Celebrated Arctic scientists at the University of Manitoba will likely be the ones who announce the bad news if climate change finally dooms the planet. They have the science, knowledge and equipment to get up close and personal with the tiniest elements within Arctic sea ice. The U of M officially opened the Nellie Cournoyea Arctic Research Facility on Monday. The $15-million project is unique among such facilities in the world, said director David Barber. "It allows us to start our investigations at the molecular level," which no other facility can do, said Barber. What the facility won't be able to do is reverse climate change, he said. "There's no magic bullet," he said. 

They're figuring out "the consequences of the changing climate and how we can adjust to them?" The combination of sophisticated labs at the campus and the Arctic research ship Amundsen have brought together more than 100 researchers, centred on the top two floors of the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources.

"It's unique globally," said Barber.