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 Today's Congressional Action:
The House and Senate are not in session.
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 The Center for Arctic Study and Policy (CASP) at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy seeks a Visiting Professor of Arctic Studies for a two-year teaching/research fellowship position. The successful applicant will deliver Arctic-related undergraduate courses, seminars, or other academic instruction at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy; develop and conduct rigorous academic social science, law and/or policy based research on Arctic-specific issues; serve as a faculty co-advisor to undergraduate advanced research projects; and advise on curricular development in the areas of Arctic studies and policy, to address challenges and opportunities in the evolving Arctic and maritime environment that are vital to the national interests of the US. The application deadline is August 19, 2015. For more information see here.
The Return of the Arctic Five. Earlier this month, the five Arctic Ocean coastal states signed a much heralded moratorium on fishing in the high seas po rtion of the central Arctic Ocean, or more specifically, adopted "interim measures to prevent unregulated fishing." As the states themselves acknowledge, there is no commercial fishing there now and it is unlikely there will be any in the near future. However, they agreed to apply the precautionary principle, and ensured that if and when Arctic ecosystems evolve to reflect climate changes and commercial fisheries become viable, none will take place until a suitable regional fisheries management organization is in place. Alaska Dispatch News
Iceland Blast Arctic Five for Exclusion from Fishing Agreement.
Iceland says
the recent Arctic fishing moratorium, signed by the five Arctic coastal states without Iceland's participation, is "unacceptable" and a worrying precedent. "We have been able to have good cooperation between the eight (circumpolar) countries and it has been a success -- until now," said Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, Iceland's minister for foreign affairs and external trade, in an interview with Radio Canada International's Eye on the Arctic this week.
Alaska Dispatch News
Climate Stress Sets Fairbanks' White Spruce Up for Failure. Higher summer temperatures have brought about a decline in white spruce growth in Interior Alaska and a corresponding increase in growth in Western Alaska, according to researcher Glenn Juday. Juday, a professor of forest ecology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, recently spoke to the News-Miner about the results of a 10-year study he conducted with Claire Alix of the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne and Tom Grant, a former UAF adjunct professor. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Researcher Studying Unique Food Web in Western Nunavut Waters. Who eats what? When? And how much? These are the kinds of questions that keep marine biologists up at night. Well, maybe not up at night, but busy, at least. Marianne Falardeau has been busy for the past month in Cambridge Bay - catching fish, scooping up zooplankton, collecting fish and marine mammal tissues from local harvesters and looking at all the strange, tiny things that live in the ocean floor. Nunatsiaq Online
 Minister Aglukkaq Announces Investment in Arctic Research Facility. The Honorable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and Minister for the Arctic Council, on behalf of the Honorable Greg Rickford, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, today announced an investment of up to $4.4 million for science and infrastructure upgrades to Natural Resources Canada's Polar Continental Shelf Program facility in Resolute, Nunavut. This new funding builds on the Government of Canada's unprecedented and historic investment in public infrastructure to ensure Canada's economic growth for years to come. The Polar Continental Shelf Program provides critical logistical support to researchers working in Canada's North. This investment in the program's Resolute Arctic logistics hub will improve the energy efficiency of the facility as well as provide researchers with improved logistical and communications services, allowing the Polar Continental Shelf Program to operate in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. Canada NewsWire
Arctic Training for Strategic Nuclear Submarines. The three Borey-class submarines "Yury Dolgoruky," "Aleksander Nevsky" and "Vladimir Monomakh" will be conducting combat training in Arctic waters in 2015, Commander of the Northern Fleet Admiral Vladimir Korolyov says to TASS. The Borey class is Russia's first post-Soviet nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine design and will form the backbone of the Navy's strategic nuclear deterrent force after older boats are retired by 2018. The first submarine of the class, "Yury Dolgoruky," was taken into service in the Northern Fleet in January 2013 after twelve years of construction. Both "Aleksander Nevsky" and "Vladimir Monomakh" are planned to be taken into service in the Pacific Fleet and will be based in Vilyuchinsk, Kamchatka. Barents Observer
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| Legislative Action No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday. |
| Future Events
Industry Needs for Seasonal and Sub-seasonal Sea Ice Information and Predictions, August 11, 2015 (Webinar AKDT). Sea Ice Prediction Network webinar will provide a brief overview of contrasts and commonalities between sea ice variables relevant for geophysical or climate research and those relevant for operational needs in Arctic seas. For more information, contact Betsy Turner-Bogren at ARCUS ([email protected]).
The Alaska Arctic: A Summit on Shipping and Ports, August 23-25, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). Alice Rogoff will host the summit along with the state of Alaska and various partners, including President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson of Iceland and Mead Treadwell, president of Pt Capital and former Alaska lieutenant governor. The purpose of the meeting is to build partnerships to develop safe and reliable shipping through the Alaskan Arctic. These partnerships will be necessary to finance needed ports of refuge, search and rescue equipment, transshipment facilities and icebreakers. At the same time, the interests of local and indigenous residents must be an integral part of any development planning.
104th Meeting of the USARC, August 25-26, 2015 (Nome, AK, USA).
USARC (Fran Ulmer, Chair) will hold its next meeting in Nome, where Ulmer will present the
2015-2017 Goals Report. The Commission will tour the new, light icebreaker vessel
R/V Sikuliaq in the Nome port, and will hear from local researchers on topics such as health, social science, marine science, marine mammal co-management research, federal research, renewable energy, climate shipping, port development, and water and sanitation, among other topics. A draft agenda is
here
.
