I’m James Kuptana from Ottawa Ontario. I am representing my Inuvialuit community of Sachs Harbour, located in the Beaufort Sea on Banks Island in the North-West Territories. As a student at Trent University in Indigenous Environmental Studies, the Circumpolar Inuit Schools on Board Field Program is an excellent opportunity to gain a better understanding of northern environmental science, improve communications between researchers and northern communities and also gives me and the other students a chance to learn about our Inuit brothers and sisters from around the world.

The CCGS Amundsen is equipped with technologically advanced navigational and scientific equipment. The captain, Stefan Julian, gave us a tour of the bridge and showed us how paper charts can be used to keep a steady course along with GPS and radar. The bridge was described to us as the “head” of the ship where all the thinking about where to go and how to get there takes place, the engine room was described to us as the “heart” of the ship, the part which gives the Amundsen the power to move.

Mukesh Gupta is a Phd student from India in the field physics. In this photo Mukesh explained to us the physical oceanography research he is conducting. He has two machines which measure the surface roughness of the ocean. His research, data collection and analysis will help to better understand how the ocean and air interact with one another.

Sylvia Cordero showed us how her equipment uses lasers to measure the slope of waves. The data she collects is then compared to data which a satellite collects. This ensures a higher degree of accuracy and can give hints to improving data collection. Sylvia also collects data about local weather conditions for comparison and analysis to previous years which can give an idea of how fast the climate is changing.