Arctic Update Header
July 17, 2017


107th Commission Meeting of the US Arctic Research Commission. July 17, 2017(Washington, DC USA).  The U.S. Arctic Research Commission will hold its 107th meeting in Washington, DC, on July 17, 2017. The business sessions, open to the public, will convene at 8:30 am at the Naval Heritage Center, 801 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004.  The focus of this meeting will include reports and updates on programs and research projects affecting Alaska and the greater Arctic.  Meeting agenda now online 
  here .



IARPC Collaborations Webinar Series: Outcomes of Arctic Horizons, July 17, 2017, 1:30pm US Eastern TimeThe Arctic Horizons project brought together members of the Arctic social science research and indigenous communities through a series of workshops to reassess the goals, potentials, and needs of these diverse communities and NSF's Arctic Social Sciences Program within the context of a rapidly changing circumpolar North. The Arctic Horizon's Program Manager and Principal Investigators will describe the outcomes of the workshop series, including the soon to be released final synthesis report which will describe the community's vision for the future of Arctic social science research. Go to www.iarpccollaborations.org/webinars

Media   
 
Fulbright Arctic Initiative Accepting Applications The U.S. Department of State has announced the launch of the second Fulbright Arctic Initiative. Scholars and researchers from the eight Arctic Council countries can now apply for this 18-month collaborative research program, which will begin in spring 2018 and run through the fall of 2019. Established researchers, early-career specialists, and indigenous knowledge experts will join together to form a network of scholars to conduct research in one of two focus areas:  Resilient Communities and Sustainable Economies.  Scholars will be selected through an open, merit-based competition to participate in an individual Fulbright exchange and convene with the other scholars for three in-person group seminars and on-going virtual communication to carry out team-based research. For more information, visit the Fulbright Arctic Initiative  website or  contact us.

Days and Nights Baby-Sitting a Fitful Alaska Volcano. The news came at the bleary hour of  3:25 a.m., via a text message: Bogoslof. Erupting again. Aaron Wech, a seismologist and the on-call Alaska Volcano Observatory scientist for this week in late June, had been asleep when the alert came in. The text message woke him up. In these lively days for Alaska's volcanologists, no on-duty scientist can afford to sleep heavily: The staff of the observatory is baby-sitting a restless volcano. Alaska Dispatch News

The Giant Balloons Creating Arctic Ice Tunnels. Conducting research and sciene in the Arctic presents a number of problems, not the least of which is how to build a base of operations in a wilderness that doesn't offer any readily available materials, amid unrelenting elements. Historically, the solution has been tunnels, built beneath the surface ice using imported struts and shoring materials. This solution, though, is not only expensive, but also remarkably inefficient. More recently, according to Science, scientists have started turning to a more whimsical (and cheaper) solution: giant balloons. The construction process begins much like many previous base-building operations, as industrial-sized snow-blowers cut deep trenches into the ice and snow. Atlas Obscura

Solovki Conservation and Research Center to be set up in Pomorye. An Arctic center for studying and preserving the Solovetsky Islands historical and cultural complex, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, will be set up at the Lomonosov Northern (Arctic) Federal University, TASS reported, citing Sergei Gromovoy, head of the Agency for the Development of the Solovetsky Archipelago in the Arkhangelsk region. "The idea to create this Arctic center emerged fairly recently. Its main aim is to preserve a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Solovetsky Islands historical and cultural complex. The center should be a kind of a UNESCO department where specialists are trained and all these issues are discussed," Gromovoy said. The Arctic
 
An Arctic Vegetable Farm Steadily Takes Root and Flourishes in Anaktuvuk Pass. Red romaine, purple potatoes, and blue tomatoes are still not the norm in Anaktuvuk Pass, but Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson is aiming to demystify them, one color at a time. "It's not weird anymore that there's this woman who grows things with compost and has chickens and that's exactly what I was going for," she said, laughing. Alaska Dispatch News

Bloodsucking, Bloodthirsty, Blood-Crazed Predators. At these high latitudes, where a long tradition of Native storytelling attempts to explain the world - and alleviate the long nights of much of the year - people remember how mosquitoes first came to be. According to one Inupiaq myth, a long time ago a man stabbed a cannibal monster after learning about its Achilles' heel. "Though I'm dying," the ogre warned, "I'll keep on eating you and all other humans forever." Unfazed, the man cut the body into pieces, which he burned in a fire. But when he tossed the ashes into the air, each flake became a mosquito. Alaska Dispatch News
 
