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Media coverage: Port of Churchill research and development potential

Eleanor Coopsammy — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 22:51:40 +0000

People are talking about UM, its research and impact in Churchill and for Manitoba’s economic future.

UM research mention- Free Press/The Canadian Press

Fei Wang, Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1), Department of Environment and Geography
Centre for Earth Observation Science and lead for Churchill Marine observatory spoke about the one-year anniversary of the opening of the observatory

CBC Manitoba- Radio noon

CTV Winnipeg

While Mario Pinto, V.P. Research (International) and Barry Prentice, Professor in Supply Chain Management and Director of UM’s Transport Institute spoke to various media outlets about the federal government’s recent indication that the Port of Churchill is a key priority for developing better trade route with Europe, Africa and the Americas.

CJOB radio

Global Winnipeg

CTV Winnipeg: ‘Really unique’: Ice core drilled by U of M scientist could unlock climate history

Fiona Odlum — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 15:06:55 +0000

A Manitoba researcher was part of a historic research team that uncovered the oldest ice core ever retrieved.

Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, a researcher from the University of Manitoba, was part of a team that successfully drilled into an ice core 2,800 metres in length, and uncovered the oldest ice core ever retrieved – more than 1.2 million years old.

She said the core will give an insight into past climate patterns.

To read the full story and watch the interview, please follow the link to CTV Winnipeg.

The Canadian Press: Orcas moved into the Arctic. It could be bad news for other whales, and humans too

Fiona Odlum — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 19:47:02 +0000

Killer whales are expanding their territory and have moved into Arctic waters as climate change melts sea ice, with two genetically distinct populations being identified by Canadian scientists.

But their study says that could have “severe consequences” for potential prey whales such as belugas, narwhals and bowheads, that lead researcher Colin Garroway called “slow, chubby and delicious.”

Garroway, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Manitoba, said in an interview that the situation was complex — the Arctic orcas have the potential to upend ecosystems as apex predators, even as they merit conservation concern.

To read the entire article, please follow the link to APTN News.

Associated Press: In the gateway to the Arctic, fat, ice and polar bears are crucial. All three are in trouble

Fiona Odlum — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 13:39:24 +0000

Searching for polar bears where the Churchill River dumps into Canada’s massive Hudson Bay, biologist Geoff York scans a region that’s on a low fat, low ice diet because of climate change.

And it’s getting lower on polar bears.

There are now about 600 polar bears in the Western Hudson Bay, one of the most threatened of the 20 populations of the white beasts. That’s about half the number of 40 years ago, says York, senior director of research and policy at Polar Bears International. His latest study, with a team of scientists from various fields, shows that if the world doesn’t cut back more on emissions of heat-trapping gases “we could lose this population entirely by the end of the century,” he says.

To read more about the work Dr. Julienne Stroeve is doing in the Arctic, please visit the Associated Press.

BBC Radio: What’s happening to arctic ice?

Fiona Odlum — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 20:40:14 +0000

The area of ice covering the arctic ocean has been in a state of long decline, as climate change takes effect. But recent fluctuations in the ice have been seized on by climate change sceptics, who say it tells a different story. We speak to polar climate scientist Professor Julienne Stroeve to better understand how to read the ice data.

To listen to the full interview, please visit BBC radio’s podcast of What’s happening to arctic ice?