Tag Archives: Canada

Renewable energy in the far north – is it feasible?

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This article originally appeared in The Circle 01.15.
Using solar energy in Northern communities is a tough sell. Just ask Klaus Dohring, president of Green Sun Rising, a Canadian company based in Windsor, Ontario that develops and supplies solar systems to generate clean electricity and heat.  He says reaction to using these forms of renewable energy in the Arctic is still a mix of preconceptions, misconceptions and skepticism even though it is already meeting with success.

Solar energy technology being installed in Hay River, Northwest Territories, Canada. Photo: Green Sun Rising.

Solar energy technology being installed in Hay River, Northwest Territories, Canada. Photo: Green Sun Rising.


“Whenever I suggest using solar energy in Northern communities, the typical response is that there is too little, or no sunshine in the winter months. This is irrefutable. But so is the flip side of that argument: in the summer there is an abundance of sunshine in the far north. The city of Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories gets about 8 per cent more sun energy per year than Berlin, Germany. In its peak summer months of May and June, Inuvik—also in the Northwest Territories and located 2 degrees above the Arctic Circle—gets more sun energy per month than Rio de Janeiro in any of its best months. For a good half of the year the sun is a great energy resource for the north.
The harsh northern climate is usually cited next in the argument against solar energy in northern climes. Space is an even harsher environment than the Arctic, yet satellites and the International Space Station are great examples of solar powered systems operating well in space. The Mars rover is an electric vehicle purely solar powered, also operating under extremely harsh conditions. Solar cells actually get more efficient with lower ambient temperatures because they like being cold. With no moving parts, a solar photovoltaic system in which light (photons) are converted into electricity (volts) can hibernate through the harsh arctic winter and generate electricity as soon as the sunshine is available for the solar cells.
We have introduced both solar photovoltaic as well as solar thermal systems into Northwest Territories applications, and the systems operate well.
Solar thermal systems can be used to generate heat energy. While the system itself is different from solar photovoltaic, the sun availability is the same. A solar thermal system allows for simple and easy generation and storage of heat energy, in the form of hot water.
One litre of diesel fuel typically provides 3 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity via the generator. At current economics of C$1.20 per liter plus an assumed 25 per cent transportation cost added, this results in variable cost of at least C$0.50 per kWh just for fuel cost reduction, higher for more remote communities. The full cost of diesel generated electricity is typically in the several dollars per kWh range, two-thirds of which is government-subsidized in Canada.
In the province of Ontario, the current solar incentive program puts a value of less than C$0.40 per kWh on solar generated power, and the incentive program is still considered attractive.
Against the variable cost of diesel fuel reduction, a solar system is already financially viable. When considering the true cost of diesel generation, a solar system will be a substantial cost savings. In terms of quality of life and pollution, a solar system is quiet, has no emissions, and is the most environmentally friendly way to provide energy. Once installed, the ongoing operating cost is zero.
Northern communities are accustomed to large diesel tanks with fuel delivery once per year, and using fuel from the tanks all year around. A large scale solar thermal system with big and very well insulated storage tanks allows the harvest of abundant summer solar energy which can also be stored for year round usage. Now the sun is the fuel delivery vehicle coming very reliably every summer, providing clean energy free of charge. Drake Landing Solar Community in Alberta, Canada has an operating example of such a long term storage system for solar thermal energy. There are over 100 others in operation across Europe. Conceptually, a solar thermal system with seasonal heat storage of sufficient size can meet all of the heat energy needs of a northern community.
Wind power has yet to build a track record of being able to withstand Arctic conditions, but it is starting to. For electricity, after the summer solar photovoltaic potential has been exhausted, a combination of solar system with battery storage plus wind power can provide most of the communities’ needs, with a diesel back-up system. In Antarctica, a harsher environment than the Arctic, the Princess Elisabeth Station has been operating since 2004 purely on solar and wind power.
With the onset of electric vehicles (EV) there is now significant development in battery storage systems. Utility scale battery systems are being introduced, and northern communities will be able to benefit from clean and quiet electricity storage in battery systems, which can at least bridge the daily variations of solar power, and start to reduce the seasonal impacts. The community of Colville Lake, Northwest Territories is set to receive such a utility battery system in 2015. It is expected that the combination of solar system with battery storage will greatly reduce diesel usage in summer.
Ultimately, electric vehicles will also become a preferred choice for Northern communities, once clean and renewable energy is available. We operated two electric cars through last winter, when the Arctic vortex brought Arctic winters to Ontario. Both EVs did well, with reduced range. The Arctic Energy Alliance is now starting to operate one EV in Yellowknife, and will generate real life experience with an EV under Northern conditions.”

