Student Handout #1
Climate Change Research Summary

1. What is the title of the research project?
2. Who are the principal researchers and what is their affiliation (e.g. university, government, non-profit group, industry)? Be specific.
3. Who is funding the project?
4. Where is the research taking place or what geographic area does it cover?
5. What is the main research question?
6. Describe the research methodology.
7. Is traditional knowledge (e.g., local aboriginal knowledge passed down through many generations) considered in the research design? Do you think it should be? Why or why not?
8. Summarize the research results. If the project is ongoing, what has been learned to date?
9. How have the researchers linked their results to climate change? Do the results contribute to our understanding of the impacts of climate change, adaptations to climate change, or solutions for climate change? Explain.
10. What limitations do you see in the research design?
11. Give three new questions for further research that could arise out this project.

Student Handout #2
Some Sites for Initiating the Web Search

http://sts.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/ice2001/home.asp
A Natural Resources Canada site describing a project on Mt. Logan in the Yukon, which involves the removal of an ice core from a glacier in order to analyze past climate conditions.

http://www.iisd.org/climate/arctic/sachs_harbour.asp
A website of the International Institute for Sustainable Development describing a project to record Inuit observations of climate change in Sachs Harbour.

http://www.mb.ec.gc.ca/nature/ecosystems/nei-ien/dc02s00/dc02s01.en.html
An Environment Canada site giving brief descriptions of research projects funded by the Northern Ecosystem Initiative. They include climate change related projects on eider ducks in Sanikiluaq, Inuit traditional knowledge in Pangnirtung, and the monitoring of spring budding times through a public program called Plantwatch North. Territorial contacts for Plantwatch North can be found at http://www.nunanet.com/~research/CONTACTS.pdf.

http://panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/where_we_work/ecoregions.cfm
A World Wildlife Fund site describing impacts of climate change on polar bears.

http://c-ciarn.ca/index_e.asp?CaId=9&PgId=20
This is the search engine for the Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptations Research Network. Try the advanced search to access descriptions of research projects and publications, e.g. caribou and global warming.

http://www.taiga.net/yourYukon/col335.html
A site describing research on sea-bed organisms in the Beaufort Sea and the ocean’s ability to store carbon.

http://leadership.gc.ca/static/dayinthelife/learning/profiles/learning_for_canadians/kochtubajda_bohdan_e.shtml
A site describing the work of a climatologist in the Mackenzie River Basin.

http://www.taiga.net/nce/
Site of the Northern Climate Exchange, which includes a directory of contacts and a database of information sources.

http://www.emannorth.ca/ic/main.cfm
Site of the Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network of the North including links to descriptions of research projects such as this one describing research on the effects of temperature increases on tundra plant growth: http://www.emannorth.ca/ic/datasets_about.cfm?ID=24

http://www.polarhusky.com/portal.html
A site about researchers who set out to document arctic climate change traveling through Nunavut by dogsled, gathering scientific data daily from the field for NASA and Environment Canada.

http://www.onf.ca/sedna/index_en.html
This site provides video clips and logs for a scientific sailing expedition through the Arctic’s Northwest Passage that set out to document the consequences of global warming.

http://www.nature.ca/sila
A site created by the Canadian Museum of Nature for their climate change exhibit featuring several examples of research projects in the north. Available in April 2004.