Inuit-Led Adaptation to the Breakdown of Arctic Sea Ice for Community Resilience and Travel Security

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Christian Haas
• Subject Area: Oceanography ; Geodesy, Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, Geoinformatics, Cartography ; Human Geography ; Physical Geography
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 539529257

Rapid changes in Arctic sea ice have led to the emergence of unpredictable conditions that impact travel by Inuit, leading to increased accidents and adverse effects on their food security, health and wellbeing, economy, culture, and identity. Warming air temperatures, along with shifting ocean currents and weather patterns, have shortened the length of time when sea ice is seasonally stable, affected ice roughness, and produced new cracks and areas of thin ice and slush obscured by surface snow. In order to meet the urgent climate adaptation needs of Inuit we propose to develop tools that combine sea ice observations with local travel practices that are grounded in Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuit knowledge and values; IQ). These tools will incorporate innovations in sensing technology that make possible the implementation of both surface- and satellite-based Earth Observation (EO) data for scale-appropriate, user-specific, sea ice information delivery. This project uses a cross-cultural and Inuit-led partnership approach (Sikumiut-SmartICE model) to co-develop new EO and environmental data-based tools for identifying seasonally and spatially dynamic sea ice features impacting safe travel. IQ will be integrated in a science strategy for the collection of surface and airborne geophysical and remote sensing data for the development of sea ice information retrievals utilizing satellite imagery, and for informing the development of on-ice and drone-based sensors and best practices therein. Science outcomes will feed into an Inuit-led, IQ-grounded, Sikumik Qaujimajjuti (“tools to know how the ice is”) system for community ice information sharing, including Inuit produced ice travel safety maps in digital and hard-copy formats, custom Inuit co-designed and operated sensors, and educational tools with training grounded in Inuit ways of knowing and learning, Pilimmaksaqniq Sikulirijimik (“training to be a worker who deals with ice”). The project design will enable the transfer of knowledge from pilot communities to across Inuit Nunangat, empowering communities to meet climate adaptation needs while supporting Inuit self-determination in ice monitoring and travel safety. The German PI from the University of Bremen and the requested Postdoctoral Fellow will contribute with airborne and satellite remote sensing of snow and slush on sea ice, surface roughness, and ice thickness, which will be based on two airborne field campaigns planned near Inuit communities in April 2024 and 2025. The aircraft will be provided in-kind by the Alfred Wegener Institute. The PI has previously closely collaborated with the Canadian partners and has significantly contributed to previous successes of other Sikumiut-SmartICE projects.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Canada, United Kingdom
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Randall Scharien; Professor Dr. Michel Tsamados