Canada, the Arctic Council, and rough seas

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An Inuit man watches an icebreaker, Nunavut, Canada. © Paul Nicklen/National Geographic Stock / WWF-Canada

An Inuit man watches an icebreaker, Nunavut, Canada. © Paul Nicklen/National Geographic Stock / WWF-Canada


Andrea Charron is Assistant Professor and Deputy-Director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba, Canada. She holds a PhD from the Royal Military College of Canada and has Masters degrees in International Relations from Webster University, Leiden, The Netherlands, and in Public Administration from Dalhousie University. This article originally appeared in The Circle 01.15.
In 1996, Canada was the first of eight Member States to chair a newly-founded Arctic Council. From May 2013 to April 2015, Canada again resumed the chair and set three priorities: to encourage development for the people of the North; to strengthen the Arctic Council, especially the capacity of its aboriginal members to participate; and to create an Arctic Economic Council. To evaluate Canada’s success as chair and, in particular, in achieving its three goals, Andrea Charron says the limitations of the Arctic Council must be understood.
The Arctic Council was created by a Declaration in 1996 (largely due to Canada’s leadership) to promote cooperation on issues of sustainable development and environmental protection of the Arctic. The Council, however, has “soft legal” status—meaning it cannot take any binding decisions or enforce any of its decisions. Secondly, while the Arctic Council has been instrumental in keeping the Arctic a zone of cooperation, outside geopolitical events (such as Russia’s action in the Ukraine) have proved a challenge to this cooperation. In addition, the ratio of Member States (those with a vote, although rarely exercised) and Permanent Participants (those afforded special decision-making status) to Observers (including states, organizations and nongovernmental agencies) is now terribly out of balance; there are now only 14 decision makers which means they are outnumbered by the 32 observers (and some very powerful ones at that when we consider China, Germany, Japan and others). Non-voters outnumber voters by more than two to one. Finally, the Council has always suffered from an inclusive/exclusive debate. Some think the issues of the Arctic region (such as climate change and northern development) would be better tackled at strictly a regional level while others believe that an international forum, like the UN, is more appropriate since such issues affect the entire world.

Canada’s two years as Chair are best described as place holding.

Canada’s two years as Chair are best described as place holding. While the Arctic Council cannot be expected to make grand pronouncements every year (it is voluntarily funded and has only recently benefited from a permanent secretariat), Canada’s attention to the Arctic has been lackluster. On the one hand, the focus it has directed on the people of the North is laudable. However, Canada’s priority was presented as development “for” the people not “with”, an unfortunate use of prepositions:
The official Canadian French version reads: “Le développement au service de la population du Nord “. De is translated as «of » and not « for » (which would be « pour »). The French version suggests input from Northerners will be sought whereas the English translation suggests their exclusion.
Perhaps “for” can be excused as simply a poor choice of words rather than an indication that Canada’s intent was to tell the people of the North what they need. While the development priority included safe Arctic shipping and sustainable, healthy communities, nevertheless that prepositional slip suggests that the underlying goal of Canada is to improve the economy of the North for state interests.
Canada achieved its third goal, the creation of an Arctic Economic Council. But this is a shift from the two goals of the Arctic Council: sustainable development and protection of the environment. Of course economics is related, even crucial to the goals of environmental protection and sustainable development, but the creation of an Arctic Economic Council has not been popular with all of the Arctic State members and exacerbates the exclusive/inclusive friction.
At the same time, action outside the Arctic Council is doing more, arguably, for the people of the Arctic. A little known agreement called the Minamata Convention – a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury– is especially important for the Arctic which has higher levels of mercury. And yet, while the US has ratified the Convention, (along with only eight other countries – from Africa, South America and Monaco), none of the other Arctic States – including Canada – have; nor have the Observer states. The Arctic Council, under Canada’s leadership, could have made ratification of this convention by all of its members – observers or others – a goal.
Meanwhile, the working groups of the Arctic Council are doing some very important work indeed. Projects include an Arctic biodiversity assessment and creation of offshore oil and gas guidelines. Volunteer funding from member and observer states, however, makes planning of these multi-year projects a challenge.
The Arctic Council has had other successes. The Agreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic and the Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution, Preparedness and Response in the Arctic are examples of the Arctic Council coming together to create useful, guiding documents.
Perhaps more importantly, Canada should be commended for its diplomatic efforts. That the Arctic Council is still meeting despite geopolitical tensions between Russia and the five NATO Arctic Council Member States is a testament to Canada’s adept chairmanship.
What does the future hold for the Arctic Council?
Likely all future chairs will run into the same problem as Canada – the “low hanging fruit” issues have been picked. In other words, the issues that were not of vital national interest, but were readily agreed to by the Arctic States, have been tackled. This leaves some truly difficult and contentious issues, like fishing rights and climate change. Furthermore, the Arctic Council may be reaching a tipping point in terms of the number of observers versus decision-making members and Permanent Participants. Exactly how much weight is given to the ideas of Permanent Participants also needs to be considered.
What is more, the eight Arctic States are chary of an overly ambitious, “UN-like” Arctic Council. When the United States takes over as the next chair, US Admiral (retired) Papp, former Commandant of the US Coast Guard, has a Herculean task ahead of him. Appointed as the Special Representative for the Arctic by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Papp faces: a recalcitrant Russia; ignored/cash strapped Permanent Participants; eager Observer states who want more decision-making influence; and diversely-interested Arctic Member States.   His years sailing rough seas may be his best training yet as the US assumes the Chair in April 2015.

