Slow start and rough finish: Labrador's sea ice season aided by northern ice migration
CBC
Derrick Pottle would normally be on his skidoo, hunting and on the trails this month. Instead, his snow machine was packed away before the end of April as the sea ice, inland ice and snow continue to change due to a warming climate.
"It's concerning. It's scary and it's something that we have no control over," Pottle told CBC News from his home in Rigolet.
Pottle said the snowmobile season once went from mid-November to the end of May. This year, Pottle hunted seals by boat in January, as the ice wasn't thick enough to support his weight.
"It's concerning for a way of life," Pottle said. "I look at some of the younger people and the youth and I think that I really wish they could thoroughly enjoy the lifestyle that we lived and people before us lived."
The Canadian Ice Service's records show southern Labrador had half the normal amount of ice in January and into early February. Northern Labrador had half the amount of ice in December into early January compared to other years.
Environment and Climate Change Canada said it was a slow start to the season but ended with average ice thickness off the Labrador coast. This is not the result of inshore ice growth, but dynamic ice movement.
"While we had warmer than normal temperatures off the Labrador coast during the ice growth season, it was colder than normal further north in the Davis Strait area," said Chris Derksen, a research scientist in the Climate Research Division of Environment and Climate Change Canada.
"Then the winds sort of set up in a way that pushed this ice from north to south. The increase in ice thickness that has been observed off the Labrador coast is a result of this ice moving down from the Davis Strait area."
Derksen said the Canadian Ice Service estimates the offshore ice to be 30 to 40 per cent less this year than average.
Even though the season ended with an average amount of sea ice thickness, the ice may be different than what people are used to, he said.
"That makes for very rough ice because you think about wind compressing and pushing ice together, you get ridges forming, you get rough ice and that's for people who want to travel by snow machine over the ice that is much more challenging," he said.
Adaptation is key when looking at the future, Derksen said.
"There are times of the year when historically we would expect people to be able to travel safely by snowmobile. That is not as regular as it once was," Derksen said. "And so there's an adaptation where maybe there's more marine travel by boat. Of course, that's very hazardous when there's ice around as well."
In Rigolet, Pottle said the community needs improved trails and funding to help with the adaptation process.