Elizabeth’s fingers, which she frostbit on Saturday night while setting up tents, are recovering well. The tips are still tender and a couple of them have blisters filled with clear fluid. If the frostbite had been more severe, she might have had blisters filled with dark fluid or skin that turned dark when it re-warmed. She is disappointed to be missing part of the expedition, but she knows that leaving the field was the right decision to protect her fingers from any more damage. She will rejoin the expedition in Pangnirtung, the next village. In the meantime she is enjoying getting to know Inuit community members. Today she learned how to crochet traditional hats.

The elders told Elizabeth that Inuit people have learned over many years how to travel safely in these harsh conditions. They told her that as the climate changes, however, some of their knowledge is no longer relevant. For example hunters who travel over sea ice know how to read the surface of the ice to determine if it can hold the weight of a human, a dogsled or a snowmobile. With changing currents and water temperatures, however, sometimes the ice can look safe on the surface while being eroded from underneath. Several hunters have fallen through the ice in tragic accidents. The loss of these hunters greatly impacts the villages. Country food (seal, walrus, fish and caribou) comprises a large proportion of Inuit community members’ diet. Inuit hunters provide meat not only for their own families but for the whole community.

Elizabeth feels that her experience with frostbite gave her new insight into just how harsh the weather conditions can be in the Arctic. She is beginning to appreciate how much skill and knowledge of the environment the Inuit people possess.

Charlie Alikatuktuk, a professional clam-diver from Qikiqtarjuaq, prepares to submerge beneath the sea ice. Global Warming 101 Expedition Team members and students from the local school stand around to watch.

Although air temperatures around 20°F (-6°C) make the day relatively balmy for the Arctic in March and despite the fact that Charlie is wearing a dry-suit with long underwear underneath, those standing around can’t help but feel a bit of dread at the thought of his impeding dive beneath the ice.

Charlie’s dives usually last about thirty to forty-five minutes. He may do up to three dives a day. He collects clams off the bottom, putting them in a basket strapped to his body and hauling them up to the ice hole with the help of a rope as a guide.

Under the ice a world exists that few people ever get to see. Seals and fish are the most noticeable occupants. The most numerous inhabitants, however, are the microscopic organisms that form the base of the food web. Ice algae clings to the underside of the sea ice, coloring it a brownish-green.

As warmer weather causes the sea ice to melt, a thick layer of relatively fresh (not salty) water forms below the remaining ice. Researchers have found that this freshwater layer is one-third deeper than it was twenty years ago.

Freshwater algae is now replacing the saltwater algae that once covered the underside of the ice. The freshwater algae is not as productive as the saltwater algae it replaces. Except for below-the-ice divers like Charlie and a handful of researchers, most people do not see these changes.

Elizabeth

(Source: ACIA, 2004)

• Windblown trail makes for snowless conditions
• Traveling on ice
• "Canary in the tent"