Unalakleet Indigenous Knowledge Database Released

Arctic PASSION proudly announces the launch of the Unalakleet Climate Events Database, a groundbreaking resource now available on ArcticSeas.org, presenting over two decades of Indigenous-led observations, oral histories, and scientific insights, co-created alongside Unalakleet’s co-researchers with their full consent. It spotlights two keystone species—Pacific salmon and caribou—as living indicators of environmental change, providing a multilayered understanding of climate impacts in Norton Sound and the broader Bering Sea region. 

By weaving together Indigenous knowledge and long-term ecological records, this repository exemplifies our mission of co-creating an accessible, integrated pan-Arctic Observing System of Systems (pan-AOSS) that supports societal needs, empowers communities, and enhances our capacity for informed decision-making. 

“I moved in to my grandfather’s home back in 1939, and there’s a lotta change since. It’s noticeable. We used to have, you know, the break-up of the Unalakleet River used to occur late in May and in June. And now it’s late April or first week of May. It’s much earlier and much warmer, than it used to be. And when I was a kid, during the middle forties, it was a fun game for us to jump from ice cake to the water, and it’d be middle of June!”

Knowledge holder, Elder Leonard Brown

Read more on Arctic Seas news, and explore this StoryMap to discover climate change data, Elders testimonies, a photo gallery, a community film, and observations concerning indicator species including salmon and moose, weather and Indigenous knowledge. 

Contact 

Tero Mustonen 

Director, Snowchange Cooperative  

tero@snowchange.org   

+35 840 737 2424 

About Arctic PASSION  

Arctic PASSION is a project funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program to co-create a coherent, integrated Pan-Arctic Observing System of systems through community-based monitoring and inclusion of Indigenous and Local knowledge, streamlining access and interoperability of Arctic data, and ensuring the economic viability and sustainability of such an observing system for years to come.

The Unalakleet Climate Events Database is part of a larger portal, arcticseas.org, created by Snowchange Cooperative to fill key data gaps through co-creation of consented knowledge on environmental change in 7 regions: Alaska, BC/Yukon, Western Greenland, Northern Finland/Norway, Murmansk, Khanty-Mansia and Sakha-Yakutia.