Climate warming will be particularly intenseover the Arctic and several observationstend to confirm that the arctic ice cover hasalready started to melt. The consequences ofan ice-free Arctic Ocean will be far-reach-ing. They include potential extinction ofunique arctic fauna, disruption of oceaniccirculation, accelerated climate warming,the opening of a new ocean to resourceexploitation and navigation, and majorsocio-economic and geo-political perturba-tions that will impact the entire NorthernHemisphere.

The international scientific communityunanimously recognizes the acute need fordirect observation and measurement ofoceanographic conditions and processes inthe Arctic Ocean to improve the climatemodels that attempt to predict the rate and

extent of global warming. This has led arcticstates and several non-arctic countries of theG7 to accelerate their national efforts in arc-tic oceanography. Germany is leading acomprehensive international program orga-nized around its research icebreakerPolarstern. The US program in arcticoceanography has received a formidableboost with the launch of the research ice-breaker Healy. Japan has increased effortsin the Arctic with support from the ice-rein-forced research ship Mirai. The icebreakerOden supports Sweden’s program. EvenChina is now deploying a 150-m icebreaker,the Xuelong, to sustain a fast-growing pro-gram in arctic oceanography.

Despite obvious arctic responsibilities,Canada has been slow to join in leadershipof the international effort to study the ArcticOcean’s response to climate warming;Canada's northern research efforts haveconsistently dwindled over the last 20 years.The recent Report of the Task Force onNorthern Research appointed by the NaturalSciences and Engineering Research Council(NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Hu-manities Research Council (SSHRC) makes aclear case for renewing the historic Canadi-an leadership in arctic science (Hutchinsonet al., 2000, From Crisis to Opportunity:Rebuilding Canada’s Role in NorthernResearch). The report identified the presentweakness of logistical support as one of the

A Canadian Research Icebreaker

to Study the Changing Arctic Ocean 1

Respiratory Tract Infections

in Inuit Children 4

Canada Closing

Arctic Ozone Observatory 6

Exploring for Gas Hydrate

in the Arctic 9

Book Review: Writing on Ice 12

What’s New 13

Horizon 14

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I N T H I S I S S U E A C A N A D I A N R E S E A R C HI C E B R E A K E R T O S T U D Y

T H E C H A N G I N G A R C T I C O C E A NLouis Fortier

The CCGS Pierre Radisson, sister ship of the CCGS Sir JohnFranklin. Photo: Martin Fortier

main reasons for the decline of the Canadianresearch presence in the Arctic. The Reportconcludes, “If action is not taken, Canadawill not be able to meet its international sci-ence and research obligations, or contributeto issues of global importance. Nor will webe able to meet basic national obligations tomonitor, manage, and safeguard the north-ern environment …”.

A S I G N I F I C A N T S T E PT O W A R D S T H E

R E V I T A L I Z A T I O NO F C A N A D I A N

A R C T I C S C I E N C E

There are signs that this grim situation ischanging, and that a revitalization of Cana-dian Arctic research is under way. In partic-ular, a consortium of Canadian universitiesand federal agencies submitted a proposal tothe International Fund of the Canada Foun-dation for Innovation to transform the 98-micebreaker Sir John Franklin into a state-of-the-art research vessel to study the ArcticOcean. Last June, the Board of Directors ofthe CFI selected this proposal to proceed tothe next phase of review (see www.innova-tion.ca/media/index.cfm?websiteid=227).The proposed infrastructure also includesthe specialized equipment necessary for theship’s scientific mission, and partial operat-ing funds for the first five years. The ice-breaker is the key to jump-starting anurgently needed international program – ledby Canada – that will study the changingArctic Ocean over the next 15 to 20 years.

With the expected success of this pro-posal, the research icebreaker will becomean important catalyst for the re-energizingof Canadian Arctic science by giving re-searchers unprecedented access to the Arctic

Ocean. The infrastructure will also substan-tially strengthen Canada’s position in inter-national arctic programs. Over the next tenyears, the vessel will support several majormultidisciplinary programs of internationalstature to advance our understanding of cli-mate, oceanic circulation, sea-ice dynamics,biology, biogeochemistry, sedimentology,paleoceanography, and geology in theCanadian sector of the Arctic Ocean. Theinfrastructure will also support ship-basedstudies of the response of the coastal inlandzone of the Canadian Arctic to climate forc-ing, and epidemiologic studies of the impactof climate change on the health of North-erners. Planned programs include:Canadian Arctic Shelf Exchange Study

(CASES, 2002–2007). The objective ofCASES, which is fully funded, is to un-derstand and model the response of bio-geochemical and ecological cycles toatmospheric, oceanic and continentalforcing of sea-ice cover variability on theMackenzie Shelf.

International Monitoring Program of

Arctic Canadian Seas (IMPACS, startingin 2004–2005). The lack of long-termdata impedes our understanding of cur-rent changes in the arctic. IMPACS willbegin gathering a long-term series ofphysical, biological and biogeochemicalvariables within the Arctic Basin (Mac-kenzie Shelf) and in the Canadian out-flow of the Arctic Ocean (North Water).

Ice Information and Navigation Experi-

ment (I2NE, starting in 2003). A climate-induced extension of the ice-free seasoncould open the Northwest Passage tointercontinental navigation as early as2015–2025. I2NE will build predictive icedynamics and distribution models todevelop management strategies for decreasing the risk of marine disasterswhile maximizing the potential shippingseason.

Northern Regional Sensitivity to Climate

Change (Northern-RiSCC, 2005–2010).This major international initiative fo-cuses on a 55°N (Kuujjuarapik) to 80°N(Ellesmere Island) transect analysis ofCanadian coastal land, lake and wetlandenvironments to determine the potentialresponse of terrestrial northern ecosys-tems to a northward shift of isotherms asthe Northern Hemisphere warms. Theresearch icebreaker will serve as a mov-ing base, with access to coastal sites bylaunch and helicopter.

