While waiting for the sea ice: Stories of changes from Ittoqqortoormiit (Kalaallit Nunaat)

• Main Authors: Sandré, Tanguy, Gherardi, Jeanne-Marie, Wardekker, Arjan
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Cultures, Environnements, Arctique, Représentations, Climat (CEARC), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities (SVT), University of Bergen (UiB)
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: Climate change; Sea ice; Arctic; Resilience; Narratives; [SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Greenland; Ittoqqortoormiit; Greenland Sea; greenlandic; kalaaleq; kalaallit; Kalaallit Nunaat
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04250661; https://hal.science/hal-04250661/document; https://hal.science/hal-04250661/file/proof1a_07_Sandr%C3%A9_9783111245515_Bremer_1223_EC-TS.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111245591-007

International audience For many small communities in the Arctic, climate change-driven variations in the sea-ice thickness and extent are a central experience of recent environmental transformations. In Ittoqqortoormiit (Box 1), Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), sea ice is a ‘character’ that featured in many stories we were told. Discrepancies and mismatches between sea ice conditions and those expected based on local knowledge and recent memories were often described. Together with the community, we have been exploring how these modifications have impacted on local people, through their stories of changes. How do sea ice changes reframe the way this kalaaleq (sing. ‘Greenlandic’) community experiences seasonality, resilience, and environmental and climate change?