Blizzard of positive thoughts
The blizzard here in Igloolik was quite substantial. Indeed, it's snowed here almost everyday for the past week, and last night's precipitation added to the white blanket that insulates and protects the Arctic earth.
ii, qaniktulalulikmut: yes, the snow is falling
This morning, we arrived at the office and so much snow had fallen that it was impeding the internet signal from entering the high-speed satellite dish mounted on the exterior of the Isuma office. Zacharias' brother had to climb on the roof and brush it off for us to access the web (see photo), which has allowed me to post this blog from so far away!
Check out the syllabics on the front of the building, it says "Isuma", which actually means "to think" in Inuktitut. That's what we're here to do, listen to the elders' stories, and think through and present Inuit perspectives on climate change using video.
Today, I'm thinking about the snow, and how it's a critical insulator of the land as part of the Arctic albedo. It, along with sea ice, help to reflect incoming solar radiation, and bounce that heat energy back into the atmosphere. As we lose this snow and ice due to climate change, less heat energy is reflected back, and the earth and ocean warm up more. As this occurs, the earth and ocean actually begin store more latent heat energy themselves, and subsequently melt more snow and ice.
Compounding this, the frozen tundra contains a tremendous amount of stored methane and carbon, which are greenhouse gases, and if the earth melts and the gases are released this will cause more warming. So, like dominoes, when we lose snow and ice cover, aquatic and terrestrial surfaces warm, causing more melting, and ultimately more warming.
When an effect causes itself, this is called "positive feedback", and is characteristic of a system that is unstable and perhaps trending towards being out of control. Losing our snow, ice and permafrost due to climate change is ultimately not a positive idea, although it might help you to have more reliable internet :)