Role of Ice in the Morphodynamics of

Arctic Coasts (RIMAC-ACD). RIMAC willanticipate the response of the ArcticCoast to climate-induced changes in icecover, wave generation and storm surge.This information is critical for develop-ing global sediment and carbon budgetsand for predicting the impacts of chang-ing climate on high-latitude coasts, in-frastructure, habitats, cultural resourcesand communities.

Climate Change and Public Health in

the Canadian Arctic (2003–2008). Thisprogram will examine the influence ofclimate on human health in the Arcticand will develop strategies for adapting to potential impacts of climate change in northern communities. The icebreak-er will provide access to communities for collecting biological samples andfacilities for interviewing and medicalexamination.The comprehensiveness of the transfor-

mations and the diversity of the equipmentpool attached to the ship will make it a ver-satile research platform able to provide sup-port not only in the field of oceanographybut also in several other fields of arctic sci-ence. For example, the ship will be equippedwith the most sophisticated systems forocean-floor mapping and, thanks to the

2

moon pool and dynamic positioning system,will accommodate drilling operations inshallow waters – thus providing geologistsand paleoceanographers with an exception-al tool for exploring arctic shelves andcoasts. State-of-the-art reception stations

and meteorological instruments will enableatmospheric specialists to calibrate satel-lite images with direct observations alongthe ship’s path, and to further the study ofatmosphere-ocean exchanges in the Arctic.The helicopter, launch and landing barge

will provide access to the coastal zone of the Canadian Archipelago to terrestrial ecol-ogists. The transformed clinic will facili-tate epidemiological research in northerncommunities.

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For its new role as a research vessel the ice-breaker will be modified to include:� An internal moon pool. Thick sea ice and

sub-zero atmospheric temperatures aremajor obstacles to the safe deployment ofdelicate instruments. The internal moonpool solves these difficulties by providingan opening to the sea from inside theship.

� A dynamic positioning system includ-ing the addition of stern and mid-shipthrusters. The DPS allows the vessssel tomaintain a precise position despite tides,currents, winds and drifting ice, essentialfor operations such as coring, drilling,the precise mooring and recovery ofinstruments, the deployment of remotelyoperated vehicles, etc.

� Fully-equipped wet and dry laboratories,including temperature-controlled units,and microscopy and instrumentationrooms for a total of nearly 400m2 ofworking space.

� A fast-launch davit for deployment andrecovery of a 7-m survey boat while theship is steaming at up to 6 knots. Thissystem provides substantial savings oftime (and research funds) by reducingthe interference between survey opera-tions and ship-based operations.

� An acoustic well which permits chang-ing acoustic transducers (to modify fre-quency or for maintenance) withoutdry-docking the ship. The acoustic wellis needed for comprehensive studies of

the distribution and abundance of zoo-plankton and fish, and for other studiesusing acoustic transducers.

� A scientific landing barge.� Six container-laboratories.� A state-of-the-art data logging and com-

munication network.

The icebreaker’s scientific equipmentpool will include:� Two CTD-rosette systems. The conduc-

tivity-temperature-depth-rosette sampleror CTD-rosette system is the workhorsethat enables oceanographers to quicklyobtain multiple water samples from dif-ferent depths and continuous profiles ofkey physical, biological and chemicalvariables.

� Twelve ADCPs. Moored on the sea bot-tom, Acoustic Doppler Current Profilersuse the reflection of sound on plankton-ic organisms to measure current speedand direction simultaneously at severaldepths.

� Twenty-four environment probes (CTD,oxygen, fluorescence, acoustic current-meter).

� Twenty-four sediment traps.� Twenty-four acoustic releases and flota-

tion for 12 moorings.� A pinger system for localizing deployed

instruments.� A towed undulating probe carrier vehi-

cle. Depth rudder and a computer-con-trolled winch determine the trajectory ofthis underwater fin towed by the ship.

The fin carries an array of instrumentsthat provide high-resolution vertical sec-tions of oceanographic conditions.

� A remotely operated vehicle (ROV).� Inboard ADCPs and ship-track water

monitoring systems for continuous mon-itoring of currents and ocean surfaceconditions along the path of the ice-breaker.

� Optical and near-infrared spectrometers.� 19-, 37- and 85-ghz radiometers.� A radiosonde to study the atmospheric

forcing of sea ice variability. The temper-ature, humidity and pressure signalstransmitted by a small balloon-borneexpandable radio provide a vertical pro-file of the atmospheric conditions.

� A multi-channel satellite receiver.� An open path infrared gas analyser.� Parcol arctic shelters, heavy-duty snow-

mobiles, standard snowmobiles.� A scientific echo sounder.� 0.5- and 1.0-m multinet zooplankton

samplers.� A rectangular midwater trawl and ex-

perimental trawls.� A multibeam echo sounding system.� A shallow water sweep bathymetry

system.� Corers and a core splitter.� A shipborne x-ray system for sediment

cores.� A seismic reflection system.� A liquid chromatography mass spectro-

meter.

A V E R S A T I L E R E S E A R C H I N F R A S T R U C T U R E

T H E I C E B R E A K E R : A K E Y T O A

C R O S S - S E C T O R I A LA P P R O A C H T O

C L I M A T E C H A N G EI M P A C T R E S E A R C H

I N T H E A R C T I C

International efforts to stabilize greenhousegases emissions, such as proposed by theKyoto protocol, can only marginally curbthe present rate of atmospheric warming.Strategies to adapt northern and southernsocieties to the full impact of anthropogenicclimate warming must therefore be envis-aged and developed. The ecosystem-levelquestions and challenges raised by a warm-ing arctic can only be addressed though across-sectorial approach involving special-ists from the natural, social and medical

sciences. To further promote this cross-sectorial approach, the proponents of theicebreaker project have proposed a Networkof Centres of Excellence that will bringtogether the best arctic specialists in Canadaand their collaborators from abroad. Arctic-Net will build synergy among existing arcticcentres of excellence in the natural, medicaland social sciences. The objective of the Net-work is to translate our growing under-standing of the changing arctic into impactassessments, national policies and adapta-tion strategies. The direct involvement ofnortherners in the scientific process is a pri-mary goal of the Network that will be ful-filled through bilateral exchange of knowl-edge, training and technology.

