The “Inuit Voices” traveling exhibition relates the story of climate change through the eyes of the Inuit, Arctic peoples who are witnessing changes to the environment that has sustained them for a thousand years. The National Snow and Ice Data Center and the University of Colorado Museum, Boulder, collaborated on the development of “Inuit Voices,” which opened in April 2008.

There is now clear evidence that the effects of recent and past climate changes have varied in magnitude across of the world. Some changes over periods of thousands of years seem to have affected the Arctic and Antarctic regions alternately, and this has been called the “bipolar see-saw” effect. The BIPOMAC project will collect and examine climate records in sedimentary sequences spanning the past five million years from both polar regions. These records will provide a basis for analysing the complex interactions of environmental processes that have caused the observed patterns of climate variation. Improved understanding of such processes and their interactions will increase our ability to forecast future climate and sea level change.

The central idea of NOMAD is the establishment of a mobile observation platform. This is facilitated by a nomadic tent camp that houses an interdisciplinary group of researchers. They follow the annual migration of semi-domesticated reindeer in Kola Peninsula, Northwest Russia. This is a novel effort, putting social and other scientists on the reindeer trek on a long-term basis. By positioning themselves in close contact with migrating reindeer herds the researchers observe the delicate ecology and conditions of renewable resource use in the subarctic. Updates on the progress of the project, photographs and fieldwork diary entries can be found on this website.

This project encompasses a variety of events to engage the community, teachers, and students in programs to increase awareness and understanding of polar issues. These activities will allow participants to learn about the science, mathematics, and technology related to exploring, living, and working in the Polar Regions and will focus on developing an understanding the importance of these regions both scientifically and culturally.