Eighth Polar Law Symposium Alaska 2015, September 23-26, 2015 (Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska , USA). The Eighth Polar Law Symposium is co-hosted by Alaska Pacific University (APU), the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the University of Alaska Anchorage (through its Justice Center and its Institute of Social and Economic Research), the University of Washington School of Law, and Vermont Law School, in cooperation with the Arctic Law Section of the Alaska Bar Association. The symposium will be held on both campuses of the University of Alaska. The 2015 theme is: The Science, Scholarship, and Practice of Polar Law: Strengthening Arctic Peoples and Places.
2015 Arctic Energy Summit, September 28-30, 2015 (Fairbanks, Alaska, USA). The Institute of the North's 2015 Arctic Energy Summit builds on our legacy efforts to address energy as a fundamental element of the sustainable development of the Arctic as a lasting frontier.Central to this concept is a focus on providing pathways for affordable energy development in the Arctic and for Arctic communities.
2015 Arctic Circle Assembly, October 16-18, 2015 (Reykjavik, Iceland). The Arctic Circle is the largest global gathering on the Arctic. It is attended by heads of state and governments, ministers, members of parliament, officials, experts, scientists, entrepreneurs, business leaders, indigenous representatives, environmentalists, students, activists, and others from the growing international community of partners and participants interested in the future of the Arctic. The Arctic Circle highlights issues and concerns, programs, policies and projects; it provides platforms for dynamic dialogue and constructive cooperation. While the plenary sessions are the responsibility of the Arctic Circle, the breakout sessions are organized by various participating partners in their own name and with full authority over the agenda and the choice of speakers.
2015 Arctic Science Conference, October 1-3, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The conference theme is "Healthy Estuaries: Sustainability and Resilience." Conference topics include traditional scientific disciplines, science education, arctic social sciences, biomedical research, and artistic interpretation of the evolving North. Abstract submissions are now being accepted. The deadline is August 1, 2015.
The Polar Oceans and Global Climate Change, November 3-6, 2015
(La Jolla, California USA). The American Polar Society will host this Symposium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. A flyer with a partial list of presenters is available on the Society's website (
americanpolar.org
) and from the Society's Membership Chairman by
email.
Forum for Arctic Modeling and Observational Synthesis Meeting, November 3-6, 2015 (Cape Cod, MA, USA). On November 3rd, the 2015 School for young scientists will consider "Regional Oceanography of the Arctic marginal seas" with lectures covering major features of atmospheric, sea ice and oceanographic regimes of the: Bering, Chukchi, Beaufort, East-Siberian, Laptev Sea, Kara, Barents and Nordic seas. On November 4-6, the meeting portion will summarize project accomplishments for the last 3 years of activities and will focus on the formulation of scientific questions and directions for FAMOS future research (2016-2019) to: (a) improve Arctic modeling, employing very high resolution models; (b) develop and test new arctic monitoring/observing systems and (c) improve predictions of Arctic environmental parameters with reduced uncertainties.
Due North: Next Generation Arctic Research & Leadership, November 5-8, 2015 (Calgary, Alberta, Canada).
The Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies (ACUNS) will convene an interdisciplinary conference of early career scientists working on Arctic issues. Topics will include:
Arctic Communities, Arctic Sustainable Development, Arctic Wildlife, Ecosystem and Biodiversity, Arctic Food Security, Arctic Landscapes, Climate Change and Adaptation, Disaster Risk Management, Policy, Politics and Leadership, Arctic Environment (Data and Techniques), Arctic Resources, and Future of Arctic.
Arctic Observing Open Science Meeting, November 17-19, 2015 (Seattle, Washington). The Arctic Observing Open Science Meeting will be 2.5 days and held at the Hyatt at Olive 8 in Seattle, Washington. The conference will bring together individuals and teams involved in the collection, processing, analysis, and use of observations in the Arctic - from academia, agencies, industry, and other organizations. The meeting will be convened as a combination of plenary talks, parallel science sessions, and a poster session. The agenda and registration information will be forthcoming. In the Spirit of the Rovaniemi Process 2015, November 24-26, 2015 (Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland).When the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, the so-called Rovaniemi Process, was adopted in 1991, it aimed at overcoming divisions and turning the zone of Cold War military tensions into a region of peace and co-operation. In this joint effort focusing on the protection of environment, and later, sustainable development, the Arctic states supported by indigenous organizations laid grounds for institutionalized collaboration and the emergence of Arctic regional identity. The second international conference will bring together decision-makers, scholars, artists, designers and students to address these questions and discuss the Arctic in global, regional and local perspectives.
Arctic Science Summit Week Arctic Observing Summit, March 12-18, 2016 (Fairbanks, AK, USA). ASSW is the annual gathering of international organizations that support and facilitate long-term planning in Arctic research. In 2016, ASSW will be held in conjunction with AOS, which brings people together to facilitate the design, implementation, coordination and sustained long-term operation of an international network of Arctic observing systems.
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External links in this publication, and on the USARC's World Wide Web site (
www.arctic.gov) do not constitute endorsement by the US Arctic Research Commission of external Web sites or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities, the USARC does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. These links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this newsletter and the USARC Web site.
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