As mentioned earlier, scientists agreethat direct observations and measurementsare needed to address the ecosystem-levelquestions raised by climate change in theArctic. The proposed Network is builtaround the research icebreaker that will pro-vide oceanographers, terrestrial ecologists,geologists, epidemiologists and other spe-cialists with unprecedented access to theArctic. If funded, ArcticNet will become aunique supplier of expertise to inform North-erners of the potential impacts and opportu-nities that climate change will bring to theNorth, and to help decision-makers andindustry cope with a changing Arctic.

Louis Fortier is a professor of biology atLaval University.

4

Anyone who spends time in the North willsoon realize how pervasive respiratory ill-ness is. While northerners accept the highrates of respiratory infection as a fact of life,southerners regard them with disbelief.

I first came to Baffin Regional Hospital inIqaluit, Nunavut, in 1995, during my train-ing in children’s infectious disease. I was dis-concerted by the severe cases of bronchioli-tis, a respiratory syndrome in young chil-dren thought to be caused by viruses, that Isaw. All too frequently Inuit babies wereintubated and evacuated by air to the Southfor life-support. I was perplexed by childrenaged 3 or 4 appearing to have bronchiecta-sis, a condition usually associated withlong-term smokers in their 60s or 70s.

In an attempt to understand if what Iwas witnessing was a real phenomenon, Ispent the summer scouring the medicalrecords. I wanted to understand first theextent of the problem, and then what factorswere creating it. Thus began a serendipitouscascade of events that led to some answers –and more questions.

I soon discovered that the medical litera-ture on lung infections in Inuit children,especially in Canada, was practically non-existent. I examined the medical charts of allchildren under four years of age admitted toBaffin Regional Hospital and discovered thatthe problem was likely even worse than Ihad imagined: bronchiolitis was responsiblefor about 50% of all the hospital admissionsof children under four. In fact, most of theBaffin hospital’s expenditures for childrenrelated to bronchiolitis.

Kimberly Tikivik, shown here with her mother Malaya,undergoing treatment for infectious lung disease at theBaffin hospital. Photo: Douglas Sage

R E S P I R A T O R Y T R A C T I N F E C T I O N S I N I N U I T C H I L D R E N

Anna Banerji

I calculated that the rate of admission forbronchiolitis was 306 per 1,000 children lessthan one year of age. That is approximately30 times the rate in the South. Almost 13% ofthe children hospitalized during this yearhad been intubated. When assessing possiblerisk factors, about a quarter of the childrenwere born prematurely, five percent hadcongenital heart disease, and half had theirfirst admission before three months of age –all of which are known risk factors for se-vere bronchiolitis. When looking at theinfections identified in these cases of bron-chiolitis, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV),thought to be the most common cause ofbronchiolitis, was under-represented.

What interested me was that 12% of thechildren were found to have Chlamydiatrachomatis in their eyes or nasal secre-tions. Chlamydia trachomatis is a knownpathogen that causes bronchiolitis-like ill-ness in infants and is transmitted to the childat birth. I wondered if undetected Chlamy-dia infection might be an important cause oflower respiratory tract infections, in Inuitchildren.

In 1997 I began a prospective studysearching for the infectious and environ-mental factors contributing to lower respira-tory tract infections in children youngerthan six months of age admitted to BaffinRegional Hospital, specifically trying tounderstand the role of Chlamydia. Thisstudy showed a rate of admission for lowerrespiratory tract infection of 484 per 1,000 inchildren less than six months of age – one ofthe highest rates ever reported. In otherwords, a Baffin infant less than six monthsold has about a one in two chance of beingadmitted to hospital with a lower respirato-ry tract infection.

We were surprised to find that all thechildren admitted were exposed to cigarettesmoke during pregnancy, and to second-hand smoke in their homes. In general,these children lived in overcrowded condi-tions compared to other Canadians. Forty

percent of the children were adopted to afemale relative.

We identified infectious organisms in18/27 (66%) of the admissions in the study,but were not able to identify Chlamydia inany of the children. During the period of thestudy, major improvements occurred in theawareness, diagnosis and treatment ofChlamydia in pregnancy. Detection of Chla-mydia increased by 60%.

There were many limitations to the studyincluding the lack of health controls, and asmall number of cases. We encounterednumerous obstacles, such as a limited bud-get ($8,000), and logistical problems withspecimen transport. One of our greatestchallenges was the perception that researchin Inuit communities did not directly benefitthe community being studied. With the

encouragement of those who understood theimpact of respiratory illness in the north, weperservered.

But serendipity was soon at play again.Quality control testing for Chlamydia tra-chomatis failed to identify the pathogen.Instead, another chlamydia-like organismnow called Simkania negevensis (SN)occurred in 14/22 (64%) of the specimenstested. SN was first identified in Israel, wherestudies showed it to be present in a numberof children with bronchiolitis but absent incontrols. Unlike Chlamydia, which is a sexu-ally transmitted disease, SN appears primar-ily to cause respiratory infections. Previous-ly, bronchiolitis was considered a viral dis-ease. If SN is a common cause of bronchioli-tis in young Inuit children, it could potential-ly be treated with an antibiotic. This, I felt,could not be ignored.

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The Baffin Regional Hospital receives patients fromIqaluit and the eleven smaller communities of theQikiqtaaluk (Baffin) region. Photo: Douglas Sage

Many children in Iqaluit and elsewhere in the region livein overcrowded and poorly ventilated homes. Photo:Douglas Sage

As we searched for support for furtherresearch we found that the study didn’t fitthe mandates of most funding agencies. Tothe credit of the newest and one of thesmallest governments in Canada, the Nuna-vut Department of Health and Social Ser-vices considered respiratory infections inchildren a high priority, and readily agreedto support further research..