Arctic Warming Events are More Frequent and Last Longer, Report Says. Mid-winter Arctic warm spells, like when temperatures hovered near freezing at the North Pole in December 2015, will likely be more common in future, but are not entirely unprecedented, a new report suggests. In a new study, published in May in Geophysical Research Letters, a team of international scientists, including researchers from NASA, say it is "becoming more common to have at least one extreme winter warming occurring during the month of December in the [North Pole] domain." Nunatsiaq Online

Russian Scientist Works on Forecasts of Climate Change in Arctic. A scientist of the Pacific Oceanology Institute named after Ilyichev, analyzes sediments from lakes and seas to forecast climate changes and development of natural processes in the Arctic and in Baikal. The project has received a grant of 2.3 million rubles ($38,000) from the Russian Science Fund, the project's author Alexander Kolesnik told TASS on Monday. "Expected results are of potential practical value and may be used in paleo-reconstructions with following forecasts of climate changes, areas and thickness of sea ice, biology productivity, development of hazardous natural processes and general ecological state of strategically important regions, for expanding of mineral and resource bases, which is especially important for the Arctic region," the scientist said. TASS
Future Events
         
This biennial symposium, co-hosted by U.S. National/Naval Ice Center (NIC) and the US Arctic Research Commission (USARC) focuses on a broad cross-section of naval and maritime operations and issues in an "ice-free Arctic." The symposium brings together nationally and internationally recognized experts on Arctic marine operations, infrastructure, science, environmental observations, and on a wide range of other topics.

In-person registration is now  CLOSED (capacity reached, sorry) . To get on the waiting list, in case seats open up, please email John Farrell.

Registration ( here) r emains open for participation via live 
webcast which will enable participants to ask questions of the speakers using.

The detail ed program is available online here Over 50 confirmed speakers...

null
Sen. Lisa Murkowski
Rep. Don Young

ADM P. Zukunft USCG
Fran Ulmer USARC
Larry Mayer USARC

Sen. Angus King











ADM Thad Allen USCG Ret.
Marie Green USARC















The movie Sea Blind will be shown, during the symposium's lunch break on Tuesday and Wednesday (July 18 and 19), and the filmmaker, Ms. Bernice Notenboom will be on hand for discussion and questions.  

** New this week ** Arctic Symposium Reception, July 18, 2017. (Washington, DC USA). The United States Arctic Research Commission and the Alaska State Society invite you to attend a reception for the 7th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations. 

LECTURE... Sandra Starkweather (NOAA, US AON): The US Arctic Observing Network- Mobilizing Interagency Observing Actions in an Ear of Rapid Change, July 21, 2017 (Washington, DC  USA). In September 2016, NOAA and other US agencies submitted a deliverable to the White House Arctic Science Ministerial (WHASM) to formally establish and fund the coordination of a US AON initiative. This US AON initiative brings new coordination capabilities on-line to support and strengthen US engagement in sustained and coordinated pan-Arctic observing and data sharing systems that serve societal needs. US AON promotes the vision of well-defined observing networks that enable users to have access to high quality data that will realize pan-Arctic and global value-added services and provide societal benefits. This talk will describe the capabilities of the new US AON initiative and how those capabilities are being mobilized towards both the "backward" and "forward" problems of Arctic observing. Solving the "backward problem" requires drawing existing observations into interoperable, multi-sensor, value-added data products. Solving the "forward problem" requires the alignment of multiple agency needs and capabilities to coordinate and design the network that is "needed". Both approaches have their own unique benefits and constraints which will be explored during this presentation.

As the Symposium is organized jointly by two leading Research Institutes of Russian Academy of Science - Institute of Water Problems and Melnikov Permafrost Institute, particularly the contributions on following research topics are welcome:
  • Observational evidences of change in coupled permafrost-hydrology system.
  • Present state and future projections of local, regional and pan-Arctic hydrology.
  • Modeling studies representing landscape evolution, dynamics of water storages and permafrost degradation.
  • Impacts of permafrost hydrology changes on local communities.
VII International Conference on Cryopedology, August 21-25, 2017 (Yaktsk, Russia). The conference will be hosted by the Institute for Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS). Plenary reports will be organized in the hall of the Academy of Sciences of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. The official languages of the conference are English and Russian (with translation). All technical facilities (projectors, computers, video sets) will be available during the conference for presentation of papers. Additional information will be available soon. See the Facebook page  here.
 
