The tunnel in the Journey to Churchill at Assiniboine Park Zoo.
Bringing the Arctic home: Working with the Assiniboine Park Zoo to educate the public about climate change
WHAT: Researchers with the Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS) in the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Earth, Environment, and Resources collaborated with the Assiniboine Park Zoo to create the Journey to Churchill exhibit. Faculty members have been involved in preparing the polar bear pools by growing sea ice and helping the zoo simulate polynya (pockets of open water). CEOS researchers have also advised the zoo on aspects of climate change, sea ice and marine ecosystems in the interactive and static displays at the exhibit.
THE GOAL: To educate zoo visitors about the impact of global climate change on the Earth’s ecosystems.
THE INSPIRATION: “For several years now we have been seeing the first and strongest evidence of a warming global climate,” says David Barber, Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science at the U of M. “Because sea ice integrates both changes in the ocean and the atmosphere, a very small change to our global climate can make a very large change in sea ice concentration and extent. We have been losing an average of about 70,000 km2 of sea ice each year for the past 30 years. Climate change is arguably one of the singular most significant challenges facing the human species today.”
NEXT STEP: CEOS researchers will conduct studies at the Journey to Churchill exhibit using remote sensing instruments—ocean, sea ice and atmospheric sensors—that can be tested here in a situation that simulates the Arctic. Other studies will include research on energy and mass exchange studies (climate research), and sea ice as a habitat for marine mammals, particularly polar bears and ringed seal habitats.
Within CEOS, there are 115 researchers unraveling the mysteries of Arctic system science. All of the science they do relates in some way to the concepts presented to the public through the Journey to Churchill exhibit. Their efforts in the Arctic will inform the educational displays at the exhibit through an ongoing partnership between CEOS and the Assiniboine Park Zoo.
FUNDERS: the Canada Research Chair in Arctic-System Science and the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Arctic Geomicrobiology and Climate Change
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