In January 2002 we initiated the next

phase. A case-control study, it includes allchildren under the age of five admitted toBaffin Regional Hospital, again looking atthe environmental and infectious factors inlower respiratory tract infection in this pop-ulation, and specifically exploring the role ofSN.

Once we understand the cause of respira-tory infections in the Baffin region we canmake a real impact. And, one can only hopethat the probable contributing factors –

smoking, overcrowding and poverty – willbe addressed, and the unacceptable rate ofrespiratory infection in Baffin will become athing of the past.

Anna Banerji, MD, is a pediatrician andinfectious disease specialist in the Depart-ment of Pediatrics at the University ofBritish Columbia.

6

Located high in the Canadian Arctic, lessthan 1,000 km from the North Pole, Environ-ment Canada’s Arctic Stratospheric OzoneObservatory (ASTRO) has been in operationsince 1993, providing us with valuableinsight into the state of the ozone layer overnorthern Canada. Unfortunately, it looks likeASTRO will not be celebrating its tenthanniversary as the facility is being moth-balled, saving the federal government about$300,000 a year in basic operating costs.This may sound like a large amount, but forcomparison, the cost of hosting the 30-hourKananaskis G8 Summit is equivalent to run-ning ASTRO for 1,000 years!

ASTRO sits on a mountain ridge nearSlidre Fjord on Ellesmere Island, about 15kmfrom the Eureka weather station (80°N,86°W) in Nunavut. It is ideally located foratmospheric measurements, as the high-latitude high-altitude site offers clear skiesthrough most of the year. In addition, theArctic vortex, a cold isolated mass of air thatacts as a container for the chemical reac-tions that lead to ozone destruction, regular-ly passes overhead, allowing observationsboth inside and outside this chemically per-turbed region. This is very useful in help-ing us unravel the chemical and physical

processes that control the stratosphericozone budget.

The state-of-the-art ASTRO facility wasestablished by Environment Canada inresponse to concerns about the future of thethinning ozone layer above the CanadianArctic. It contains a suite of scientific instru-ments that measure stratospheric ozone andvarious trace gases involved in ozone chem-istry, as well as atmospheric temperatureand aerosol profiles. These instruments (sev-eral built by Canadian companies) are oper-ated by scientists from the Meteorological

Service of Canada (MSC) and by researchpartners from several Canadian universities,Japan, and the USA. The Japanese have beenparticularly active participants, with a num-ber of the instruments having been devel-oped and used by scientists from the Meteo-rological Research Institute, the Communi-cations Research Laboratory, and Fukuokaand Nagoya Universities.

The importance of ASTRO to global at-mospheric measurements was quickly rec-

The Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Observatory. Photo: M.R.Bassford, University of Toronto

C A N A D A C L O S I N G A R C T I C O Z O N E O B S E R V A T O R Y

Kimberly Strong

ognized, as it was designated as part of theArctic primary station of the internationalNetwork for the Detection of StratosphericChange (NDSC), which is co-ordinated bythe World Meteorological Organization. Theclosing of ASTRO thus eliminates a key sitein the global effort to monitor the recovery(or not) of the ozone layer after the signingof the Montreal Protocol and its subsequentamendments that regulate the production of ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons(CFCs). It also means that Canada, with itshuge landmass, including about 30% of theArctic (above 60°N), regrettably no longerhas any fully active sites in the NDSC.

My own connection with ASTRO beganin 1999, when we first deployed our newgrating spectrometer there as polar nightwas ending in late February. Students andpost-doctoral fellows from my researchgroup continued to take it back to the Arcticfor each of the following three winters.Equipping the system to operate in the frigidtemperatures at Eureka (often dipping to –50°C) was a challenge, which we met byhousing it in a thermostatically controlledweatherproof case that sat on the roof of theASTRO building. We also automated theoperation of the spectrometer, so that wecould leave it to make unattended measure-ments for several months, interactivelymonitoring it from Toronto, with on-siteassistance from the MSC’s Eureka stationmanager as needed.

Our goal has been to make measure-ments through polar spring, the periodwhen the perturbed stratospheric conditionsnecessary for ozone destruction occur. Theinstrument records UV-visible absorptionspectra of scattered sunlight at sunrise andsunset, from which concentrations of ozone,NO2, BrO, and OClO can be derived. It com-plemented the measurements that werebeing made at ASTRO by the lidars, infraredand millimetre-wave spectrometers, andBrewer ozone spectrophotometers alreadyinstalled there.

By combining the high-quality observa-tions made by such a suite of instruments, itis possible to obtain a comprehensive dataset that can be used to address outstandingquestions regarding the current state andfuture evolution of the ozone layer. Stratos-pheric ozone is crucial to the Earth’s cli-mate. Its best known role is as a highlyeffective absorber of harmful UV-B solarradiation that protects the biosphere fromradiation which can cause skin cancer andeye damage in humans, harm vegetationand marine organisms, and degrade materi-als such as plastics and paper. However, theabsorption of radiation by ozone is also thedominant source of heating in the stratos-phere, influencing stratospheric winds.

declined significantly since about 1980 inresponse to enhanced levels of chlorineresulting from anthropogenic emissions ofCFCs. This is particularly true in the polarregions, with dramatic declines in ozoneobserved over Antarctica in late winter andearly spring. During the 1990s, springtimelosses in lower stratospheric ozone have fre-quently been observed over Arctic regions,with very low ozone column amounts re-corded in several recent years, includingcumulative ozone losses of 60% at 18km seenin early 2000. Over the Canadian high Arc-tic, there has been an average decline ofabout 12% over the past two decades.

Polar ozone depletion is a seasonal effect,which begins with the formation of polar

7

Decreasing stratospheric ozone concentra-tions are thus likely to increase the amountof UV-B radiation reaching the ground, toenhance UV-dependent photochemical reac-tions in the troposphere, to reduce stratos-pheric temperatures, and to possibly changethe dynamics of the stratosphere. In fact,measurements made with EnvironmentCanada’s Brewer ozone spectrophotometerhave provided evidence for the link betweenozone depletion and UV increases.