2017 University of the Arctic Rectors' Forum and Conference, August 27-29, 2017 (Aberdeen, Scotland).  This conference will also consider how northern scholarship can add to discussions on the North into broader terrains of intellectual engagement. In so doing, it will challenge dominant paradigms of research in both the natural and the social sciences, above all by calling into question the very separation of the world of nature from that of human society which underwrites the distinction between these two branches of scientific inquiry. In its place the conference will seek to forge a new practice of interdisciplinary research, done in collaboration with northern residents and on their terms, which recognizes that every discipline is itself an ongoing conversation, or a way of knowing, rather than a compartment within an overarching, hierarchically organized system of knowledge. Conversations from the North will, then, help to generate a science that is more open-ended, responsive to environmental variation and respectful of the wisdom of inhabitants. 

2017 Arctic Energy Summit, September 18-20, 2017 (Helsinki, Finland). The 2017 Summit will address energy in the Arctic as it relates to:
  • Small and off-grid community energy solutions
  • Oil and gas development
  • Renewable energy
  • Regulation and Financing
  • Transportation and transmission
The AES is a multi-disciplinary event expected to draw several hundred industry officials, scientists, academics, policy makers, energy professionals and community leaders together to collaborate and share leading approaches on Arctic energy issues.

2017 Arctic Circle Assembly, October 13-15, 2017 (Reykjavi­k, Iceland).  The annual Arctic Circle Assembly is the largest annual international gathering on the Arctic, attended by more than 2000 participants from 50 countries. The Assembly is held every October at the Harpa Conference Center and Concert Hall and is attended by heads of states and governments, ministers, members of parliaments, 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. 

Polar Law Symposium 2017 and Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit, November 13-16, 2017 (Rovaniemi, Finland). The purpose of the Polar Law Symposium is to examine, in detail, the implications of the challenges faced by the Polar Regions for international law and policy and to make recommendations on appropriate actions by states, policy makers and other international actors to respond to these emerging and re-emerging challenges. The Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit  Conference is integrated with the Polar Law Symposium, which will be organized by the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law at the Arctic Center of the University of Lapland.

ArcticNet invites the global Arctic research community to Arctic Change 2017! This conference will bring together Arctic researchers and students with Inuit, Northerners and government, industry and NGO stakeholders. The world's foremost Arctic scientists will presen t research  findings and discuss impacts of climate change and modernization. With over 1500 participants expected, Arctic Change 2017 will be one of the largest trans-sectoral international Arctic research conferences held in Canada. We welcome students and early career researchers to participate in "Student Day" at the start of the Conference. See an excerpt from last year:  ArcticNet ASM2016 .

ISAR-5 Fifth International Symposium on Arctic Research, January 15-18, 2018 (Tokyo, Japan).  The fifth ISAR has been planned at the recommendation of the science steering committee of ISAR-4, which was held in Toyama, Japan in April 2015. The fifth ISAR will be devoted to discussions on environmental changes in the Arctic and their regional and global implications, to seek additional international scientific collaboration in this area by gathering, synthesizing and sharing information related to these changes occurring in the Arctic. Special emphasis will be placed on the fields of the social sciences and humanities, which were not included in the previous ISARs.  ISAR-5 will consist of general sessions and special sessions. The general sessions will address the following topics: atmosphere; ocean and sea ice; rivers, lakes, permafrost, and snow cover; ice sheets, glaciers, and ice cores; terrestrial ecosystems; marine ecosystems; geospace; policies and economy; and social and cultural dimensions. Special sessions will be solicited on cross-cutting themes.  

The Effects of Climate Change on the World's Oceans, June 4-8, 2018 (Washington, DC USA). 
The 4th International Symposium will bring together experts from around the world to better understand climate impacts on ocean ecosystems - and how to respond. The event is hosted by a variety of groups including International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

POLAR 2018, June 15-27, 2018 (Davos, Switzerland).  POLAR2018 is a joint event from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). The SCAR meetings, the ASSW and the Open Science Conference will be hosted by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL under the patronage of the Swiss Committee on Polar and High Altitude Research. The WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF is organizing POLAR2018.

Arctic Biodiversity Congress, October 9-11, 2018 (Rovaniemi, Finland). The second Arctic Biodiversity Congress is hosted by the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), the biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council, and the Ministry of the Environment, Finland. The second Arctic Biodiversity Congress will build on the success of the first Congress, held in 2014 in Trondheim, Norway, and will bring together scientists, policymakers government officials, Indigenous representatives, Traditional Knowledge holders, industry, non-governmental organizations, and others to promote the conservation and sustainable use of Arctic biodiversity. 

USARC header

Find us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter jmml_blue5_btn.gif

4350 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 510
Arlington, VA 22203, USA 
(703) 525-0111 (phone)
www.arctic.gov
[email protected]
 
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.