Reindeer herders, scientists team up on climate change
Warmer temperatures and changing conditions are making it harder for the Sámi reindeer to survive. This image of reindeer teaming up to dig for food shows how hard these animals have to work to eat. Photo: Inger Marie Gaup Eira, EALAT.org
See a larger version of this image.
Scientists and reindeer herders in Norway have teamed up to help each other understand the impacts of climate change.
Nancy Maynard: Recently, there have been serious declines in number of reindeer, and very directly impacting the well-being of the indigenous people associated with them. Part of that is due to warmer temperatures and climate changes generally.
That’s Nancy Maynard, a scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center. She works on a project with the Norwegian acronym EALAT.
For hundreds of years, the Sámi people of northern Norway have herded reindeer across the frigid Arctic. But higher temperatures have melted and refrozen snow to make ice layers, which make it hard for the reindeer to forage for food. And the herders worry about melting in frozen lakes along the way.
In the EALAT project, the reindeer herders take measurements of snow temperature and observe the year-to-year changes. Maynard combines that information with satellite data to create a real-time record of climate change in the Norwegian Arctic.
The Sámi people of Norway depend on reindeer for food. Maynard said the EALAT project will help ensure the reindeer’s survival and help preserve their culture.
Our thanks today to NASA, in celebration of the International Polar Year.
Nancy Maynard also said, “The reindeer really forms the core of the Sámi economy as well as the culture. And if the reindeer disappear, basically the culture disappears.”
The reindeer herders in this project also work in conjunction with the Global SnowFlake Network
Amazing photos from the life of a reindeer herder
Reindeer and Snowflakes: NASA Helps During International Polar Year
Our thanks to:
Nancy Maynard
Senior Research Scientist
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