Stratospheric ozone concentrations have

Installing our spectrometer on the roof of ASTRO inspring 2001. Shown in photo are Dr. Stella Melo andElham Farahani from the University of Toronto, and VivekVoora, Dr. Richard Mittermeier, and Dr. Hans Fast fromthe Meteorological Service of Canada. Photo: Y. Makino,Japan Meteorological Agency

stratospheric clouds (PSCs) in the vortexduring the cold polar winter. Heterogeneousreactions on the surfaces of these cloudsconvert chemically inactive chlorine into amore reactive form, and when sunlightreturns in the spring it releases chlorine

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atoms which destroy ozone in a catalyticcycle. This continues until the Sun causes adynamical breakdown of the winter vortexand PSCs evaporate.

To date, springtime ozone loss has beenless severe over the Arctic than over Antarc-tica because Arctic stratospheric tempera-tures are generally higher, resulting in lessfrequent formation of PSCs, which are nec-essary for the chemistry that leads to ozonedestruction. However, concern over Arcticozone is growing, as models suggest thatincreasing greenhouse gas concentrationsmay lead to a colder Arctic stratosphere.(While greenhouse gases warm the loweratmosphere, this trapping of heat near thesurface actually cools the stratosphere.) This

associated decrease in stratospheric tem-peratures? What will be the impact of thechanging concentrations of other constit-uents, such as methane, nitrous oxide,water vapour, and sulphate aerosols? With-out long-term monitoring of ozone, CFCs,aerosols, temperature, and the chlorine,bromine, and nitrogen compounds that allplay a part in ozone chemistry, we can onlyguess. It is critical that Canada continue tomake such long-term measurements if weare to have a role in the international effortto understand climate change. Such data isalso important for the validation of satellitemeasurements, such as those that will bemade by Canada’s SCISAT-1 mission when itis launched in 2003.

warning system for global change (see“Tundra Northwest 99”, Meridian, Fall/Winter, 2001). Canadian government cut-backs over the past decade have had asevere impact on our research capability,particularly with regard to northern scienceand environmental monitoring. For exam-ple, Environment Canada’s budget was cutfrom $800 million in 1988 to $550 million in1998, making it the smallest federal govern-ment department. Although it has sincebeen increased to about $650 million, thisreduction has had a direct impact on theresearch budget of Environment Canada sci-entists. Some have departed in frustration,while those remaining are left with such dif-ficult decisions as whether to close ASTRO,cut other equally important research pro-jects, or delay repairs to the aging infra-structure of meteorological stations.

What of the future? Next year, we maydeploy our spectrometer at Resolute Bay,where there is an observatory managed bySRI International on behalf of the US Nation-al Science Foundation. However, the mea-surements being done there are of the upperatmosphere, not the stratosphere, so it willno longer be possible to combine our mea-surements with those of complementaryinstruments, as we have been doing atASTRO. Unfortunately, this will limit the sci-entific value of the data we collect.

In the longer term, we hope that funds toreopen ASTRO can be found, given its im-portance to Canadian and international Arc-tic science. Ideally, this would continue to bethe responsibility of Environment Canada,as the federal government has an importantrole in long-term monitoring of the atmos-phere. It is more difficult for such a facility tobe operated by universities, for example,given the relatively short-term nature ofgraduate student and post-doctoral posi-tions. However, many scientists, both inCanada and abroad, are sufficiently shockedand dismayed by the recent mothballing ofASTRO that we are trying to assemble a con-

8

in turn is predicted to cause further Arcticozone depletion that will peak during thenext 10 to 20 years, with a possible reduc-tion of up to 2/3 in the total ozone column. Itwas ASTRO measurements that provided thefirst evidence that global warming wasincreasing ozone loss in the high Arctic.

The need for the kind of observationsthat are possible at ASTRO is thus greaterthan ever. Will the mitigating effects of theMontreal Protocol and its amendments forthe reduction of CFCs be counteracted by ris-ing greenhouse gas concentrations and an

View from ASTRO. Photo: M.R. Bassford, University ofToronto

The closing of ASTRO is symptomatic ofCanada’s declining commitment to northernresearch. That this is in “deep crisis” was rec-ognized in the National Task Force Report,“From Crisis to Opportunity: RebuildingCanada’s Role in Northern Research”, re-leased in 2000. Increasingly, studies in theCanadian Arctic are being undertaken byscientists from other nations, who realizethe importance of this region as an early

sortium of university and government part-ners to save it. To really operate the facilityat full capacity, at least $1 million per yearwould be needed. This undertaking, beingled by my colleague Professor Jim Drum-mond of the University of Toronto, is still inthe early stages and will require significanteffort and resources if it is to be successful,but we are convinced that it is vital thatASTRO be kept open. Canada has an obliga-tion to its own population and to the globalcommunity to do its part in monitoring theArctic stratosphere in the years ahead, as wetry to unravel the complex climate systemprocesses that result in feedbacks betweenstratospheric ozone and climate change.

Kimberly Strong is an Associate Professorin the Physics Department at the Universi-ty of Toronto.

AcknowledgementsMy Arctic research was directly funded bythe Canadian Foundation for Climate andAtmospheric Sciences, NSERC, the NorthernScientific Training Program, and the Cana-dian Northern Studies Trust. In addition, weare very grateful for the assistance andlogistical support that we received from sci-entists at Environment Canada, which oper-ates the Eureka ASTRO facility.

Further InformationFor more details on atmospheric research atthe University of Toronto, visit atmosp.physics.utoronto.ca.

For information about ASTRO, visit theEnvironment Canada web site http://exp-studies.tor.ec.gc.ca/e/eureka/eureka.htm.

The National Task Force Report, “FromCrisis to Opportunity: Rebuilding Cana-da’s Role in Northern Research”, is atftp://ftp.nserc.ca/pub/nserc_pdf/nor/crisis.pdf.

The Network for the Detection of Stratos-pheric Change web site is ndsc.ncep.noaa.gov/.

