Labrador Villagers' Isolation Grows As Winter Ice Roads Melt; So Do Depression, Suicidal Thoughts

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Just four decades ago, Mr. Pottle said, he would have crossed the same inlet over ice more than a foot thick in November. Since then, Labrador’s coastal ice has declined by almost 40 percent, making travel treacherous, if possible at all.

“It’s a volatile place climatically,” said Robert Way, a postdoctoral fellow at Memorial University of Newfoundland who studies Labrador’s permafrost. This climatic sensitivity, combined with Arctic amplification — a feedback loop created when reflective ice melts to reveal dark ocean water — Dr. Way said, had more than doubled the region’s rate of warming compared with the rest of the world. “And it’s only going to get worse,” he said.

Shrubs that thrive in warmer temperatures have sprouted across the tundra and snow cover has diminished, Dr. Way said. Without the ice highway, hunters like Mr. Pottle often have no choice but to drive their snowmobiles through the wilderness. “You can’t get in or out of these communities,” he said. “We’re almost like prisoners.”

Attempting the trip to his cabin earlier that winter, Mr. Pottle struck a rock, flipped his snowmobile and had to return home. The next time, the wind was relentless. Mr. Pottle said gales were becoming stronger. “These are the kind of conditions that can kill you,” he said. “The wind can get so severe, you can’t get warm.” While scientists have not established a link between Labrador’s wind strength and climate change, another recent study corroborated locals’ observations. “When it’s something you’ve relied on for your safety, you remember,” Dr. Way said.

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https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/25/climate/arctic-climate-change.html?_r=0