perils and promise of the arctic: ilulissat icefjord and...

ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2010 | 1THE GLOBAL EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES.

SPOTLIGHT | Ice sheets and global warming

Perils and promise of the Arctic: Ilulissat Icefjord and Natural System of Wrangel Island Reserve

T he Arctic has become a vital focus forUnesco’s World Heritage Centre. Byhighlighting World Heritage sites here,

the United Nations body can raise aware-ness of major threats — in particular, globalwarming. Countries with World Heritageproperties in the Arctic include Canada, Den-mark (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway,Sweden, Russia and the United States.These nations meet regularly with the WorldHeritage Centre and environmental groupsto confront the issue.

Unesco is committed toworking with these coun-tries to preserve this vastregion, largely unspoiled,which covers more than 30million square kilometers (11.6 million squaremiles). The World Heritage Centre helps fosternetworking for research and training so thatclimate change in the Arctic can be properlyassessed and managed. These global con-tacts and the international profile of WorldHeritage sites are ideal for building both publicand political support.

Ilulissat Icefjord, the first World Heritagesite in Greenland (which is part of the King-dom of Denmark), plays a central role in un-derstanding both global warming and glaci-ology, the study of glaciers. Inscribed on theWorld Heritage List in 2004, it is the soleremnant of the frozen masses that once en-

veloped the northern hemisphere during theice ages. Its 1.7 million square kilometers ofice, 3.2 kilometers (1.9 mile) thick, make itthe world’s second-largest ice sheet, ex-ceeded only by Antarctica’s.

Tourists flock to Ilulissat (‘‘icebergs’’ inGreenlandic) to witness a natural phenome-non called calving, where blocks of ice splitsuddenly from the glacier. Calving is precededby a loud cracking sound before ice towers ashigh as 200 feet (61 meters) crash into the

water. It has become a pop-ular attraction, bringing wel-come revenue to the area.Ilulissat, with its populationof 5,000 (about 60,000people live in Greenland), is

the nation’s tourist capital. But for how long?Ilulissat’s glacier is losing up to 15 meters ofice each year, and climate change is the cul-prit. Says Mechtild Rössler, chief of the WorldHeritage Centre’s Europe and North Americasection: ‘‘The glacier is receding, and visitorscan no longer see calving from the existingviewing platform. The issue here is that wecannot allow them to walk or go by boat allover the site. There have been pathways con-structed so as not to damage the World Her-itage site.’’

Any rise in the Earth’s temperature des-troys the habitat of rare wildlife species. Thisis an important issue for another Arctic site,

the Natural System of Wrangel Island Re-serve in Russia. The site, an island ecosystemand marine area northwest of the BeringStrait, lies 500 kilometers above the ArcticCircle. Inscribed on the World Heritage List in2004, it boasts the greatest level of biodiver-sity in the high Arctic. Wrangel Island is hometo the world’s largest population of Pacificwalrus, a feeding ground for grey whales mi-grating from another World Heritage property(El Vizcaino in Mexico) and the northernmostnesting area for 100 types of birds, includingendangered species like the Peregine falcon.The evaluation report on Wrangel Island, writ-ten for the World Heritage Centre by its advis-ory group, the International Union for Conser-vation of Nature, adds, ‘‘It is also the breedinghabitat of Asia’s only snow goose population,which is slowly making a recovery from cata-strophically low levels.’’ A few degrees’change here could alter the distribution of theice, drastically reshaping its environment andending its tenure as home for thesethreatened animals.

Global warming not only jeopardizes tour-ism and regional fauna, but also endangersnearly all the sites on the World Heritage list.Its consequences could be far-reaching —even, some predict, apocalyptic. Melting icecould have devastating effects on humans,leading to flooding of cities and coastal areas,such as Venice, or the sinking of other island

World Heritage sites like Tubbataha in the Phil-ippines or the Galápagos in Ecuador. Climatechange could have an impact on human so-cial and cultural aspects as well, forcing com-munities to change the way they have tradi-tionally lived and worked. Extremeconsequences of climate change, such as theflooding of low-lying areas, could force com-munities to leave their homes and lands; thiscould result in the abandonment of human-ity’s cultural or built heritage, which also fallswithin the ambit of Unesco’s mission.

For scientists attempting to avoid thesecalamities, World Heritage Arctic sites providemodel laboratories for monitoring climatechange and any sequels. Ilulissat, for ex-ample, has been the object of research fortwo centuries. Data retrieved from ice coresreveal temperature, rainfall and atmosphericconditions dating back 250,000 years — theage of ice. No other glacier in the northern

hemisphere can provide such a record of icefjords and their movement. Greenland’s ice ismuch younger than Antarctica’s (which is700,000 years old) and moves more rapidly,making it more sensitive to climate change,thus better suited for study. Though recent re-search has concentrated on global warming,its implications and universal impact have yetto be fully understood.

Unesco continues to address the knowl-edge gap, through conferences and work-shops that identify the most significantthreats to the region’s preservation. AddsRössler: ‘‘We work with the different actorshere — not only with the States Parties [coun-tries that have adhered to the World HeritageConvention], but also indigenous people andsite managers. We encourage them to worktogether on the monitoring of climate changein the Arctic. We have to help them addressthese issues as a matter of urgency.’’ J.J.

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T he most surprising thing upon visitingthe Ilulissat Icefjord for the first timeisn’t the cotton-candy blue color of the

glacial ice, the seals casually sunning them-selves on frozen, floating ‘‘daybeds’’ or eventhe vast number of bergs that inhabit thiswest Greenland bay, but rather the sound.One doesn’t expect ice to be auditory.

