New scientific projects in collaboration with Uummannaq residents Published 13.04.2022

Do you live in the Uummannaq district and want to share your knowledge about the nature around you? Are you concerned about the changing sea, sea ice and fish in your region? Then some scientists want to collaborate with you this summer.

A lot of important knowledge can be generated when researchers and community partners are working together to advance community goals and science. This summer, 3 scientific projects will take place in Uummannaq and collaborate with residents to answer questions regarding local sea ice, water temperature, and fish populations.

Climate change is happening 4 times faster in the Arctic than elsewhere and Greenland’s nature, inhabitants and their ways of life, can be deeply affected. To better understand the effects of climate change on Uummannaq’s nature and residents, the new research projects will invite residents to participate in kaffemik, interviews, workshops and trips on the ice and water.

The first project focuses on sea ice and will start very soon (weeks 16-17) when Parnuna E. Dahl and her collaborators will be in Uummannaq to meet people and chat about the ice, and how is it used, how it has changed over the years, etc. The project is funded by NSF in the USA with researchers from Brown University and Nordland Research Institute.

The first project will focus on the sea ice and will start very soon (week 16-17) when Parnuna E. Dahl, Bright Dale and Paninnguaq Korneliussen come to Uummannaq to meet the locals and will talk about the sea ice, e.g. to map how the sea ice is used by different users, how the sea ice has changed over the years and how it affects the activities on the ice. The project is funded by the National Science Foundation in the USA with researchers from Brown’s University, the University of Oregon and Nordland Research.

In the second project, Uummannaq fishers are measuring the temperature of the water during some of their trips and can have the data in real-time. The project, which already started in the summer of 2020, is led by Heidi Andreasen from the Uummannaq Polar Institute and Patrick Farnole, a Ph.D. student at the University of Victoria in Canada, and funded by the Greenland Research Council.

In the third project, Caroline Bouchard, a researcher at the Greenland Climate Research Centre, and her team will collaborate with the community to document the importance of polar cod for people and animals in the Uummannaq district, and if there have been changes over time regarding that fish. Interviews with fishers and marine mammals hunters are planned in July for that project funded by the Greenland Research Council.

For further information, contact:
Scientist Caroline Bouchard Greenland Climate Research Center, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources. Phone: +299 36 12 00 E-mail: cabo@natur.gl