"The Ocean is Always Changing": Nearshore and Farshore Perspectives on Arctic Coastal Seas

This essay shares the broad outlines of Yup'ik and Inuit views of their coastal environment, with special emphasis on the role of sea ice and ocean swells. Nearshore conditions in the eastern Bering Sea and Canadian Arctic are used to show how shared knowledge can benefit both local residents a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Eddy Carmack, Ann Fienup-Riordan
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: The Oceanography Society 2011
Subjects:
Arctic Ocean
International Polar Year
IPY
Inuit
Yup'ik
indigenous concerns
Oceanography
GC1-1581
Arctic
Bering Sea
inuit
Sea ice
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/d3e4702527c447f085b69036b226afb3
Description
Summary:This essay shares the broad outlines of Yup'ik and Inuit views of their coastal environment, with special emphasis on the role of sea ice and ocean swells. Nearshore conditions in the eastern Bering Sea and Canadian Arctic are used to show how shared knowledge can benefit both local residents and scientists working to better understand coastal processes. We propose a strategy that will allow integration of observations that occur at different scales, required to improve communication between stakeholders in a rapidly changing Arctic. The emerging question is how local observations can be linked to larger environmental issues in ways that speak to both indigenous and Western concerns.

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