, raise issue awareness, and support decision making.
Northwest Territories resources
NWT Climate Change Leadership Summit
This conference, held January 15-17, 2007, was organized by Ecology North and the Dene Nation to have a high level discussion with NWT leaders on the issue of climate change. The final proceedings report is now available from the summit website, as are the presentations from the summit.
Ecology North
Ecology North is a Yellowknife-based organization dedicated to sustainable living. For information about Ecology North's activities, visit its website.
Nunavut resources
Iqaluit climate change adaptation project
The City of Iqaluit recently undertook the Climate Change Impacts, Infrastructure Risks & Adaptive Capacity Project, the aim of which was to identify climate change-related risks to its infrastructure (including buildings, roads, and water supply, wastewater treatment and waste disposal systems) and develop adaptation options.
Compendia of licenced research
Summaries of research undertaken in Nunavut from 1997 to 2005 have been complied by the Nunavut Research Institute.
Nunavut Environmental Database
The Nunavut Environmental Database describes more than 20,000 publications and research projects. The database covers the Canadian territory of Nunavut and adjacent marine areas, and includes all subjects. It was produced for the Nunavut Planning Commission by the Arctic Science and Technology Information System (ASTIS) at the Arctic Institute of North America.
Inuktitut climate change glossary
The Nunavut Research Institute prepared this glossary of climate change terms in Inuktitut, the first language of most people living in Nunavut.
Community Knowledge of Sea Ice
In 2002, Jason Akearok, a biologist with Environment Canada in Nunavut, interviewed eight local hunters about their observations of sea ice conditions in Frobisher Bay and off Kimmirut on the Hudson Strait shore of Baffin Island. The eight were recommended by the Iqaluit Hunters and Trappers Organization.
Here are some of their observations:
- Sea ice no longer forms in some areas of Frobisher Bay where it typically formed in the past. The same pattern has been observed near Kimmirut, and in Kuugjuaq, Coral Harbour, and Foxe Basin.
- The sea ice is now more dangerous in some areas, including on some traditional traveling routes and near polynyas (areas that remain open or thinly-iced in winter).
- The sea ice is generally thinner, both in Frobisher Bay and off Kimmirut.
- Ice forms later in the season and breaks up earlier than it used to.
- The floe edge is frequently closer to Iqaluit (further up the bay) than it typically was in the past.
All of the interviewees had noticed changes in the sea ice. Several of them attributed the changes to a warming climate.
Surface Characteristics of Hazardous Weather Conditions in Coastal Regions of Baffin Island
In 2004, the Nunavut office of C-CIARN North became a partner in a multi-year research project led by McGill University to examine the surface characteristics of hazardous weather conditions in coastal regions of Baffin Island. More information is available in this summary.