As the Trudeau government begins to set its 2017 budget priorities, the country’s 1,000-strong community of Arctic researchers is hoping to secure new funding for a key research network that will otherwise be forced to wind down in 2018….

“(ArcticNet) has not only been useful, it has been outstanding,” said David Barber, a professor in the department of environment and geography at the University of Manitoba who holds a Canada Research Chair in Arctic system science. “It’s really revolutionized how we do collaborative research in the North.”

Barber and other researchers got together about eight months ago in Winnipeg to talk about ArcticNet’s future.

“What do we do? How do we move forward as a community? How do we look to find a replacement for the functionality that is ArcticNet? And we’re struggling with it because there really is no logical avenue for which to move forward,” Barber said in a telephone interview Friday. “There’s no program we can write an application for that will replace it. There needs to be some kind of movement at the federal level.”

Announced today in Montreal by Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan, research teams led by the University of Calgary’s Casey Hubert, associate professor in the Faculty of Science and Campus Alberta Innovation Program Chair in Geomicrobiology and University of Manitoba’s Research Professor Gary Stern, Centre for Earth Observation Science, will combine their expertise in the areas of genomics, petroleomics and sea-ice physics to investigate the potential for native microbial communities to mitigate oil spills, as warmer temperatures and melting sea ice usher in increasing shipping throughout Arctic waters.

This crucial environmental research will be undertaken at the Churchill Marine Observatory, a unique research facility the U of M is building in Churchill, MB, and on board the Canadian Coast Guard Ship, Amundsen.

As temperatures warm and shipping and resources exploration in the North increases, oil spills will be inevitable in the Arctic.

The University of Manitoba has long been a global leader in sea ice research and its Churchill Marine Observatory supports the technological, scientific, ethical, environmental, economic, legal and social research that is need to safely guide (through policy development) the unprecedented Arctic marine transportation and oil and gas exploration and development throughout the Arctic.

“The expertise that we bring to the table are in the areas of petroleomics and sea ice physics, and a new facility located in Churchill,” says research professor Gary Stern.

“The expertise that we bring to the table are in the areas of petroleomics and sea ice physics, and a new facility located in Churchill that will allow us to study oil degradation process under controlled ambient Arctic conditions,” says Stern.

“The idea is that we will be able to emulate different thermodynamic states of the sea-ice and how, under these conditions, different crude and fuel oils will interact with native microbial population in a controlled environment,” says Stern.

The 2015 LSARP competition aims to support applied research projects focused on using genomic approaches to address challenges and opportunities of importance to Canada’s natural resources and environment sectors, including interactions between natural resources and the environment, thereby contributing to the Canadian bioeconomy and the well-being of Canadians.

“The addition of this research partnership between our two institutions will expand our respective teams and their capacity to advance our knowledge about impacts on the Arctic ecosystem and effects of the changing climate on all aspects of the North,” says Dr. Digvir Jayas, vice-president (research and international) and Distinguished Professor at the U of M.

About the partners

The project will be managed by Genome Alberta in conjunction with Genome Prairie and with an international collaboration of funding partners that have shown the desire to protect the complex Arctic environment:

Genome Canada, Alberta Economic Development and Trade, University of Manitoba, Natural Resources Canada, Arctic Institute of North America, Arctic Research Foundation, Stantec Consulting Ltd., National Research Council of Canada, Research Manitoba, University of Calgary Petroleum Reservoir Group, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Georgia Institute of Technology, Churchill Northern Studies Centre, Amundsen Science Inc., Environment and Climate Change Canada, Genome Quebec, Aphorist, and Aarhus University.

Stern and Hubert are co-presenting at ArcticNet’s Annual Scientific Meeting in Winnipeg this week. Close to 700 leading Arctic researchers, students, indigenous leaders, policy makers, northern community members and private sector representatives are gathered to address the numerous environmental, social, economical and political challenges and opportunities that are emerging from climate change and modernization in the Arctic.

More on sea ice and microbes

Did you know microbes live inside the sea ice? Søren Rysgaard, Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Arctic Geomicrobiology and Climate Change at the University of Manitoba, explains this focus of his research.

“(The ice) could be anywhere in size from small pieces, to the size of a car, right up to several large pieces that are several tens or hundreds of kilometres across,” said Barber. “When we get a piece of tabular ice in the ocean that is very big, we call them an ‘ice island.'”

Read the full story at cbc.ca.

HOW IT STARTED: The program was developed to bridge Arctic research with science education in high schools across the country; increase awareness of issues related to climate change in Canada; and educate young Canadians about the challenges and career opportunities involving Arctic research.

HOW IT WORKS: For its main initiative, Schools on Board invites students and teachers from across the country to come to the Arctic. They stay aboard the CCGS Amundsen—Canada’s research icebreaker—and learn alongside world-class researchers from the ArcticNet science team. Participants experience research first-hand, from sorting organisms pulled off the ocean floor to processing water samples.

“So the kids not only get to be immersed in that environment but they get to see and engage with some of the leading scientists on the planet,” says David Barber, director of the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the U of M. “It’s a very effective instrument at engaging kids, not only kids from the South but also kids from the North. They learn from each other about the issues and perspectives they have based on the geography and where they come from.”

IN HER OWN WORDS: “You’re completely immersed in every aspect of science and to be actually there working alongside scientists 24-7 essentially was incredible. You cannot get that from a textbook,” says Ameena Bajer-Koulack, a former participant of Schools of Board and now a U of M student who credits the experience for opening her eyes to a love of biology. “I think for me personally the best part of the trip was connecting with the Inuit students who are part of the program because it really brought home the realities of climate change.”

FUNDERS: The University of Manitoba, ArcticNet, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Promoscience

LEARN MORE

• University of Manitoba Schools on Board Program
• Arctic Net
• Schools on Board Website

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