Climate change is abundant in today’s generation. However, some just don't know that Arctic’s winds are also affected. Researchers then studied the issues and factors that were affected and stated ways on how people could help.
According to Phys Org, the Canadian Arctic was already ice-free since last August. Sandra Black, a clinical associate professor of zoo and wildlife medicine from UCalgary's Faculty of Science stated that studying narwhals aids her in discovering the climate change’s impact of the Arctic’s winds on the medium-sized whales.
Black then decided to form a project that pioneers the health index of the narwhals. In which, she said would let her look into the bigger picture of the climate change’s impact in the Arctic. The team also wanted to train local people and hunters to gather data.
Radio Canada International also reported that researchers from the University of Alberta had been studying Arctic polar bears for 11 years. The process in order to keep track of the polar bears was mentioned to be done by GPS and satellite imagery. It was then shared that the polar bears hunt for food through their sense of smell and travel crosswind.
Yet, the climate change occurring in the Arctic was identified to be a factor that the polar bears are finding difficulty in smelling their prey. The study published in the journal Scientific Reports also noted that the melting ice is another problem for the polar bears since they would need to swim further to find ice floes.
"Climate warming, increased marine traffic, industrial development, species range expansions, and other environmental changes are increasingly threatening the health and sustainability of Arctic wildlife species," Susan Kutz, a professor in UCalgary's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and director of the Alberta Regional Centre of the CWHC stated.
The sustainability of the Arctic’s wildlife is at risk due to the environmental change occurring. The event then would lead to the people’s reduced availability and accessibility of important food sources. A small weather observatory was also built on the Northwest Passage to let researchers study the conditions in the Arctic Ocean for a long time.
