Oceanography

Project Title:

Oceanography integration with Inuit hunting and fishing

Greenland is a place where the climate change is highly visible and where the population therefore has opportunities to gather important information's about the effects of climate change, which can subsequently be disseminated.
In the project, children and young people as well as local fishermen and hunters are involved in scientific working methods connected to their occupation as fishers and hunters.
The project creates a link between science and trade, which can be an important learning process for both sides and for the children involved in both scientific and practical trade work.
The project takes place in the fjords and bays around Uummannaq where UPI has offered to host the scientists involved in the project.

Project Aim:

Active cooperation with the ingenious Inuit

The aim of this project is to evaluate the integration of arctic ocean monitoring with the activities of the peoples who know these remote regions best: the ingenious Inuit.
Specifically, we aim to integrate sub-surface CTD (Conductivity Temperature and Depth) profile collection with hunting a fishing that Inuit are already doing through the sea ice.
In addition, we also trial an ice-ocean data collection program with the children at Uummannaq Children's Home.

Community-based monitoring of the ocean temperature in Uummannaq

Since January 2020, the Uummannaq Polar Institute in collaboration with Heidi Andreasen has hosted and fostered a unique initiative involving children, fishermen and scientists, to monitor the temperature of the ocean in the Uummannaq fjords, North-West Greenland.
One of the core methods at the Uummannaq Children's Home consists in bridging the ancestral culture and traditions with the tools and challenges of our time. Building on this philosophy, as the children go out fishing with the elders, they now have one more thing to discuss: what's the temperature like in the water? As illustrated in this video, Uummannaq fishermen simply hook a small Temperature-Depth sensor to their long-line and collect the data via their smartphone, as they pull it up the next day.
Through this initiative, local fishermen are able to provide up to daily temperature profiles in locations that are rarely reached by scientific campaigns, yet essential for ocean forecasting and climate monitoring, thereby bringing considerable value to the scientific community. Furthermore, these activities have proven to be a fantastic bridge between elders and children - with smartphone technology and data visualization - as well as between scientists and local stakeholders - sharing their understandings of the observed temperatures and their evolution.
This initiative is being carried out by Heidi Andreasen (marine biologist), Simmi Løvstrøm (fisherman), Hans-kr Korneliussen (Fisherman) Patrick Farnole (PhD candidate), and the Uummannaq Children's Home, in collaboration with the Uummannaq Polar Institute, ZebraTech, Berring Data Collective and the Greenlandic Institute of Natural Resources.

Links to the partner institutions for the UPI website:
ZebraTech & the Moana Project:
https://www.moanaproject.org
Berring Data Collective:
https://berringdatacollective.com

Uummannaq Polar Institute

UPI Ocenography

Photos