Arctic Climate Photos Win New Scientist Editors Award
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- Natalya Saprunova won the New Scientist Editors Award at the Earth Photo 2026 competition for a series of photographs depicting climate change along Canada's Arctic coast.
- One image shows an Inuit hunter in Tuktoyaktuk holding a goose decoy against melting ice, capturing how warming temperatures have shifted migratory bird patterns and forced changes to traditional decoy materials once made from reeds.
- Saprunova's series focuses on permafrost thaw, documenting mercury contamination in Victoria Island fish, landscape changes that hinder caribou, and what she describes as land that is 'reshaping the map upon which animals and people have always relied.'
- In Sachs Harbour, whole permafrost cliffs are collapsing dangerously close to homes, with the source noting residents could become some of Canada's first climate refugees.
- Pelly Island is dissolving as its permafrost melts, releasing greenhouse gases that the source warns could accelerate both global warming and the island's further disappearance.
- The award-winning images will be exhibited at the Royal Geographical Society in London through 24 July.
Why it matters: The series documents a self-reinforcing climate feedback: thawing permafrost undermines Inuit food supplies and homes along Canada's longest inhabited Arctic coastline while releasing greenhouse gases that accelerate the warming driving the thaw. Bringing these images to the Royal Geographical Society through 24 July puts the threat of Arctic climate displacement in front of a major UK cultural audience.
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