Improving the lives of Northerners

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Leona Aglukkaq is the Conservative Canadian Member of Parliament for the riding of Nunavut and Minister for the Arctic. This article originally appeared in The Circle 01.15.
As Canada approaches the conclusion of its two-year Arctic Council Chairmanship, I’m proud to say we have worked to directly improve the lives of Northerners and foster environmentally responsible development throughout the Arctic.
Following my appointment as Minister for the Arctic Council in August 2012, I consulted with Northerners from across the Arctic and their message was clear: the well-being and prosperity of the people living in the North must be the top priority for the Council.
For this reason, Canada’s Chairmanship has focused Arctic Council work on the theme, “Development for the People of the North.”
There have been more than a few examples of the projects that we have developed over the course of our two year chairmanship, reflecting this overarching agenda. A key priority has been the establishment of the Arctic Economic Council (AEC), which held its inaugural meeting in September 2014. Many economic and social challenges including high costs of living, skilled labour shortages, and extreme weather are common across the Arctic. From my travels, it became clear to me that we often do not share information well between Arctic peoples. Often times when we face a challenge, someone somewhere else in the Arctic has already faced that same challenge and has a solution. Rather than reinvent the wheel, we, as a Council, should foster collaboration across the Arctic. The AEC will serve as a fundamental mechanism to facilitate Arctic-to-Arctic collaboration between business leaders by providing a forum to discuss common challenges, share best practices and look for business opportunities to develop and benefit the North.
The AEC will also serve as a link between business and government by enabling businesses to inform the work of the Arctic Council. Additionally – and this will be key to its success – Arctic Indigenous peoples have representation on the AEC, which ensures that those living in the North are active participants in decisions affecting their communities.
The AEC’s work is forging ahead, and it has now established working groups on responsible resource development, maritime transportation and stewardship in the Arctic.
Development has many aspects, including economic, social and environmental. These elements should all be considered as we work to achieve sustainable Arctic communities.
With this is mind, Canada is also working with its Arctic Council partners to promote mental wellness across the North. The goal of this project is to identify and share best practices to enable communities to improve support for mental wellness and resiliency of their residents. I am especially looking forward to the Mental Wellness Symposium taking place in Iqaluit, Nunavut in March which will focus on working with communities to advance efforts in mental wellness intervention.
Another key priority of Canada’s Chairmanship has been to incorporate traditional and local knowledge more effectively into the Council’s ongoing work. This knowledge has helped Indigenous peoples survive for millennia, and helps us understand changes in the region. The value of traditional knowledge is immense. By better incorporating it into decision making processes we will ultimately see better results for the Arctic and the people who live there.
The importance of traditional knowledge was recently highlighted in the search for Sir John Franklin’s ships from his failed 1845 voyage. One of his ships, HMS Erebus, was found just off the coast of my hometown of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut (see p. 32). For generations of oral history, Inuit have said the location was near King William Island, which is exactly where Erebus was found. This discovery emphasizes the strength and importance traditional knowledge plays in shaping not only our past, but also our present and our future. Successes such as these should make Inuit and all Arctic Indigenous peoples proud.
Over the course of Canada’s two-year Chairmanship, we have also advanced the Council’s work on other key issues, including climate change, biodiversity conservation, and shipping safety. These actions range from developing a framework for action to reduce black carbon and methane emissions in the Arctic to a new action plan to enhance oil pollution prevention.
A fundamental objective of our Chairmanship has been to strengthen the Arctic Council. This included enhancing the capacity of the six Indigenous Permanent Participant organizations to contribute to the Council’s work. The Permanent Participants have a unique and fundamental role at the Council – they are at the table with the Arctic States to ensure that they are involved in decisions affecting their communities. As we move towards the end of our Chairmanship, we are working closely with our neighbour and the incoming Chair, the United States, to advance our shared priorities for the Arctic region.
I look forward to welcoming our Arctic Council partners to Iqaluit in April for the ninth Ministerial Meeting, where we will highlight our accomplishments, and chart a path for the next two years and beyond.

