BRUNSWICK, Maine, Nov. 9 (AScribe Newswire) -- A four-year study documenting accelerated climate changes in the Arctic released this week raised major concerns about global warming and its immediate effect on indigenous populations. The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) was compiled by an international group of 250 scientists.

Among them was anthropologist/archaeologist Anne Henshaw, director of Bowdoin College's Coastal Studies Center. Her research in southern Baffin Island corroborated findings of other Arctic scientists that Inhuit hunters and communities already are feeling the effects of climatic changes.

"Traveling on sea ice has become a problem as sea ice becomes thinner and the season becomes shorter, " said Henshaw. "It impedes their access to food resources and is a major safety issue. The future of indigneous peoples in the Arctic may literally be on thin ice."

Bowdoin College, located in Brunswick, Maine, is one of the nation's most important centers for Arctic research. Home to the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, the College also includes the Arctic Research Center, which promotes anthropological, archaeological, geological and environmental research in the North. Bowdoin alumnus Admiral Robert E. Peary was the first explorer to reach the North Pole, and Bowdoin College's mascot is the polar bear, which according to the ACIA, may be in danger of extinction.

Henshaw and other Arctic scholars at Bowdoin are available to speak with the media about a variety of related topics:

Archaeologist/anthropologist Genevieve LeMoine, curator/registrar of the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum/Arctic Studies Center, is conducting an extensive survey of early settlements in Greenland. Her research will include study of earlier climate changes in the region and how indigenous communities may have adapted to those changes.

Archaeologist/anthropologist Susan Kaplan, director of the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum/Arctic Studies Center, is an expert on the North American Arctic. Her research focuses on Labrador, where she is examining Inhuit responses to environmental change and contact with the West.

Mark Battle, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, has conducted research in the Antarctic to get baseline measurements of the composition of the atmosphere. He extracted air samples from the snow pack, which provide a record of the atmospheric composition spanning the last 100 years. This record may improve predictions on the future evolution of the atmosphere.

Geologist Peter Lea, chair of Bowdoin's geology department, examines geological records of climate change in Alaska, particularly during the Ice Ages. "With the climate, the past is the key to the present," he says. "We are learning that climate in the past seems to be a lot 'twitchier' than we expected. There can be abrupt change."

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CONTACT: Selby Frame, Associate Director of Academic Communications, Bowdoin College, 207-725-3961