Canadians are continually searching fornew energy sources to replace depleting andincreasingly expensive conventional fossilfuels. One potential new fuel could comefrom gas hydrate reservoirs found deepbelow the ocean floor on the continentalshelf.

The existence of methane hydrate wasfirst recognized over seventy years ago as anicy sludge that fouled natural gas pipelines.It was dismissed as a nuisance until 1964,when a Russian drilling crew discoverednaturally occurring methane hydrate in aSiberian gas field and recognized its possibil-ities as a resource. Interest in this source ofnatural gas has since expanded, and gashydrate is now regarded as holding enor-mous potential.

Gas hydrate is a crystalline solid thatconsists of gas molecules trapped within acage of water molecules, a structure knownas a clathrate (Figure 1). Although manygases such as carbon dioxide and hydrogensulfide can form gas hydrate, methaneforms most marine gas hydrate, making itan abundant source of natural gas.

Hydrate can store immense amounts ofmethane. One volume of water can bind 207equivalent volumes of methane at atmos-pheric pressure. A gas hydrate reservoir

may contain 170 times more gas than a con-ventional high pressure natural gas reser-voir of equal volume.

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Figure 1

Figure 2

The major factors controlling gas hy-drate formation and stability are pressure,temperature, gas chemistry, the salt contentof the pore waters, the porosity of theenclosing formation sediments, and the freegas availability and abundance. Gas hydrateexists in nature at high pressure and temper-atures near 0°C. Hydrate in sediment disso-ciates quickly when brought to the surfacebecause of decreased pressure and increasedtemperature. Sediment will actually pop andfizzle at the surface, as the hydrate decom-poses and the highly concentrated methaneescapes into the atmosphere.

The sediment can even be set aflamewhen methane hydrate concentrations arehigh enough (Figure 2). This phenomenonhas led to the term “flammable ice” since thedissociation of gas hydrate freezes the sedi-

E X P L O R I N G F O R G A S H Y D R A T EI N T H E A R C T I C

Adrienne Ethier

ment that contains it when it is brought tosurface pressures.

Hydrate occurs within the pore spaces of ocean sediments, 130 to 2,000 metresbeneath the sea floor along the margins ofmost continents. There are large deposits inthe Nankai Trough off the coast of Japan,along the west coast of Vancouver Island,and in Blake Ridge, off South Carolina.Hydrate also occurs deep within the sands ofthe Mackenzie Delta along Canada’s arcticcoast.

Conservative estimates place the world-wide amount of total carbon bound in gashydrate at approximately 2,800 to 7,600,000trillion cubic metres of gas, twice the amountin all known reserves of oil, natural gas andcoal. Gas hydrate exploration and produc-

tion testing is already under way in Canadawith collaboration from other countries in-cluding Japan, Germany, the United States,and India.

One of the largest known gas hydratereservoirs in the world lies in the MackenzieDelta/Beaufort Sea region of northern Cana-da (Figure 3). In 1979 Shell Oil drilled sever-al exploration wells on the Mackenzie Delta.The Mallik L-38 drill site and the other ex-ploration wells confirmed a thick (~200m)layer of gas hydrate in the area.

In 1998, a team led by the GeologicalSurvey of Canada drilled a dedicated re-search well near Mallik L-38 to sample andtest the gas hydrate resource. The new well,

Mallik 2L-38, brought scientists from Cana-da, the United States and Japan together toexamine the vertical profile of gas hydrate inthe sediment in an effort to learn moreabout the geologic controls on their growthand distribution. A key component of theproject, cutting a core of gas hydrate-bear-ing sediments, provided scientists with sam-ples for testing. The results led to planning ofa second and more ambitious program.After two years of preparation, including anearly staging of equipment to the site bybarge prior to freeze-up, drilling began inDecember 2001 (Figure 4).

At the Inuvik Research Institute in Inuvik,NWT in late February of this year, I wasamong the numerous project researcherscollecting samples from the cores as theyarrived from the rig site. I collected some1,300 samples, and over the next few yearsthese will be analyzed at the University ofOttawa in order to learn more about thegeochemistry of gas hydrate in its naturalenvironment. Isotope geochemistry willallow us to identify the detailed history ofgas hydrate formation and dissociation inthe sediment. This information will helpother researchers involved with the projectto better understand how gas hydratebehaves in the environment and will hope-fully help with production method develop-ment and estimations of the potential forcontamination. Information on the researchand production tests will be posted on theMallik web site at http://icdp.gfz-potsdam.de/html/sites/mallik/index/.

Methane gas is around 20 times moreeffective as a greenhouse gas than carbondioxide. Since hydrates release methane atsurface temperature and pressure, concernshave been expressed that developing thisresource could accelerate global warming,but developing the resource isn’t a problemif it is just replacing conventional gas. Theconnection with global warning is a positiveone: the research from Mallik will increaseand improve data on which global climate

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Figure 3

MALLIK

TUKTOYAKTUK

INUVIK

MACKENZIE

DELTA

models are based, as methane is a relatively“clean” fuel.

Research on the Mallik methane hydratedeposits will provide hard data for climatechange models. The potential contributionof methane gas to global warming is contro-versial. Methane is an important trace com-ponent of the atmosphere with a wide vari-ety of sources and sinks, including methanehydrate. Although a sudden release ofmethane could affect atmospheric composi-tion and contribute to global warming (seeG.R. Dickens, 1999, “The blast in the past”,Nature 401: 752–755 and M.E. Katz, D.K.Pak, et al., 1999, “The source and fate ofmassive carbon input during the latest pale-ocene thermal maximum”, Science 286:1531–1533), the methane released from gashydrate will more likely vent slowly over

time, allowing microbial and chemicalprocesses to oxidize it into carbon dioxidewhich would then be absorbed by theoceans. Any methane that does reach theatmosphere would likely react with hydrox-yl radicals and disappear over the course ofabout ten years.

