Polar bears are not the only Arctic animals that are facing hard times due to the changing climate in that region.  While the melting of the ice shelf and the declining polar bear population has been at the front of climate talks and summits, there are other animals in the North who may also be struggling to adjust to the warmer temperatures and the disappearing ice.

With the Arctic warming up, it isn’t as easy for reindeer herds to navigate across the terrain or find food, and this is worrying Arctic reindeer herders.  Because of these concerns, the Polar View initiative, which is backed by the EAS, will be providing the reindeer herders with satellite based snow maps to make their jobs a bit easier.

“Snow is of paramount importance for reindeer herding,” according to Anders Oskal, the Director of the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry (ICR), “because its quality determines whether reindeer are able to access the pastures that lie beneath it for much of the year. Detailed circumpolar snow information is, thus, becoming increasingly important following the recent changes in the Arctic climate.”  

ICR And Polar view have joined forces to study how viewing the area by satellite could assist the herders by gathering visual information on snow and snow changes across a large circumpolar area.  Kongsberg Satellite Services ( KSAT) has been giving snow melt maps to Sweden, Eurasia and Norway  for 18 months now.

Oskal is currently working with Norwegian Sami reindeer herder in Finnmark in order to help them with a sustainable reindeer husbandry.  Oskal says that it’s predicted that Finnmark will be the part of Norway that will experience the greatest temperature increases.  With this prediction

comes question of whether ice layers will develop over reindeer pastures making it impossible for the reindeer to forage in that area.

“The experience so far has definitely been positive, “Oskal said,” and the reindeer herders are extremely interested in the future utilization of Polar View products that can relate important information about local snow conditions. These products could have important consequences for herders’ decisions regarding winter pasture quality and potential migration routes.”