Mission to the Arctic On a map of the Arctic the polar sea looks solid like land But it is not It is moving blocks of ice not a solid sheet Those blocks are growing thinner and weaker each year My research mission is to study climate and environmental change in the Arctic I have been sent by the Arctic Climate Research Institute ACRI to see how these changes affect the ocean and the land They also have a big impact on the animals and people that live in the Arctic On my journey I will follow parts of the Northwest Passage This is a path for ships to cross the Arctic Thick ice once made the journey impossible even in summer Many ships were lost trying to find a passage through the ice Today melting and thinning ice has opened the passage bringing more ships to the Arctic each year 4
The Arctic region includes the Arctic Ocean and surrounding waters It is also ringed by land belonging to eight countries These are the USA Canada Russia Finland Iceland Greenland Norway and Sweden This satellite photograph shows how the Northwest Passage is almost completely ice-free 5
Field Journal Day 1 Iqaluit Nunavut Territory I flew to the Canadian territory of Nunavut My plane landed in Iqaluit on Frobisher Bay Baffin Island The early summer sun shines almost all day and night here This is called the midnight sun It happens because of the tilt of Earth’s axis as it orbits the Sun This made it possible to watch the beluga and bowhead whales in the bay even at 10 p.m. Iqaluit Bowhead whales can live up to 200 years in Arctic waters The Arctic is warming more quickly than anywhere else on Earth Most scientists agree that this warming is because people are using fossil fuels such as coal oil and gas 6
Iqaluit is the largest community in Nunavut with around 6,700 people 60 percent of the population are an indigenous people called Inuit They hunt and fish for food I went to a meeting where Inuit elders and youth discussed how to tackle climate change They said it was making it difficult to find and hunt caribou Rising temperatures are affecting the animals food source so caribou numbers are decreasing Developing a plan won’t stop climate change but it will help the Inuit adapt to the changes Iqualuit means place of many fish natstat STATUS REPORT ST456 part B Threats Loss of habitat and pollution due to increased shipping in Arctic waters and melting ice Numbers 80,000 in this region Status Near-threatened Name Narwhal Monodon monoceros Description Narwhals look like whales with a unicorn horn The male has a long spear-like tusk on its head The Inuit call them Qilalugaq Qirniqtaq which means the one that is good at curving itself to the sky They are an important food source for Inuit peoples Narwhals live under the sea ice in the Baffin Bay area Recently narwhals have started moving farther north following the ice and the Arctic cod that they eat These fish need ice to survive Attach photograph here 7
