SEA-ICE Greenland project
SEA-ICE Greenland is an itinerant expedition aiming to study and to bear witness of climate change along the northwest coast of Greenland between March and April 2019. To do this, Guillaume Bertocchi and Guilhem Pouxviel will reach the village of Kullorsuaq from Upernavik, by ski on the sea-ice along 300 km. In this way, they will deal with the field reality, meet the local population, involve students from France, Belgium and Greenland, and document this unique experience.
We know that Arctic regions are one of the most impacted by climate change, pack ice quickly vanishes while annual sea-ice is less and less persistent and glaciers are melting. Those direct and well-visible effects of global warming also impact ecosystems and human populations relying on hunting and fishing. In north-west Greenland we still find small Inuit communities that depend on the surrounding natural resources not only for subsistence needs but also for economic development. Hunters and fishers are used to work and to get some food on the sea – frozen or not – almost all year round but now hunting and fishing practices are likely to be strongly impacted by the sea-ice inter-annual variations (both in terms of cover and quality), economic pressures, rules and social changes.
In this context, the SEA-ICE Greenland expedition was set up in 2016 to address related issues with the backdrop of a sport expedition. This project also supports educational, photo and video objectives in order to share this adventure with the general public and the young generations, while collecting data to be used within a human sciences study.
This study is developed in collaboration with Takuvik Joint International Laboratory (CNRS & Université Laval, Québec, Canada). It aims to document current hunting and fishing practices, to see how they are impacted by climate change. Hunters and fishers will also be questioned about the possible changes they noticed on the marine ecosystems and about their perception of climate change. To do this, semi directive interviews will be led among the different communities we will cross. Then this data will be integrated within the work package 7 (Local knowledge about environment and harvested food) of the Green Edge project led by Takuvik laboratory. The Green Edge project objective is to study the arctic marine food web from the phytoplankton blooms to the local populations and study the possible impacts of climate change on these ecosystems.
The expedition will be a physical, technical and logistical challenge for sure. Our journey will cross the Upernavik archipelago and bring us to visit a total of 8 villages, from 50 to 1100 inhabitants. Our daily routine will be made up of 10 to 25 km by ski on the sea-ice, pulling our gear packed on small sled called “pulka” along ways crossing historical hunting zones. We expect to experience recent climate change impacts and find bad quality sea-ice close to Upernavik surroundings, thus, we are preparing ourselves to have a mixed progression technique to be able to cross open water areas. In the end, we plan 3 to 4 weeks of progression and 3 weeks to stay in the different villages to complete the other objectives. By doing this, we try to build an original approach to meet with local populations and communicate on various topics.
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* Tussaaq village is not inhabited any longer - facultative stop
This adventure will also be shared with schools from Belgium (1 elementary school class), France (1 elementary class and 1 secondary school class) and Greenland (several classes). Students from the arctic will be introduced to climate change and marine food web through different activities and will be able to exchange with students from the other countries. We will visit Kullorsuaq school, Upernavik school is still to be confirmed. Of course, we will also set these activities up in the other village schools we will cross if we have the opportunity. In Belgium and France, students will be able to follow the expedition, to learn about the Arctic, about Greenland and climate change. A first work session and presentation of the project is planned for the students in Belgium and France before the expedition departure and a feedback session will take place after the expedition.
Finally, the SEA-ICE Greenland project will lead to different communication supports. In terms of video we would like to produce a webseries made up of 6 to 10 episodes (5 to 10 minutes each) to live the expedition viewed from the inside. In a second time we want to produce a documentary (26 or 52 minutes) to highlight cultural and environmental stakes related to changes now occurring in this region of the Arctic. We plan to submit it to adventure - science film festivals in France.
We also plan to organize a photo exhibition showing relations between man and environment.
Provisional timetable :
• January 2019: first presentation for the students in France and in Belgium
• Late February 2019: sending equipment to Upernavik (pulkas & lyophilized food)
• 05 March 2019: departure from France to Upernavik
• 06 - 13 March 2019: Final trainings and preparation - first interviews
• 14 March - 14 April 2019: expedition from Upernavik to Kullorsuaq, 340 km (+ possible interviews and interactions with the schools all along the way)
• 15 - 22 April 2019: interviews & educational work in Kullorsuaq
• 23 April 2019: departure from Kullorsuaq
• May 2019: feedbacks for the classes involved - outreach setting up (documentary, webserie, oral & written feedbacks, photo exhibition) – interview transcriptions