Traditional Inuit Forecasting Sharpens Scientific Arctic Weather Insights
09.04.2010 - Atmosphere & Space, Water & Oceans, Land & Geology, Ice & Snow, Flora & Fauna, Human Dimension, Arctic
The Inuit have long relied upon their indigenous forecasting skills to determine when a good time to go on a hunt is, but now they are finding that their centuries-old knowledge is no longer quite as useful. As climate change has begun to alter the weather of the Arctic, the old signals which the Inuit greatly relied upon no longer seem to mean what they once did.
In contrast, by utilizing modern technology, scientists are able to use data measurements and sophisticated computer models to forecast the weather with great accuracy. While this data shows the weather globally to be growing more persistent with less variation, for years they have been receiving reports from Arctic communities claiming that they were struggling due to its unpredictability. However, despite these claims from people experiencing the weather first hand, no action was ever taken due to the lack of correlation with their own findings.
Now, in an effort to better document the changes that have been taking place in the Arctic, researchers are combining the use of indigenous knowledge and scientific data collection to get a better idea of exactly what has been happening in the Arctic.
Recently, a scientist from an Inuit community in the Arctic has been meticulously collecting the stories told to her by the Inuit and has made systematic records of indigenous environmental knowledge; from these patterns began to emerge. In particular, important changes were witnessed during the spring, a time of transition for many environmental processes. By bringing the records of Inuit observations together with scientific studies, researchers found a whole new level of detail for Arctic weather observation that bridges indigenous and scientific knowledge. As a result, the scientific observations are now more in line with what people are witnessing on the ground.
While the study helps scientists refine and test climate models, it does provide these models with another dimension to the information, which demonstrate the value of indigenous environmental knowledge to modern climate science.
