SEA‐ICE Greenland Project Summary

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SEA-ICE Greenland is an itinerant expedition aiming to study and witness climate change along the Northwest coast of Greenland between March and April 2019. In order to achieve this, Guillaume Bertocchi and Guilhem Pouxviel will travel 340 km from Upernavik to the village of Kullorsuaq on the sea-ice by ski (see Fig. 1). This method will allow them experience the field reality, meet the local population, involve students from France, Belgium, and Greenland, and document this unique experience. This project obtained the support of the ASLO's Global Outreach Initiative in 2017. We know that Arctic regions are one of the most impacted by climate change. Pack ice quickly vanishes while annual sea-ice is less persistent and glaciers continue to melt. The direct and visible effects of global warming also impact ecosystems and human populations that rely on hunting and fishing. In Northwest 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 working and getting some food from the sea—frozen or not—almost year-round. But now hunting and fishing practices are likely to be strongly impacted by the sea-ice interannual variations (both in terms of cover and quality), economic pressures, rules and regulations in effect, and social changes. In this context, the SEA-ICE Greenland expedition was established in 2016 to address relevant 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 younger generations, while collecting data to be used within a human sciences study. This study is developed in collaboration with the Takuvik Joint International Laboratory (CNRS & Université Laval, Québec, Canada). The study aims to document current hunting and fishing practices in order to determine how they are impacted by climate change. Hunters and fishers will also be questioned about the changes they have noticed on the marine ecosystems and their perception of climate change. To do this, semi-directive interviews will be led among the different communities we will cross. Then these data will be integrated within the work package 7 (Local knowledge about environment and harvested food) of the Green Edge project led by the Takuvik Laboratory. The Green Edge project objective is to study the Arctic marine food web from the phytoplankton blooms to the Inuit populations and predict the possible impacts of climate change on these ecosystems. The expedition will be a physical, technical, and logistical challenge. Our journey will cross the Upernavik archipelago and bring us to visit a total of 9 villages, from 50 to 1100 inhabitants. Our daily routine will be made up of 10–25 km by ski on the sea-ice, pulling our gear packed on a small sled called “pulka” along ways crossing historical hunting zones (see Fig. 2). We expect to face recent climate change impacts and find bad quality sea-ice close to Upernavik surroundings. Therefore, we are preparing ourselves to have a mixed progression technique to be able to cross open water areas. In the end, we plan 3–4 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. This adventure will be shared with schools in 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 webs through different activities and will be able to interact with students from the other countries. We will visit a Kullorsuaq school, and the Upernavik school is still to be confirmed. We will also engage schools in the villages we will cross if we have the opportunity. In Belgium and France, students will be able to follow the expedition, learn about the Arctic and 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 web series made up of 6–10 episodes (5–10 min each) to live the expedition viewed from the inside. We also want to produce a documentary (26 or 52 min) 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.