#5ArcticActions: Work together to reduce oil risk

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This week, Arctic governments are meeting in Norway to talk about Arctic biodiversity. But they need to do more than talk. They’ve invested in reams of excellent research on life in the Arctic – now they need to act! They’ll make commitments this April, when the United States begins its chairmanship of the Arctic Council. Will they commit to Arctic action? This week, we look at #5ArcticActions nations can take to protect Arctic life:
oil-no-technology
WWF’s Dan Slavik is working with communities across northern Canada on conservation issues big and small. Few issues are as big as a potential oil spill. According to new oil spill dispersion mapping, a spill in Canada’s Beaufort Sea could spread as far as Russia. And currently, there’s no proven technology to clean up a spill in icy waters.

Why is oil spill modelling important for Arctic life and livelihoods?
With the real potential for increased shipping and Oil and Gas exploration in the Beaufort Sea, there is an ever present risk of an oil spill. One Inuvialuit elder commented at the Berger Inquiry in the 1980s:

“An oil spill out there in that moving ice where they can’t control it, that’s the end of the seals. I think that not only will this part of the world suffer if the ocean is finished, I think every [Eskimo, from Alaska] all the way to the Eastern Arctic is going to suffer because that oil … is going to finish the fish. And those fish don’t just stay here, they go all over. Same with the seals, same with the polar bears, they go all over the place, and if they come here and get soaked with oil… they’re finished.”

By completing this scientific work, we hope to inform Northerners about the risk of oil spills –both big and small- and better understand how far the oil will spread, and how would it impact the communities, environment, and species of the Beaufort Sea.
Are particular Arctic States showing leadership in assessing the risk of Arctic oil/gas? How?
Environment Canada has done some good work mapping shoreline sensitivity in the Beaufort, and completing some baseline scientific research through the Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment.  However, we don’t have the capacity to effectively respond to oil spills in the Canadian Beaufort.
What’s one concrete action that Arctic states can take in the next year?
Since we can’t effectively clean up a spill, we need to ensure that–at minimum–we protect the most valuable places. Places with important cultural, biological and economic value should agreed upon by communities, nations and industry.  Then, states must put in place special measures to prevent a spill (like special zoning, shipping lanes, or even no-go zones), and infrastructure to respond to a spill if it happens. This means cooperating across national borders – oil spill don’t respect boundaries.
Is there anything the public can do?
Visit http://arcticspills.wwf.ca for to explore the risks of an oil spill in the Beaufort Sea.

#5ArcticActions: Protect the Arctic’s Last Ice

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This week, Arctic governments are meeting in Norway to talk about Arctic biodiversity. But they need to do more than talk. They’ve invested in reams of excellent research on life in the Arctic – now they need to act! They’ll make commitments this April, when the United States begins its chairmanship of the Arctic Council. Will they commit to Arctic action? This week, we look at #5ArcticActions nations can take to protect Arctic life:

5ArcticActions_lia

Map of the Last Ice Area, 2040.

Map of the Last Ice Area, 2040.