Those who close their eyes and listen tothe ice field come away with the knowledgethat frozen water can be just as dynamic asany living thing. The Arctic silence is oftenpunctuated by the deep moan of shifting ice,the thud of ice chunks breaking off and tum-bling into the bay, and the sharp crackle ofcrevices cleaving the larger bergs.

Several Unesco World Heritage marinesites are found above the Arctic Circle. Se-

cluded and often inaccessible, these parkspreserve some of the last places on theplanet with minimal human impact. With itsown airfield and daily service on Air Green-land from Nuuk (the Danish territory’s capit-al), Ilulissat Icefjord is one of the easier ofthese parks to reach.

The waterfront town of Ilulissat is the hubof tourism activities and the jumping-off pointfor local exploration. Visitors can explore theiceberg by boat, helicopter, dog-sled safariand even self-guided hiking along well-markedroutes along the fjord’s northern shore. Al-though the helicopter tours operated by Worldof Greenland are the most expensive option(¤361 per person), they are about the onlyway to see Ilulissat Glacier at the head of thefjord, including time on the ground beside the

massive ice tongue. One can also explore thebay area on public transport — the Disko Lineferries that ply regular routes to settlementsaround the edge of the bay. With several ho-tels, a youth hostel and restaurants, Ilulissattown is also where most people base theirstay in the region.

Wrangel Island in the Russian Arctic isvery different from Ilulissat; only a handful ofpeople visit this World Heritage site eachyear. Perched off the north coast of Siberianot far from the Bering Strait and Alaska, theisolated landfall boasts the world’s highestdensity of polar bears, as well as reindeer,musk ox, walrus, snow goose and other po-lar species. The island is so isolated and sofar north, it was the last place on earth thatwoolly mammoths survived, with the last dy-ing out around 1700 BC. Wrangel also playshost to more than 400 plant species, an un-usually high number given its harsh climateand rocky, volcanic soil.

Recognizing its natural significance, the oldSoviet government designated Wrangel andthe adjacent Herald Islands a nature reservein 1976 — the country’s first (and still largest)strictly protected area in the high Arctic. Tour-ism didn’t kick in until after glasnost, when anymilitary or strategic value that Wrangel mayhave possessed became a moot point.

‘‘This area was totally closed off during So-viet times and has only been accessiblepretty recently,’’ says Alex Mudd of SteppesTravel, one of the few outfitters that organizeWrangel trips. ‘‘Wrangel is a remote and verylittle visited part of the Arctic — totally unique,one of the last few remaining truly ‘expedition-ary’ places to voyage to. It’s so rarely visitedthat each expedition greatly adds to ourknowledge of the fauna, flora, ice conditionsand landing sites. As a concentrated denningsite for polar bears, the chances of sightingson Wrangel are high. Forty bears were sightedin three days last summer.’’ Steppes Travelvisits the island on an adventure cruise thatstarts and ends in Nome, Alaska. The modeof travel is a sturdy 48-passenger expeditionship called the Spirit of Enderby. J.R.Y.

The Russian Federation signed theWorld Heritage Convention in 1988and is now represented on theWorld Heritage List by 15 culturaland nine natural sites, making itfifth among nations in terms of thenumber of natural propertiesinscribed on the prestigious Unescoroster. The following Russian siteshave World Natural Heritage status:Natural System of Wrangel IslandReserve (inscribed in 2004), UvsNuur Basin (2003), Central Sikhote-Alin (2001), the Western Caucasus(1999), the Golden Mountains ofAltai (1998), the Volcanoes ofKamchatka (1996), Lake Baikal(1996), Virgin Komi Forests (1995)and Putorana Plateau (2010).For more information, visithttp://whc.unesco.org J.J.

When Stéphane Schaffter led the firstclimbing expedition up the snowysummits of Mount Antoine LeCoultre,the Himalayan peak named for thefounder of Jaeger-LeCoultre, it was totest the Swiss manufacture’swatches, and especially the newMaster Compressor Extreme LAB IITribute to Geophysic — and in veryextreme conditions.

Referring to the watches, Schafftersays: ‘‘Our 20-day mission wasespecially hard for them, first becauseof humidity. You wear the watch underclothes, and when you look at it youneed to know the time right away.There was no problem with humidity onthe inside. Second was the cold. Wescaled the summit at night, and thetemperature was minus 30-35 degrees[Celsius, or minus 22-31 degreesFahrenheit]. Here also it worked verywell. But most important was the dust.Remember, you are outdoors, in tents,

and not at home! And in themountains you are not particularlycareful about a watch — it’s not themost important thing you’re thinkingabout. You’re working with a hammerto put pitons in the rock, and thiscreates shocks, which can be verystrong. In all these extremely difficultconditions, the watches gave us notrouble at all. It was incredible thatthey always kept the right time andworked perfectly.’’

The watches weren’t all that theteam took along on their trek.Schaffter carried a small stone, partof the first building at Jaeger-LeCoultre headquarters inSwitzerland. He left this memento onthe mountaintop in honor of AntoineLeCoultre, and in exchange broughtback a pocket-sized fragment of thegranite peak. This souvenir nowresides in a special place in theJaeger-LeCoultre headquarters. J.J.

EXPLORING | The Arctic region

The sound of ice cracking, and other lures of the Arctic

World Heritage in Russia

Ascent of Himalayan peak tests climbers and watches

Any rise in temperaturedestroys the habitat ofrare wildlife species

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Global warming threatens WorldHeritage marine sites in the Arctic,but these sites are also modellaboratories for scientists seekingto understand climate change

Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland.

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information on World Heritage marinesites: whc.unesco.org/tidesoftime/

www.jaeger-lecoultre.com

MASTER COMPRESSOR EXTREME LAB 2TRIBUTE TO GEOPHYSIC