Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Oceanography and sea ice in the Arctic and Subarctic regions of Canada are rapidly changing. These high-latitude regions are warming at a rate much faster than the global mean leading to rapid unprecedented changes to the physical marine environment. Arctic sea ice cover has been in steady decline over the past several decades. This is particularly notable in Nunatsiavut (Inuit self-governing region of northern Labrador) where the loss of landfast ice and changes in the timing of the ice season, are of particular importance to local Inuit communities due to its use for winter travel, hunting and fishing. In this region, the Labrador Current brings cold and fresh waters of Arctic origin southward over the shelf. The adjacent deep waters of the North Atlantic are known for substantial multidecadal variations in surface temperature leading to large swings in regional climate. While natural climate variability plays a strong role in this region, the impact of long-term climate change is unequivocal. Through generations of use and occupancy Labrador Inuit have developed a deep knowledge of the coastal environment of Nunatsiavut including methods of observation and prediction. Scientific and Inuit Knowledge can both contribute, separately and by bridging them together, to the understanding of ocean and sea ice variability in this region. The long-term objective of my research is to understand ocean and sea ice dynamics over the Labrador coast and shelf through the bridging of scientific and Inuit knowledge. The overall objective of my research over the next five years is to investigate the drivers, variability, and long-term change of the ocean and sea ice state in the Labrador region and in doing so develop methods of respectfully bringing together scientific and Inuit Knowledge of the system. My approach will involve the synthesis of numerical ocean and sea ice modelling, statistical analysis of observations, community-based coastal monitoring, the application of physically-informed theories, and participatory methods of recording Inuit Knowledge and observations. Specifically, this research program will use both scientific and Inuit knowledge sources to inform us about oceanographic and sea ice changes in coastal Labrador. More generally, this will provide a template for how the bridging of scientific and Indigenous knowledge systems can work in a natural science research context. This will contribute to efforts to decolonize academia, by challenging the way in which non-scientific knowledge is treated, and will support Indigenous self-determination, by supporting and respecting Indigenous ways of knowing. The outcomes of this research program will thus contribute to numerous sectors including academia, federal and provincial government sectors, and Indigenous organizations.