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www.sea-technology.com May 2016 / st 11 water foes behave differently than sea ice, interfering with normal fow patterns. And freshwater freezes more quickly than sea ice does, which is why whales can fnd themselves caught in the ice, as they did in 2013 when more than 70 belugas were trapped under a shrinking hole and mauled by polar bears.In 2011, Heath released "People of a Feather" to raise awareness of the challenges faced by the residents of the Belcher Islands. That year, he also established the Arc- tic Eider Society as a foundation for fundraising and a fo- cal point to study the science and community impact of the changing water. Working with the local communities, Envi- ronment Canada, University of Manitoba and other stake- holders, he set the course for a sweeping study of water and ice across the region. CastAways: Citizen Science Heath began by enlisting members of the community of Sanikiluaq to help take samples of ice and water. In 2014, he outftted fve small communities with CastAway-CTDs, softball-sized instruments that measure conductivity, tem- perature and depth of the water, and trained a cadre of hunt- ers how to use them and upload their data. Today, about two dozen hunters from the Inuit commu- nities of Sanikiluaq, Kuujjuaraapik, Umiujaq and Inukjuak and the Cree village of Chisasibi prowl the ice not just with rifes but with CastAways and sample jars. In the winter of 2014 to 2015, the hunters and several students working with the Arctic Eider Society conducted more than 100 measure- ments. Heath's goal for 2015 to 2016 is to top that. The CastAway-CTD is made by SonTek, a Xylem brand, and houses a thermistor, pressure sensor and conductivity cell in a rugged PVC case. The instrument requires no user calibration or pump—users simply lower the in- strument into the water on a line and pull it back up. The CastAway's 5-Hz sampling rate ensures high-resolution data collection, referenced for both time and location by its built-in GPS. Users can easily review their data on the instrument's built-in LCD screen. For a robust scientifc instrument, the Cast- Away-CTD is remarkably easy to use—everything a user needs to know about collecting data, view- ing the readings and downloading fles from its onboard memory fts on a single sheet of paper in the CastAway's lunchbox-sized carrying case. "Training is pretty easy," Heath said. "People are pretty competent with that kind of stuff, and it's a pretty straightforward interface. We spend a day with the hunters on the ice, going to different spots and trying them out. By the end of the day, they've got it." SonTek donated two of the CastAways to the Arctic Eider Society to aid in the group's work. SonTek Product Manager Isaac Jones said Heath and his team of citizen scientists provide an in- spiring example of how stakeholders can harness the power of data. "Joel's work with the communities of the southeast Hud- son Bay demonstrates the power of local people to tap into today's mobile technology and bring us all out onto the ice to understand the phenomena they're seeing in their en- vironment," said Jones. "We're proud that the Arctic Eider Society selected CastAway-CTDs for its important mission, and glad to be able to contribute to its efforts. The work of the hunters with our CastAways doesn't just represent some of the most extreme deployments of the technology—it re- minds us how science and tradition unite to help us under- stand even the most challenging ecosystems." Throughout the winter, hunters pick up their community CastAways as they head out onto the ice. "We've tried to set it up so we have hunters in each com- munity going out in different directions on the ice once a week," Heath said. "We have up to two trips per week [from each community]. We pay the hunters to be going out. They can do their subsistence hunting, too. Young people are also The CastAway-CTD is highly portable—users can measure sa- linity (through conductivity), temperature and depth by lower- ing and raising an instrument roughly the size of a softball. The user's manual fts on a single sheet of paper. In a dazzling example of citizen science, Inuit hunters from fve Hudson Bay communities are gathering data on a massive plume of freshwater that is changing their environment. The Arctic Eider Society is coordinating the effort and amassing results to fnd solutions to the challenges facing people and wildlife in the region.