Sea ice is the foundation of Arctic marine life.  WWF’s Mette Frost is working to shape the future of a region where Arctic sea ice is likely to persist the longest – the Last Ice Area.
What is the Last Ice Area, and why is it important for Arctic life and livelihoods?

As the climate warms, Arctic sea ice is disappearing.

Almost every summer, the amount of remaining sea ice gets smaller. That summer sea ice is vitally important to a whole range of animals from tiny shrimp to vast bowhead whales, and to local people. One stretch of sea ice, along the northern coasts of Canada and Greenland, is projected to remain when all other large areas of summer sea ice are gone. This is the Last Ice Area.
WWF is supporting research on this vital Arctic habitat so Arctic people and governments can ensure life on the sea ice continues long into the future.

What can Greenland and Canada do in the next year?
We’d like to see them develop plans to establish a UNESCO World Heritage Site connecting Quttinirpaaq National Park in Nunavut with the National Park of North and East Greenland.
Are there lessons here for other Arctic states?
Unlike many of the ecosystems we work in, the Arctic is still relatively undeveloped.  However, a warming climate means it’s opening up to industry very quickly. Arctic states have an opportunity to make smart conservation decisions now, before development happens, focusing on the areas that will be most resilient to climate change.
What can the public do?

  1. Learn more about the Last Ice Area
  2. Share this page
  3. Support conservation work in the Last Ice Area through Arctic Home
  4. Ask your politicians what their plans are to protect an area of remaining summer sea ice.

A lifetime in two weeks

From the field, ,

Labrador, Canada

Tat, Sue and Paninnguaq in Torngat Mountains National Park, Labrador, Canada.


WWF took part in the 2014 “Students on Ice” expedition from Arctic Canada to Greenland, both sponsoring students, and helping give the students useful skills. WWF staff member Sue Novotny blogged from the expedition.
It feels like we wrapped a lifetime of experiences into 2 weeks. We bobbed in the water with a polar bear, hiked mountains few people have visited, saw the evidence of climate change first hand, heard the stories of elders, and made lifelong friends.
Now we’ve all headed home, but both students and staff are keeping the expedition spirit going with the busy sharing of photos, videos and well-wishes on Facebook. I spoke with our WWF-sponsored students one last time before we parted ways (but hopefully not for long!).

What was your favourite part of the expedition?

Paninnguaq:
I really loved to see Canadian people [who] really look like Greenlanders. I really saw the connection between our people, and I’m surprised that we aren’t connected that much as people.
Tat:
When we were on the land exploring Greenland. It was very exciting to perform [in the community centre in Nanortalik].

Excerpt from “This is who we are”, written and performed by Tat on the expedition

 

It’s a beautiful scenery
I live in the arctic, complicated, beautiful
…We go hunting often going with no flow
Loving, caring, all we know
Inuk pride, broken lives, fixing struggles
Adapting, catching, nothing but survival rights
No hate, living cycles, crafts and arts
This is who we are.

 

Highlights from Greenland, including Tat’s performance:

What did you learn?

Tat:
I learned that there are many opportunities if you step in.
Paninnguaq:
I learned a lot about nature, vegetation and birds in Canada, but also in my own country.

What’s next?

Tat:
I’m probably going to school.
Paninnguaq:
To get more life experience. I want to be able to write books. This helped me to think about Greenland’s future and how it can look.

Sea ice stories

From the field, , ,

Students on Ice, checking out ice. Photo: Sue Novotny / WWF

Students on Ice, checking out ice. Photo: Sue Novotny / WWF


WWF was part of a “Students on Ice” expedition from Arctic Canada to Greenland, both sponsoring students, and helping give the students useful skills. WWF staff member Sue Novotny is blogging from the expedition.
While talking with the students about climate change and the future of sea ice, I asked them to raise their hands if they saw sea ice for the first time on this expedition. Over half of the 85  students were new to sea ice, and to the Arctic.
Along with them, I saw sea ice for the first time last week – hundreds of bergy bits at dusk. We’ve since encountered much more ice, from enormous icebergs to calving glaciers to a thin stip of fast ice under the water at high tide, seeming to glow like a modern art installation.
Then I asked who lived in a place where the sea freezes up every winter – 25 more hands. These students from northern Canada and Greenland shared their stories about life with sea ice.

One student said it’s a difficult time to be away from home, because it’s when his family goes out to the floe edge to hunt.

