Despite disruptions, our fieldwork, climate modeling, and ecotoxicological testing are safely continuing and even accelerating, using “Action at a Distance” to protect all involved.
As COVID-19 continues its spread across the globe many of us have already begun making major adjustments to our daily lives. At Ice911 we’ve all started working remotely, canceled all travel plans, and postponed events.
Adjustments are also coming for our program work, and Arctic research in general as well. As a recent Washington Post article points out (“Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on scientific fieldwork”), Greenland has shuttered not just to tourists, but to freight, Canada has closed its borders to non-citizens, and the state of Alaska has required arriving visitors to self-quarantine for 14 days, among other restrictions.
As in other field research efforts, access to such places is critical for our work. Ice911 is the furthest along Arctic restoration effort because we have been committed to rigorously testing our potential solution in the places where it might potentially be needed. As many of you know we’ve spent several winters testing our solution in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, and up until this outbreak, we were actively exploring options for further testing in Greenland, Svalbard, Norway, and other locales.
We were also planning our first controlled sea ice environment test in Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba’s SERF, which has unfortunately been postponed for the season. That’s a lot of disruption!
I want to let you know that these challenges are not stopping us from finding ways to continue our work. And once travel can be safely undertaken, with safety for all concerned, we’ll be back to exploring the most fruitful options for testing both in person, and by using increased collaborations, in Arctic locations including Greenland, Svalbard, Canada, and the U.S.
Right now we’re working on sending our own pools and instrumentation equipment up to Utqiaġvik to continue working with our great community partners at Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation (UIC).
Our hope is that even though we won’t be there to help do the work in person, we can work with the local community to get some experiments run on the longevity of our albedo modification on sea ice.
It’s not our first choice to not be able to work on location in person, but there are silver linings: we still have the possibility of generating much-needed data on the performance of the material which can be used to improve our climate models, and it gives us the opportunity to reaffirm and deepen our bonds with the people and organizations we have been working within the north slope.
We will develop useful experience in the process of co-production, and this may likely lead to new science questions, tailored to the needs of the communities most affected by the warming Arctic.
It’s important to remember that even though these restrictions pose a major challenge to our work, we are committed to making sure we follow best practices in limiting not just our risk, but that of the people we work with. Arctic communities are particularly susceptible to an outbreak. Early indications that the virus may be somewhat seasonal, and more virulent in colder, dryer climates, means that if the virus is introduced in the Arctic it may spread quickly.
The predominance of intergenerational communities and activities means the most susceptible people are unlikely to be able to avoid exposure, and Arctic healthcare systems are not designed, nor staffed for dealing with a large influx of sick patients needing moderately long-term intensive care.
We’ll continue to keep you updated on our efforts to safely halt and reverse the trends and dangers of a warming Arctic, and we hope you’re staying safe, and staying home.
- Alex Sholtz, Principal Engineer