Global warming forces Arctic researchers to collaborate

JOHN THOMPSON

Consider it another unexpected consequence of global warming.

Rising temperatures and a melting polar ice cap triggered by greenhouse gases in the planet’s atmosphere affect subjects as different as the varying thickness of sea ice, the changing migration routes of snow geese and the growing number of shipping vessels expected to cut across Arctic waters as the polar ice melts.

But until recently, the researchers who studied these subjects often remained isolated, publishing their findings in obscure academic journals and closed off from other Arctic scientists working in different fields.

A Canadian icebreaker decked out with electronic gizmos and loaded full of researchers represents a break from this old way of doing things, said Martin Fortier, executive director of ArcticNet, when he visited Iqaluit last week.

The ship is the CCGS Amundsen, currently nosing its way around the northern edge of Baffin Island. It will give the Northwest Passage a run this season, taking ice and sediment samples and dropping monitoring gadgets along the way.

What’s new is that the scientists on board, part of a larger network of some 250 researchers across the globe, will put their findings together to help create a more complete picture of the effects of global warming. Fortier said that picture could eventually be used to help shape government policy, which in turn could help change the course of a warming planet.

“You don’t affect government policy by publishing in some remote journal somewhere.”

This collaboration isn’t voluntary – each researcher’s funding hinges on it. And if someone aboard with ArcticNet doesn’t share their findings, their project could be “canned,” he said.

The gap between scientists poring over millennium-old mud samples and politicians shouting in the House of Commons is often a big one.

To help close that, ArcticNet has set up lines of communication between researchers and bureaucrats who have the ears of federal ministers. Now, with the amount of attention the effects of global warming on the Arctic has received over the last few years, Fortier says the timing seems right.

“I think we need to ride that wave while it’s there.”

The goals of ArcticNet might be at odds with some behaviours ingrained in

the natural science fields

– physics, chemistry, biology – where researchers are good at working individually, but not always accustomed to collaboration. Fortier said taking down those barriers might take time, but the enthusiasm of researchers on board the Amundsen every time a new core sample is dragged aboard is obvious. “They go berserk. They’re just like seagulls.”

Another challenge is to bring more health researchers and social scientists on board to document how climate change affects the people who inhabit the Arctic. One study currently underway will look at how residents of Igloolik and Arctic Bay have been affected by global warming.

Recently ArcticNet also recently made a point of adding a project that looks at Canadian sovereignty over Arctic waters. There are 30 projects currently under the ArcticNet umbrella, involving researchers from 26 universities in Canada. In early December the organization meets in Banff, Alberta.

“We need to bring these people together,” he said. “They need to communicate better, and they need to network better.”

ArcticNet formed in 2003 as part of 21 Networks of Centres for Excellence across Canadian Universities. Funding has been secured for seven years, which can be renewed for seven years.