Another talked about jumping a snowmobile across cracks in the ice during the summer breakup. (I asked if this was dangerous. The answer: it’s fun!)

And another said moving his snowmobile from the ice onto the land is a sign that spring is coming.

Sea ice is clearly part of life and full of life. And viewed from satellites over time, it almost looks like a living thing.

This video elicited some gasps from the audience. Within their lifetimes, both the extent of the ice and the amount of multi-year ice has shrunk dramatically. What ice is left is pushed by prevailing currents to northern Greenland and Canada – the “Last Ice Area“. Ice models project that this will be the only place sea ice remains in the summer by 2040.
Many of these students will go on to be scientists, advocates, and leaders in Greenland and Canada. They’ll be making decisions on the Arctic’s future. If they want to focus on regions that will be important to the Arctic in the decades to come and beyond, the Last Ice Area is a good place to start.

Torngat memories and memorials

From the field, ,

Moravian band welcomes the Students on Ice ship to Labrador. Photo: Sue Novotny

Moravian band welcomes the Students on Ice ship to Labrador. Photo: Sue Novotny


WWF is part of a “Students on Ice” expedition from Arctic Canada to Greenland, both sponsoring students, and helping give the students useful skills. WWF staff member Sue Novotny is on board, and is sending blogs about the expedition.
Traditionally, ships visiting this part of Labrador would be met with an incongruous sight – a brass band dressed in traditional Inuit clothing. The bands are an artifact of Moravian missionaries who came to the region in the late 1700s. According to the staff of Torngat Mountains National Park, it’s been decades since these bands welcomed a ship. But today our zodiacs arrived at basecamp to trumpets, horns and trombones playing Moravian songs unchanged for over 100 years.
Torngat’s basecamp is home to researchers, park managers, bear guards and visitors. Paninnguaq, our WWF scholarship winner from Sisimiut,      Greenland, shared some of her highlights from basecamp:
“I loved that it looked like home. Mountainous, and the same vegetation. But [home doesn’t have] ice blocks on the shore. charI got to use an ice table for  lunch [fresh char and bannock, cooked by elders on the beach]. I loved that we went to a waterfall to get water for our bottles.  And to hear elders talk about how they were moved from their communities. It was very emotional. We really understood what it had been like.”
Few people get a chance to visit Canada’s northern parks, and I doubt many have been welcomed so warmly, by so many people. Even fewer have seen  what we’ve seen over the past few days.
We made a solemn visit to the remote village of Killiniq, left abandoned in 1978 by forced relocation of its residents.
We climbed a mountain that hadn’t been climbed in the memories of any of the elders we met, for a view of the landscape that hasn’t been seen for untold years. And as the brass band played the ship off, perhaps another first – a rainbow appeared, and at the end, a mountaintop inukshuk. A perfect way to say goodbye to Canada before sailing to Greenland.

Lancaster Sound, past, present and future

From the field, General,

By the time of my 11pm shift on watch we were well up towards the mouth of Admiralty Inlet, sailing into a light headwind through dark and foggy skies.  Night-time darkness has been a relative rarity on this trip, but at this time of year the days are growing shorter at a rapid rate.  Steering a steady course under these conditions is considerably more challenging, since there are no landmarks to serve as guideposts.  Instead of being guided by a landmark, it was necessary to be guided by the wind, which proved considerably more difficult for a landlubber like myself.  Unused to the slow response to direction changes from the helm, I found myself continually oversteering, and zigzagging back and forth.  Grant, our captain, patiently guided me in developing the right touch, and anticipating the changing orientation of the boat, the sails and the wind.  With some practice, I gradually managed to reduce some of the wilder swings of direction, but have a long way to go before I can claim genuine competence in this regard.
The low visibility compounded the challenge of avoiding the “bergy bits” and “growlers” – fragments of icebergs that, although small, are nevertheless best avoided.  When you’re in a small boat in a cold ocean and many hours away from any possible rescue, the last thing you want to hear is something crunching against the hull.  All in all, despite the flat homogeneity of the terrain, it’s very difficult to fall asleep at the helm; there’s always something to watch out for.
My next shift was at 7am, and by then we were in Lancaster Sound, sailing through waters that were flat calm.  Lancaster Sound was failing to live up to its fierce reputation.  We were sailing on autopilot and my task was the relatively simple one of spotting and avoiding the occasional pieces of ice.
I had the time to think about where we are.  Anyone who has gone through the Canadian school system will have heard countless stories about the search for the Northwest Passage and its role in the European colonization of this vast continent.  Lancaster Sound is the eastern opening of the Northwest Passage, although it took numerous voyages to establish that it would prove necessary to cross over the top of Baffin Island, since Hudson Bay offered no practical western passage.

