AAOKH Indigenous Knowledge and observations improve Arctic Ocean model skill and relevance

By donnahauser | September 22, 2026

Diagram illustrating collaboration between observers and modelers. The inner circle represents the core practices that enable respectful and effective collaboration, including cultural learning, self-reflection, and knowledge exchanges that create safe spaces for dialogue and mutual understanding. The outer circle shows how Indigenous observations and model-based insights inform one another: place-based Indigenous observations ground model results in lived experience, while the model offers broader spatial and temporal perspectives that connect local and pan-Arctic processes. Through this iterative exchange, Indigenous Knowledge and observations enhance the model’s relevance and accuracy, and the model in turn supports decision-making and stewardship at both community and regional scales.

For the past two years, AAOKH observers have been sharing their observations and knowledge of sea ice, ocean conditions, and marine life with the Arctic Ocean modeling team at UAF’s International Arctic Research Center, and that knowledge has been used to check and improve their computer model.

Here’s what they found: the model got something wrong. It said sea ice froze up earlier in 2019 than it actually did, during a year when the ocean was unusually warm. Our observers’ firsthand knowledge of the ice caught a problem that scientific data alone had missed.

But this wasn’t just about fixing the model. It went both ways. Working together also means we’re now starting to look at how the model could help answer questions that matter to our communities, like conditions for safe travel on the ice, or what affects traditional harvests, rather than only the questions scientists think to ask. That work is just beginning.

We’re continuing to work with the modeling team to keep improving the model and to make sure it’s useful for the people who depend on this knowledge every day.

Quyanaqpak and taikuu to the observers who make this work possible, and to the research team for building this partnership with us.

Read the paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-026-03899-w

Full citation: Hauri, C., D.D.W. Hauser, B. Adams, V. Buschman, R. Glenn, K. Heeringa, B. Irving, J. Leavitt, R. Pages, R. Schaeffer. 2026. Indigenous observations improve Arctic Ocean model skill and relevance. Nature Communications Earth & Environment 7: 748. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03899-w

Posted in community adaptation, education & outreach, Indigenous Knowledge, observer, publication, resources, whales