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12 st / May 2016 www.sea-technology.com going out with them to learn about tra- ditional knowledge and subsistence." Science and Tradition The traditional knowledge of the local hunters is an integral part of the Arctic Eider Society's approach to sci- ence. Heath and students from the Uni- versity of Manitoba avidly study how hunters read the ice for information on weather and conditions and how they track wildlife through the winter. They also ask hunters to interpret time-lapse footage Heath shoots on the ice, looking for insight into changes in the freezing and breakup cycles of the foes. Aerial photography provides landscape-scale perspective on the ice and wildlife populations, and video shot on the ice and below it yield in- sight into feeding patterns and energy requirements for the eiders and other wildlife wintering in the harsh—and changing—environment. Measuring currents with acoustic Doppler proflers allows Heath and his team to chart water fow patterns. Detailed water quality monitoring measurements—time-series data from a moored continuous monitoring plat- form, as well as grab samples of water and ice cores taken by hunters in their travels—provide a more thorough look into the sources of the freshwater in the Bay, including dissolved oxygen, dissolved organic matter and other pa- rameters. Heath said analyzing the oxygen isotope O 18 in water and ice samples indicates that the freshwater is not the product of melting ice, but rather of in- land water. He hopes analysis of other isotopes will someday allow scientists to track individual water samples back to their original river sources. The collision of space-age instru- ments and age-old hunting routes is accessible to researchers, policymak- ers and science buffs online. Each of the hunters on the data gathering team has a Facebook-style profle on www. arcticeider.com. Visitors to the site can click on sampling locations for a look at each hunter's data, sort data by a number of factors, or share pictures or charts on social media. Teachers can tap into the Arctic Eider Society's edu- cational curriculum and stream time- lapse footage from the ice into their classrooms. And visitors can take a street-view virtual tour of the ice using Google Maps, which conducted the frst-ever mapping of remote sea ice from the community of Sanikiluaq in the winter of 2014 to 2015. Starting Here Beyond the top-notch website and award-winning documentary flm, Heath and the Arctic Eider Society are working to bring together regulators and stakeholders to focus on solutions for one of Canada's most overlooked regions—a way to balance society's need for power and the need to repair a severely damaged ecosystem. Heath is campaigning for a new approach to energy management that could store and distribute James Bay Project power in step with the hydro- logic cycle. It's a massive vision, and it will require deep understanding of a complicated ecosystem. "Hudson Bay has been signifcantly understudied compared to other parts of Canada," said Heath, who combines his on-ice experience with his creden- tials as a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Chair in Arctic Studies at the University of Washington to focus attention on the isolated Belcher Islands. With the help of dedicated hunters and fve palm-sized CastAways, Heath is working to literally turn the tide. "First we look at the physical ocean- ography," he said. "Then we have a ba- sis to build on the biological side." ST Steve Werblow is a free- lance writer based in Ash- land, Oregon. He covers agriculture, resource industries and water is- sues and has written for Everything About Water, Industrial Environmental Technology, Brisbane Times, Australian Geographic, Process and Control Engineering, Hydraulics and Pneumatics, Industrial Water World, Marine Scientist and more. "The work of the hunters with our CastAways reminds us how science and tradition unite to help us under- stand even the most challenging ecosystems."