BBC filmmakers visited NSIDC scientist Shari Gearheard last week to film her research for the documentary, Frozen Planet. Gearheard, who lives and works in Nunavut, Canada, studies Inuit knowledge and climate change in the Arctic.
The BBC filmed Gearheard and Inuit hunters working with interactive Global Positioning System (GPS) units they developed with geomatics engineers as part of an International Polar Year Project. The Igliniit Project combines Inuit knowledge of the Arctic environment with technology and science, outfitting Inuit hunters with logging systems that record weather conditions and allow the hunters to track observations of animals and environmental conditions in their own language. The research team hopes that the new technology, once fully developed, could help Inuit and other northern communities with environmental research and monitoring programs, land use planning, hazards awareness, and search and rescue activities.
Frozen Planet is scheduled for release in 2011. For more information, visit the Igliniit Project Web site at https://gcrc.carleton.ca/index.html.
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