Page 28 - AT

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 26 November 2019
Failing ice cellars signal changes in Alaska whaling towns

By RACHEL D'ORO another is starting to col-
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) lapse, according to one of
— For generations, people the study's authors, George
in Alaska's far-north whal- Washington University re-
ing villages have relied on search scientist Kelsey Nyl-
hand-built ice cellars dug and.
deep into the permafrost to The study concluded that
age their subsistence food while a changing climate
to perfection and keep it has great potential to af-
cold throughout the year. fect ice cellars, there are
Scores of the naturally re- other factors, including soil
frigerated food caches lie conditions and urban de-
beneath these largely Inu- velopment. For example,
piat communities, where some Utqiagvik residents
many rely on hunting and might inadvertently warm
fishing to feed their families. the soil beneath their cel-
The ice cellars range from lars by putting sheds on top
small arctic root cellars of the entrances to keep
to spacious, wood-lined them free of snow, Nyland
chambers, some topped said.
with sheds. "Climate change, air tem-
Now, a growing number of peratures, all these physi-
these underground cellars cal changes are affecting
are being rendered unre- them," she said. "But also, a
liable as global warming lot of it has to do with de-
and other modern factors velopment and modern life
force changes to an an- This undated photo in Kaktovik, Alaska, shows installation of a shelter covering the entrance to a in an arctic setting."
cient way of life. Some vil- new community ice cellar, a type of underground food cache dug into the permafrost to provide To adapt to the new envi-
lages are working to adapt natural refrigeration used for generations in far-north communities. ronment, the village of Kak-
as more cellars — some Associated Press tovik, on the Beaufort Sea
stocked with tons of whale, coast, took ambitious steps
walrus and other meats — the North Slope Borough's creased vulnerability to it to a freezer. after it lost all but one fam-
turn up with pooling water planning and develop- foodborne illnesses and "It's definitely a challenge ily's cellar to flooding.
and mold. ment director. He pulled raised concerns about at this time to be able to In 2013, the village
"I'm worried," said Gordon the community meat out- food security, according to feed our people that ac- launched a project to build
Brower, a whaling captain side and has kept it under studies by the Alaska Na- quired taste," Lane said. a community ice cellar in-
who lives in Utqiagvik, the a tarp because the weath- tive Tribal Health Consor- Despite the unprecedent- corporating traditional de-
nation's northernmost com- er is cold enough now to tium. The group and state ed rate of climate change signs with contemporary
munity, which logged its keep it from spoiling. health officials say they today, however, ice cellars technology used in Alaska's
warmest May through Sep- "It seems like slight tempo- have so far not heard of failed in the past, includ- North Slope oil fields — ther-
tember on record this year. rary variations in the per- anyone getting sick. ing one account of a cel- mosyphons, off-grid tube-
His family has two ice cel- mafrost — that active layer There were once at least lar developing mold in the like refrigeration devices
lars: One is more than 100 — is affecting the tempera- 50 ice cellars in Point Hope, early 1900s, according to that cool the ground by
years old and used to store ture of our cellar," Brower an Inupiat whaling village a study published in 2017 transferring heat outside.
at least 2 tons (1.8 metric said. built on a triangular spit that looked at traditional The hand-excavated cellar
tons) of frozen bowhead Residents and researchers surrounded by a large in- cellars in Utqiagvik, for- was ready for use in 2017,
whale meat set aside for say the problem has been let and the Chukchi and merly named Barrow, fol- but it has yet to be filled.
community feasts; the oth- building for decades as a Arctic oceans. Now, fewer lowing reports of flooded Whaling captains want to
er was built in 1955, and is warming climate touches than 20 remain, according and collapsed cellars. The expand it first, according
used as the family's private multiple facets of life in to village services supervi- study, funded by the Na- to whaling captain George
subsistence-food cache. the far north — thawing sor Russell Lane, a whaling tional Science Foundation Kaleak Sr., who represents
Brower recently asked his permafrost, disruptions in captain who has lived his and George Washington Kaktovik on the Alaska Es-
son to retrieve some whale hunting patterns and short- 52 years in the community University, found ice cellars kimo Whaling Commission.
meat from one of the cel- er periods of coastal ice of 750. The problems with don't meet federally rec- Temperature sensors inside
lars, and discovered liquids that historically protected cellars have become more ommended temperature the cellar show it's working
had pooled in both. coastal communities from pronounced in the past standards, but allow the as intended, Kaleak said.
"He came back and said, powerful storms. Other fac- two decades, he said. culturally preferred aging He expects the expansion
'Dad, there's a pool of tors include development To compensate, Point Hope to occur. to begin as early as next
blood and water at the and soil conditions. whaling captains have use The study was inconclu- spring.
bottom,'" recalled Brower, The changes have in- of three walk-in freezers sive about the cause of In the meantime, subsis-
that were donated for use ice cellar failures, citing an tence foods are stored in
by the whaling commu- absence of extensive sci- three 40-foot (12-meter)
nity. But the much colder entific analysis. Research- village freezer vans. But
freezers do not impart the ers mapped 71 ice cellar that equipment is no sub-
taste of aged whale meat locations around town stitute for imparting that
so favored throughout the and monitored five func- aged taste so prized in the
region. Lane himself initially tioning cellars from 2005 region, Kaleak noted. He
stores meat in the tradition- to 2015, finding little ther- hopes the new cellar mim-
al ice cellar his wife's family mal change over that ics that process.
owns, frequently checking relatively short timeframe. "There's nothing that tastes
it until it reaches the right One of those cellars has better than ice cellar food,"
maturity before he transfers since failed, however, and he said.q