Scientists return to brief Inuvik on expedition findings
Maria Canton
Northern News Services
Inuvik (May 04/01) - White-crowned sparrows from Inuvik have, for the first time, conclusively proven that birds utilize the Earth's magnetic field for navigation.
That was just one of the findings by a team of 80 scientists, most of them Swedish, who conducted a summer-long ecological study of the Canadian Arctic in 1999.
With no expense too large, the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, an arm of the Swedish government, sent two of the 1999 Tundra Northwest Expedition members back to the Western Arctic on Monday to share their findings with the people who are most affected by them, Canada's Northerners.
Two members -- an employee of the secretariat and a university professor -- held two information sessions in Inuvik on Monday at the Finto Inn.
"One of the most unique things about the expedition was that we were able to cover the entire Canadian Arctic in one summer season with the same team of scientists," said Ulf Molau, a scientist and professor at Gothenburg University in Sweden.
For the expedition, which focused mainly on studying the ecology of the tundra, the Swedish government chartered the Louis St. Laurent, a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker. The massive ship first sailed to Sweden to pick up the scientists.
For three summer months samples were taken and experiments conducted on everything from plant and animal interactions, biodiversity and bird migrations to lake and stream ecosystems and environmental pollution.
"We are here now to share the logistics of the expedition and some of the preliminary findings," said Molau.
"There are literally thousands and thousands of samples left to analyse and those results will be published in science journals."
Of the three people in attendance at the Monday-afternoon session, a common observation was the low likelihood that the Canadian government would ever fund such a project, not even for research in Canada.
But Eva Gronlund, who works for the secretariat, said the Swedish government views such scientific research as essential.
"The plans were presented to the Swedish government and they had no problem with them, they fully support this work," she said.
Two other expedition members also toured five Eastern Arctic communities this week to share some of their findings.
The same group is planning a 2005 expedition to the Bering Strait and surrounding land.