Two narwhal (Monodon monoceros) surfacing to breathe in Admiralty Inlet, Lancaster Sound, Nunavut, Canada. © Paul Nicklen/National Geographic Stock / WWF-Canada


Lancaster Sound is a vast channel, more than forty nautical miles wide, and must have been a formidable challenge for Inuit hunters to cross on foot or by kayak.  However, it was attractive to these rugged hunters since it’s abundant in whales, especially the legendary narwhal (although they’ve proved elusive to us!).
Today, Lancaster Sound is the site of a proposed National Marine Conservation Area.  Further research and consultation with local communities will be required before this conservation area is formally established, but it will provide important protection for the narwhal, beluga and bowhead whales that spend their summers here.  Moreover, Lancaster Sound could provide the southern foundation for a vast multi-zoned complex of special management areas, aimed at conserving ecosystem resilience in a rapidly changing Arctic environment.  While summer sea ice disappears from much of the Arctic, and the period of annual ice cover shrinks dramatically, the high Arctic of northern Canada and Greenland – the ‘Last Ice Area – is likely to become increasingly significant in providing secure habitat for ice-dependent species.  Conserving this habitat – while allowing for responsible development – provides Nunavut and Greenland with a unique opportunity to demonstrate Arctic stewardship.

Arctic Bay, Nunavut

From the field, General, , ,

Arctic Bay, Nunavut. © Students on Ice / WWF-Canon


By Martin von Mirbach and Vicki Sahanatien, members of the Last Ice Area voyage
It took 24 hours to sail from Devon Island to Arctic Bay on northern Baffin Island. We crossed Lancaster Sound and entered Admiralty Inlet under good wind and sea conditions. Admiralty Inlet opens southeast off Lancaster Sound, separating the Borden and Brodeur Peninsulas. We sailed partway down the inlet before turning into Adams Sound and then into the perfect sheltered harbor of Arctic Bay.
Icebergs appeared and disappeared as we sailed but the star attraction of the crossing was an ice island – a large flat shelf of ice several kilometers square. We found out later from the ice observer on the Coast Guard ship Terry Fox that it was a fragment of the huge ice island that calved off the Peterman Glacier of northwestern Greenland in 2010.
Arctic Bay was our first community since leaving Grise Fiord a week ago. It was time to resupply with fuel, water and fresh meat, fish, fruit and vegetables. We also took this opportunity to meet people in the community to learn about the latest news.
We stopped by the Hamlet office and found that Clare Kines, the Economic Development Officer was at his office at the Heritage Centre. So off we trekked to find Claire and learn about Arctic Bay’s economy. Arctic Bay is a medium sized community, with about 800 people. It is a community in transition, since the Nanisivik mine shut down several years ago. Arctic Bay and Nanisivik were connected by Nunavut’s only road and by employment, recreational activities and family. Some of the skilled workers are still without local employment. The future? People look toward the proposed Mary River iron ore mine and potential opportunities that will arise.
Next, it was the offices of the Ikajutit Hunter and Trapper Organization (HTO), where we met Jack Willie the HTO office manager. Here we heard details of the successful bowhead whale hunt. Arctic Bay hunters brought in their bowhead in record time: 35 minutes from harpooning to towing the whale into shore. We had hoped to meet the hunt captain, Tommy Tatuapik but he was out of town. It was also narwhal hunting season. One of the hunters dropped by with two narwhal tusks for the HTO manager to measure and register. HTOs manage the community narwhal quota by allocating tags to the hunters. The narwhal hunt, like all quota limited hunts in Nunavut, is regulated by the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board and the responsible federal or territorial department.
Other encounters in the town were more informal. Each time our zodiac came ashore we were greeted by a band of children, who were curious about our boat and asked to be taken aboard. Two zodiac loads of kids came to the Arctic Tern and they were fascinated by the differences between a sailboat and the motor boats of Arctic Bay.