Andrew Budziak

The ice diving initiative has pushed forward not only our understanding of what climate change means for the planet’s sources of fresh water, but also what can happen when high level under ice explorers team up with leading researchers to capture crucial biomass before it’s too late.

Collecting crucial intact vanishing algae from the ice bottom is a race against time that lakes researchers had deemed too risky, too expensive and too challenging to access. My passion for lakes, winter and extreme environments made this a dream problem for me to solve. This was the perfect opportunity for me and my team to use our unique skill set to access a previously unexplored microhabitat through a bold example of extreme citizen science. The Freeze The Future project is giving science a clear picture of what we were about to lose as our winters continue to warm and the success of this initiative has meant that fresh water researchers now have unique algae samples that have opened the door to better understanding life under ice.  Some of our samples are now being cryobanked at the Canadian Museum Of Nature where they will be preserved for future research.

Being able to document these bold firsts through photo and video has allowed scientists, students and adventure lovers to follow along with the expeditions. My hope is that we can continue this project, pushing our way into more remote northern lakes at the top of the world that are changing faster than any others on earth.

My career began in journalism, where I learned the power of asking, “What’s new in your world?” That simple question sparked Freeze The Future. During a call with Dr. Andy Bramburger of Environment and Climate Change Canada, Andy’s response to this question was that a colleague had seen rich algae growing on the underside of ice overturned by an icebreaker – an exciting discovery in a season long assumed to be biologically quiet. As warming winters shrink ice coverage, this hidden algae has become scientifically important. Andy wondered how to collect untouched samples. I suggested leading an ice-diving expedition and documentary, and Andy immediately said yes. 

In the four years sinceI have had the honour of leading multiple expeditions to collect samples. The DNA sequencing of these samples has revealed a unique ice bottom habitat that is distinct from the rest of the water column. Pushing the science is a huge driving factor behind why I continue to do this work. This kind of diving is hard, dangerous and challenging. As we entered the water for our final dive of last winter, air temperatures sat at -25°C/-13°F. We were in a remote bay on Lake Of The Woods. We had to change into our diving gear in the back of a trailer used to haul snow mobiles. Each of the 30 ice blocks we removed weighed 300 lbs. We had traveled a great distance by ice road to be there. Despite these dangerous conditions, I smile as I write these details knowing I will be doing the exact same thing this winter the second the lakes begin to freeze.