Arctic Climate Photos Win New Scientist Editors Award
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- Natalya Saprunova won the New Scientist Editors Award in the Earth Photo 2026 competition for a photo series documenting climate change in the Canadian Arctic, with a focus on melting permafrost.
- The lead image shows an Inuit hunter in Tuktoyaktuk holding a goose decoy against banks of melting ice; the source notes rising temperatures have shifted migratory bird patterns, making traditional hunts harder and forcing decoys to be made from new materials instead of the traditional reeds.
- The series captures an Inuit resident of Victoria Island handling fish, with thawing permafrost releasing mercury into fish habitats and endangering a key food supply for local communities.
- Sachs Harbour is documented with permafrost cliffs eroding dangerously close to homes; the source notes Canada has the world's longest inhabited Arctic coastline and that some residents could become the country's first climate refugees.
- Pelly Island, another subject of the series, is documented as actively disappearing — its melting permafrost releases greenhouse gases that feed back into further warming and ice loss.
- Images from the series will be exhibited at the Royal Geographical Society in London until 24 July.
Why it matters: The series translates abstract Arctic climate metrics into scenes of daily life — decoys against meltwater, mercury in staple fish, collapsing cliffs beside homes — giving viewers a visceral record of changes the source notes could produce Canada's first climate refugees and accelerate warming through permafrost feedback loops.
