There are no roads to Churchill – a town in northern Canada on the shores of Hudson Bay. This remote outpost is known as the polar bear capital of the world. Polar bears have become something of an icon for those concerned that we have a climate crisis. Indeed Al Gore in his movie, An Inconvenient Truth, suggested polar bears are already suffering from global warming.
It is warming in Churchill. At least thermometer temperature data from both Environment Canada and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) indicate that it has been warmer since 1998 – but the annual mean is still below zero!
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.