The other main concern with gashydrates is the drilling and production haz-ard from blowouts and casing failures. Thedrilling mud used in both the 1998 and 2002exploration wells has proved successful insequestering dissociation of gas hydrate as itis removed from the core, decreasing thelikelihood of potential methane blowouts.The process of extracting hydrates in com-mercial quantities only exposes the sedi-ments of interest to changes in temperature

and pressure to initiate the dissociation ofgas from hydrate. An uncontrolled release ofmethane would therefore be highly unlikely,and if so, very localized.

Finally, removing gas hydrates mayaffect sea floor stability. Frozen gas hydratefills sediment pore spaces, acting likecement. Removing hydrates could weakensediments and cause submarine landslides,which could affect any nearby structures(like conventional gas wells or submarinecables).

There is a growing consumer demandfor natural gas. As present reservoirs be-come depleted there will be a need to devel-op cost-effective methane supplies. Gashydrates could play a major role in moder-ating price increases and assuring long-termavailability of reliable, affordable fuel. Intime, as researchers find answers to theremaining environmental and other ques-tions surrounding gas hydrates, as produc-tion techniques are developed – and as gasprices rise – fuel production from gas hy-drates will become viable. It is likely thatwithin the next 20 years we will be usingthis fuel source in our everyday lives.

With the Mallik project, Canada is takinga leading role in gas hydrate explorationand development. As a result natural gasfrom “flammable ice” could eventuallybecome one of Canada’s major energyresources.

Adrienne Ethier is a Ph.D. student inEarth Sciences at the University of Ottawa.

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Figure 4

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Writing on Ice. The Ethnographic Note-books of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, editedand introduced by Gisli Palsson, 2001. Uni-versity Press of New England, Hanover andLondon, xiv + 351 pages.

Vilhjalmur Stefansson spent most of theyears 1906–1918 on three expeditions to theArctic Regions of Canada and Alaska. Hewent on the first two as an ethnographer,and Writing on Ice gives extracts from hisdiaries of the ethnographical observationshe wrote at the time. He was in command ofhis third, longest, and best-known expedi-tion and considered himself more as a geog-rapher and explorer. One member of hisexpedition was Dr. Diamond Jenness, laterthe very eminent Canadian anthropologist,and Stefansson left ethnography to him.

Palsson points out that the anthropologi-cal extracts from Stefansson’s diaries havealready been published by Clark Wissler,Curator of Anthropology at the AmericanMuseum of Natural History, in Volume 14 oftheir Anthropological Papers entitled “Ste-fansson-Anderson Arctic Expedition”. Part Igives Stefansson’s own “Preliminary Ethno-logical Report” followed by the Wisslerextracts intended as “useful anthropologicaldata not included in Stefansson’s My Lifewith the Eskimo” and recorded in chrono-logical order. Part II is by Clark Wissler on“Harpoons and Darts in the Stefansson Col-lection” and the last section includes “Cor-rections and Comments” by Stefansson on anumber of points as he was in the field andcould not see proofs.

The extracts edited by Palsson were verycarefully compiled by five Icelandic studentsin anthropology from microfilms of thediaries which are in the Special Collectionsof Dartmouth College. The extracts couldtherefore be used as material by researchers,however, they do not include the archaeo-logical or geographical information givenby Wissler and are not easy to follow as thetwo maps provided are too small and diffi-cult to read. Clear maps, published in MyLife with the Eskimo, were reprinted in theMuseum’s Report. Moreover the correctionsgiven by Stefansson in the Museum’s reportare not included or acknowledged. Someparts of the diaries were written in Icelandic,presumably because Stefansson consideredthem confidential, and these are translatedinto English by the Editor, who is Professorof Anthropology at the University of Iceland,and published here I believe for the firsttime.

In the introductory “Historical Back-ground” the Editor seems to be speciallyinterested in trying to throw new light onaspects of Stefansson’s career. One is hisrelationship to Fannie Pannigabluk, theexpert seamstress on his second expedition.Her son, Alex, and his children use the nameStefansson and the relationship has beenwidely accepted, but was never publiclyacknowledged by Stefansson. Another as-pect is the leadership of the third expeditionwhich was commanded by Stefansson, andwas divided into two sections, a NorthernParty and a Southern Party. The NorthernParty was concerned mainly with explo-ration and Stefansson was in every way itsleader. The Southern Party, which includedmost of the scientists of the expedition, wasdirected by Dr. R.M. Anderson, who hadbeen with Stefansson on his second expedi-tion, and relations between them had some-times been strained. Most of the SouthernParty members considered it independent ofStefansson, who would not accept a writtenstatement to this effect, but again this is notnew material.

Another point of interest to the Editor isStefansson’s “Blond Eskimos”. On his scondexpedition Stefansson was the first ethnog-rapher to encounter the Copper Inuit of Vic-toria Island. In his view they were differentin several ways from the other Copper Eski-mos on the mainland and had fairer skin.Stefansson considered these differencesmight have resulted from a relationshipwith the Vikings who had colonized part ofGreenland several hundred years earlier,and whose subsequent history is littleknown. This speculation aroused greatinterest, but Diamond Jenness did not acceptit and did not confirm that Stefansson’s“Blond Eskimos” differed significantly fromother Inuit in the comprehensive reports he

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B O O K R E V I E W : W R I T I N G O N I C E

Graham W. Rowley

wrote on the Copper Eskimos, and Stefans-son’s anthropological credibility sufferedfrom this controversy.

In this scholarly book, Professor Palssonis trying to show how the diaries supportStefansson’s solid contributions to arctic

ethnography, and “rescue Stefansson theanthropologist from the showmanship ofearly twentieth-century exploration”. As onewho benefitted greatly from Stef’s encyclo-pedic knowledge and generosity in assistingwith arctic information, I can sympathizewith Professor Palsson’s aims.

Graham Rowley is a retired explorer,archaeologist, and public servant livingin Ottawa.

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N E W B O A R D M E M B E R S

A T T H E P O L A RC O M M I S S I O N

The Canadian Polar Commission welcomesthe following new members to the Board:Jocelyn Barrett (Kuujjuaq), Gordon Miles(Iqaluit) and Leah Otak (Igloolik). We thankoutgoing Board members Julie Cruikshank,Jean Dupuis and Wayne Adams for theirwork on behalf of the Commission.

