When winter is late: News from Cambridge Bay

FROST
12 déc. 2025
2 min de lecture

Last November, a team from the international research consortium FROST, led by Milla Rautio at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, returned from Cambridge Bay in the Canadian Arctic… with the observation that winter had not yet arrived.

Credit: Shannon Evetalegak - The ‘’Frosties’’ Sara, Félix and Milla after sampling

It’s an unusual season, a late autumn. The formation of the ice cover is nearly three weeks behind schedule. There’s no snow yet either, but this absence allows us to admire perfectly transparent ice, says Milla Rautio.

It was a surprising situation, which the team managed to turn into a moment of enjoyment by skating on the sampling lake.

But in the field, the lack of snow complicated logistics: since the team couldn’t travel by snowmobile, they had to move around by quad, which was much slower.

A Circumpolar Perspective

In close partnership with Inuit and Sámi communities, FROST is conducting a large-scale comparison across 12 sites throughout the Arctic, including Cambridge Bay. One of the project’s major innovations: winter sampling.

Although winter lasts up to nine months each year in the North, most scientific studies have traditionally been carried out… in summer. A reality that does not reflect the daily lives of northern communities. FROST is ready to take on the challenge.

On the field (even when it’s cold!)

At Cambridge Bay, Milla Rautio was accompanied by her students Sara Masure and Félix Lauzon to monitor Lakes Pelly (69.206386°N, 104.749800°W), Greiner (69.176793°N, 104.93361°W), and Inhuktok (69.234622°N, 104.757787°W): sampling water, plankton, aquatic insects, and fish.

Meanwhile, a Finnish team was working at Kilpisjärvi and Muddusjärvi, within the traditional Sámi territory (Sápmi), while another team in Sweden was preparing to head to Abisko