When I want to know what's up in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut (on southern Baffin Island at the head of Forbisher Bay), I stop by The Northern Chirp (Lorraine & John).
The ice went out of the harbor in late-June and first resupply came in on the 29th: The Ship Comes In! ... and more Alianait .... The Alianait is a local music festival. The post has some nice shots of the harbor and Iqaluit. The resupply ships have continued to arrive, but some have been ice damaged: Ice, Ice, Ice, Ice (and a little heat).
But channels that should have opened up more further down the bay remained full of ice. A lot of that ice is multi-year ice coming down the Cumberland Sound (apparently) and even from the Davis Strait, and being blown (by changing wind patterns) into Frobisher Bay. Sometimes winds and tides will bring the iceberg chunks all the way into town. Nice big chunks of ancient glacial green ice.... And though some of the sea lift ships are coming into port with heavy ice damage (those ancient pieces of glacial ice are like rocks), they're still getting through with ice breakers.
A French research vessel trying to leave the harbor was delayed when the ice lifted it right out of the water (some nice photos).
Iqaluit is in the middle of an unprecedented heat wave. The Ice post links to a Nunatsiaq News story that a temperature of 26.8 C (80 F) on the 21st set an all time Iqaluit record. The News notes the irony that this heat wave is taking place at the same time as a conference on climate change at the local Frobisher Inn. News reporting (Elder finds good sealskins scarce as Baffin warms) indicates that among other things, the conference topics included local climate change adaptation plans:
As an elder, Kalluk is closely involved with Clyde River's adaptation plan for climate change, overseen by the Ittaq Heritage and Research centre.
The plan, prepared in partnership with the Canadian Institute of Planners and Natural Resources Canada, is a part of a pilot program in Nunavut.
The lead-up to the plan involved the community at every step of the way. At the end, the residents of Clyde River came up with 30 action items that the community can take to prepare themselves for climate change.
Most of these actions, which involve the hamlet, Ittaq, hunters and trappers association and other organizations don't rely on outside intervention or money to carry out.
They include everything from finding new, cooler places to store meat to asking the nursing station to stock medicine that can be used to treat botulism, a sometimes fatal toxin that can be found in improperly fermented meat.
Some actions, such as encouraging all people going out on the land to carry location devices, will require government money to carry out.
But the expertise will be local because the HTA is able to provide training.
Carrying out some of the action items simply requires a visit or a telephone call, such as asking the local stores to carry sunscreen and floating snowmobile suits.
Outside consultants worked hand-in-hand with members of community-based advisory committee to develop the plan. They met with focus groups and over time to fine-tune it....
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Posted by: Garfieldodell | May 09, 2011 at 08:17 PM