Peter Johnson, formerly Vice-Chairper-son, replaces Michael Robinson as Chairper-son. Mr. Robinson and Piers McDonald con-tinue as Members, and Richard Binder is thenew Vice-Chairperson.

P O L A RC O M M I S S I O N

S C H O L A R S H I PW I N N E R

Julie Ross, a University of Toronto Ph.D. stu-dent, has won the 2002–2003 CanadianNorthern Studies Polar Commission Scholar-ship, worth $10,000. Ms. Ross is usingarchaeological data as well as diatom andpollen remains from the Cambridge Bayarea of Nunavut to study the relationship ofenvironmental change to past human mi-gration and regional cultural development.We congratulate her on her achievementand wish her well in her research.

the 2003/04 field season. The NRF is amatching-funds grant program providingcash, accommodations, and equipmentrental to qualified individuals conductingresearch from the Churchill Northern Stud-ies Centre in Churchill, Manitoba. All disci-plines, including the social sciences, are eli-gible for support at any level, from B.Sc./B.A. to Ph.D. and beyond.

Applicants may request assistance from apool of $7,000 direct monetary support, 250user-days (accommodations and meals),100 vehicle-days (vehicles and/or equip-ment excluding fuel), or a number of com-plimentary air and rail passes, as available.The application deadline for this year's com-petition is December 6, 2002. For moreinformation, please visit the website at cancom.net/~cnsc or e-mail cnsc@cancom.net.

The CNSC Northern Research Fund issupported by Manitoba Conservation, CalmAir International Ltd., Via Rail Canada, andmember donations.

Michael GoodyearExecutive DirectorChurchill Northern Studies CentreBox 610, Churchill, MB R0B 0E0Tel.: (204) 675-2307Fax: (204) 675-2139

N O R T H E R NR E S E A R C H F O R U M

C O M I N G T OC A N A D A I N 2 0 0 4

The Northern Research Forum brings to-gether scientists, politicians, communityleaders, students, academics, bureaucrats,and business people to discuss northernissues in an atmosphere of open exchange(see Meridian, Spring/Summer, 2001). Del-egates to the second Forum, held in Septem-ber 2002 in Veliky Novgorod, Russia, votedto bring the third meeting, to be held in2004, to northern Canada. The exact loca-tion will be chosen in the coming months.

A N A N T A R C T I CS C I E N C E S T R A T E G Y

F O R C A N A D A

The Polar Commission and the CanadianCommittee for Antarctic Research havereleased Antarctic Science and BipolarLinkages: A Strategy for Canada. Thisdocument is available in print from theCommission or online at polarcom.gc.ca.

F U N D I N GO P P O R T U N I T Y :

C H U R C H I L LN O R T H E R N

S T U D I E S C E N T R E

The Churchill Northern Studies Centre ispleased to announce this year’s CNSC North-ern Research Fund (NRF) competition for

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2002 5th International Workshop“Land-Ocean Interactions in theRussian Arctic” (LOIRA)12–15 November 2002 P.P. Shirshov Institute of OceanologyRAS, Moscow, Russia

Contact: Dr. Vyacheslav Gordeev P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS 36 Nakchimovsky Prospect Moscow 117997, Russia Fax: 7-095/124-5983 Tel.: 7-095/124-7737

7th International Symposium onMining in the Arctic30 March – 1 April 2003 Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada nunanet.com/~cngo/isma.html

Contact: Dr. John E. UddPrincipal Scientist Mining and Mineral Sciences

Laboratories Natural resources Canada 555 Booth Street Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0G1 Tel.: 1-613-947-8383 Fax: 1-613-996-2597

3rd International Mammoth Conference24–29 May 2003Dawson City, Yukon Territory, CanadaThe International Mammoth Conferencecovers research on mammoths, their envi-ronment and associated fauna. For moreinformation please see our website at yukonmuseums.ca/ mammoth/index.htm.

Contact: John StorerYukon Palaeontologist Fax: (867) 667-8007 Email: John.Storer@gov.yk.ca

Fourth International Conference onArctic Margins (ICAM IV)30 September – 3 October 2003Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada icamiv.org/

Contact: Dr. Ruth JacksonTel.: 1-902-426-3791 Fax: 1-902-426-6152rujackson@nrcan.gc.ca

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is published by the Canadian Polar Commission.

ISSN 1492-6245© 2002 Canadian Polar Commission

Editor: John BennettTranslation: Suzanne RebetezDesign: Eiko Emori Inc.

Canadian Polar CommissionSuite 1710, Constitution Square360 Albert StreetOttawa, OntarioK1R 7X7

Tel.: (613) 943-8605Toll-free: 1-888-POLAR01Fax: (613) 943-8607E-mail: mail@polarcom.gc.cawww.polarcom.gc.ca

B O A R D O F D I R E C T O R SJocelyn BarrettRichard Binder (Vice-Chairperson)Peter Johnson (Chairperson)Piers McDonaldGordon Miles Leah Otak Mike Robinson

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We are updating our database of Canadi-an polar researchers and specialists. If youare an arctic researcher, kindly take a fewminutes to fill in the questionnaire below, orcomplete it electronically on the Polar Com-mission web site: www.polarcom.gc.ca.

I N V E N T O R Y O F P O L A R R E S E A R C H E R S A N DS P E C I A L I S T S

Name

Affiliation

Address

Telephone Fax E-mail

Web site

Project description(s) (2 or 3 lines)

Field

Keywords

Location

Source(s) of support: Organization(s) Amount

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Research partner(s) in project

Name

Affiliation

Address

Name

Affiliation

Address

Name

Affiliation

Address

Name

Affiliation

Address

Please list your most recent publications

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Please return this questionnaire to:Canadian Polar Commission Suite 1710, Constitution Square360 Albert StreetOttawa, Ontario K1R 7X7

Fax: (613) 943-8607E-mail: mail@polarcom.gc.ca