Large Arctic study of climate change canceled due to climate change

Canadian scientists conducted a comprehensive study, the purpose of which is to study the contribution of climate change to the Hudson Bay system, an inland sea surrounded by Canadian lands. The first stage was to be completed in 2017. But the expedition leaders canceled it: the movement of Arctic sea ice to the south caused by global climate change is too dangerous.

The team rightly decided that if the Amundsen icebreaker, which the research team was supposed to set off on to the rivers Churchill and Nelson, faces such harsh conditions in the south, it will not have time to get to its destination and complete research tasks - the ice has melted, and the rest is too mobile and reaches much more southern latitudes. For this reason, a four-year project worth $ 17 million will have to be frozen for some time. However, not only climate change influenced the decision to cancel the expedition.
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In 2017, researchers planned to speed up the departure of Amundsen and allow him to leave six days ahead of schedule. In this way, they could ensure safety at sea under unusually harsh conditions in the Bell Island Strait and along the northeast coast of Newfoundland prior to the start of a scientific mission. However, support for the university and the coast guard was not enough - because of problems with fleet management and inadequate requirements of the security vessels for the mission, the organizers of the expedition recognized that it was necessary to cancel the scientific program.

The expedition's chief researcher, Dr. David Barber, noted that the second week of delay would simply not allow the research objectives to be safely achieved. However, he and his team managed to do a little work. With the help of equipment on board, Amundsen was able to confirm that much of the sea ice had arrived from the high latitudes of the Arctic. Climate-related changes in Arctic sea ice not only reduce its length and thickness, but also increase its mobility. This means that ice conditions are likely to change much more often. Such severe conditions that are being created now will occur more and more often.

Sea-ice researchers have been able to gather enough information about the physics of ice, the ocean, and the atmosphere in the Hudson Bay region, and this data will then be used to understand climate change and help Canada prepare for it.

At the same time, Louis Fortier, director of research programs at Amudsen and ArcticNet Science, assured that all other areas of the expedition will continue to work as planned. The rest of the study will resume July 6, 2017 - oceanographic research will be conducted according to the plan.

What happened speaks for itself: climate change is not talk about the future, it is the present. Scientists have already found that the effects of changes in the Arctic part of Canada and the Arctic Ocean affect not only northern ecosystems and communities, but also the environment and people living in southern Canada - far from the coast of Newfoundland. The main task now is to obtain the most reliable information on climate change in order to be able to plan and make decisions on adaptation. The experience of this expedition and the conditions of climate change that affected Canada, clearly illustrated that humanity is not well prepared to address the problems of climate change.

Research has been made possible through collaboration between the Coast Guard of Canada and Arctic researchers working at the University of Canada. This partnership has helped research and understand the impacts of climate change and the development of marine and coastal ecosystem resources in the Arctic and northern human communities since 2003. The researchers intend to continue cooperation with the Coast Guard and resume the research program in 2018.