When I talk about the arctic climate and how it's changing, I also need to mention that the Nunavut area, or the north, the Arctic, is a very vast and immense geographical area. Traditionally, it has always been that it becomes ice-free in Rankin Inlet, in Hudson's Bay, two weeks before the Clyde River has open water.
I spoke to a good friend of mine this spring when I was living in Rankin Inlet. We had been ice-free and out boating for two weeks when I spoke to him in Clyde River, and he told me, at the same time, that the ice hadn't broken. He was living in the North Baffin area and I live in the Hudson's Bay coastal area north of Churchill. When I'm out boating, he's still out ski-dooing on the ice on the Clyde River. We are talking about the same region, the same area, of Nunavut.
I also need to mention that in North Baffin the winters will last longer than they do in the Keewatin area, so there is that difference also. Not only are we talking about climate change, we're talking about seasons that are coming later or earlier because of the location we are situated in within Nunavut.
I also want to mention the snow melt. We know that snow melts faster when you are in the mainland area, but snow doesn't melt as fast when you live in a coastal area. As you move further up north, it doesn't melt as fast as it does in the southern parts of Nunavut.
So when there is a time lapse there of two weeks, the seals will migrate up north so they can go on the ice floes to bask in the sun. So there is that movement that's dictated by the seasons too.