David Barber, Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science, and director of the Centre for Earth Observation Science, and his team will conduct a 15-month study of flaw leads - large cracks in the Arctic ice creating open bodies of water - aboard the Amundsen, a Canadian coast guard icebreaker turned into a laboratory.
As the largest study of the Arctic ever undertaken in Canada, the CFL will bring together over 200 researchers and from 16 countries.
The CFL study will examine the importance of climate processes in changing the nature of the flaw lead system in the Northern Hemisphere, and the effect these changes will have on the marine ecosystem, the transport of contaminants, and the exchange of greenhouse gases. The project will also include a cultural component, with researchers relying on the knowledge and first-hand experience of northern residents to help guide their work.
The study, which recently received over 25 million Canadian dollars in funding from the federal government of Canada, is set to start later this summer.
Read this article published in the Toronto Star on July 12.
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