In the spring of 2014, the annual reindeer festival in Yar-Sale, situated on the Yamal Peninsula in Western Siberia, took a grim turn. A rainstorm followed by a deep freeze had transformed the snow-covered tundra into an impenetrable ice shield. The reindeer, unable to access their primary food source, lichen, were starving, with tens of thousands already perishing, and thousands more teetering on the edge of death.
Faced with this crisis, prominent reindeer herder Vasily Serotetto approached scientists, seeking answers and a potential solution. Could they predict such events, known as seradt in the Indigenous Nenets language, he wondered? A mere few days’ notice could allow for humane slaughter, preventing the waste of meat and fur.
To tackle this challenge, a partnership formed between scientists possessing satellite images of the Russian Arctic and the local community. This collaboration aimed to understand the phenomenon and its implications for both the Indigenous way of life and the broader context of global climate change.
The Arctic Rain on Snow Study (AROSS), funded by the National Science Foundation, emerged as a crucial initiative. Scientists, including biogeographer Bruce Forbes from the University of Lapland in Finland, teamed up with Indigenous communities to unravel the complexities of rain on snow events in the Arctic.
Indigenous communities, with their deep understanding of local environments, provided valuable insights. Linguistic anthropologist Roza Laptander, a member of the AROSS team, emphasized how ecological knowledge is embedded in the Nenets language. Traditional ways of predicting weather, rooted in an understanding of varying snow and ice types, have been disrupted by the rapidly warming Arctic.
The collaboration highlighted the power of combining Indigenous knowledge with scientific expertise. While scientists focus on understanding global-scale climate change, the input from local communities is essential for identifying specific areas and phenomena affecting their lives.
In Yar-Sale, the collaboration led to the discovery of the factors causing the deadly icing in 2013. Melting sea ice in the Barents and Kara seas released humid air into the atmosphere, resulting in rain on snow when temperatures rose above freezing. However, predicting such events remains a formidable challenge.
Despite facing obstacles like the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions, the collaborative efforts have expanded to other Arctic regions. Indigenous informants across Arctic North America now contribute to a data-sharing network, offering a broader understanding of rain-on-snow events and their impacts on local communities.
As the Arctic continues to undergo rapid changes, the partnership between Indigenous knowledge and scientific inquiry stands as a beacon of hope for addressing the complex challenges posed by climate change.
