USING TWO-EYED SEEING TO DOCUMENT CLIMATE IMPACTS TO SEA ICE IN RESOLUTE BAY, NUNAVUT, CANADA

One of the most visible impacts of climate change in Arctic environments is declining sea ice. Sea ice is declining in its spatial extent, thickness, and duration of the ice-covered season. Historical trends in sea ice change have been well documented on an Arctic wide scale (Moon, 2021 and Thoman 2020). This study seeks to document historical trends in air temperature, sea ice thickness (SIT), break-up dates (BUDs) and freeze-up dates (FUDs), to correlate sea ice behavior to air temperatures, and to document the socio- economic impacts of sea ice change in Resolute Bay Nunavut, Canada using traditional Inuit knowledge (TIK) and scientific methods. This is the first study of its kind conducted in Resolute Bay. Traditional Inuit or Indigenous knowledge have been incorporated into scientific studies using two-eyed seeing in other studies seeking to understand the physical and natural environment (Abu 2019 and Michie 2018). This study is the first application of these methods to characterize climate impacts to sea ice in an Arctic Inuit community.