n his quest for the mythical Thule "where night did not exist during the summer and winter never knew of daylight", Pytheas of Massilia (Marseilles) was perhaps the first European to encounter sea ice. Since the pioneering voyages of Pytheas, countless explorers, fascinated by the ice-covered seas and lands that laid to the North, have braved the harsh Arctic environment.

Recent tradition situates Thule in Avanersuaq (the place in the farthest north) on the northwest coast of Greenland. Avanersuaq, the northernmost region of the world where self-sustaining human settlements have been recorded, is characterized by a relatively warm microclimate. The cause of this microclimate is the flux of heat emanating from a vast expanse of ice-free sea (or polynya), known as the North Water and located between the Canadian Islands of Ellesmere and Devon and the coast of Greenland.

Exploited by Inuits since at least 5 000 years, probably known to Vikings in the 13^th century and revealed to Europe by William Baffin in 1616, the North Water is considered by several specialists as the most productive ecosystem north of the Arctic circle. Its ice-free and highly productive waters serve as feeding, mating, spawning and overwintering grounds for huge populations of key species of birds and mammals. Scientists suspect that the North Water is a focal point for the intense production of the planktonic herbivores that ensure the transfer of the solar energy fixed by microalgae to Arctic cod, seals, polar bear and native man. 

The functioning of the North Water ecosystem, its role in the overall Arctic biota and its potential response to global warming are poorly understood. The NOW Research Network funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) brings together Canadian and foreign expertise in Arctic oceanography to study and model the climatic and oceanographic mechanisms of formation of the North Water, the biological production taking place within and around its ice boundaries, and the fate of this production in the ocean.

In a purely geographical sense, the age of exploration is over. Yet, from equator to poles, a new breed of discoverers explores remote regions to study, understand and predict the functioning and evolution of ecosystems and biota. After the resounding success of the first expeditions in 1997 and 1998,  a  team of specialists from 6 countries sailed for one last time in the fall of 1999 to explore, describe and understand the North Water ecosystem. In the wake of Inuit settlers and Arctic explorers, join us in this endeavor and share with us the thrills of the scientific discovery of one of the most spectacular and pristine ecosystems on planet Earth.
 

Louis Fortier
Scientific Leader of the International North Water Polynya Study (NOW)