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 Today's Congressional Action:
The House and Senate are in session and expected to consider non-Arctic legislation.
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Media
 Chukchi Sea Shoal Newly Closed to Oil Leasing is Well Known as Biological Hot Spot. Hanna Shoal, a region of shallow water in the remote Chukchi Sea that President Barack Obama last week put off limits to oil leasing, has long been known as a biological hot spot in the icy Arctic Ocean. The area is so teeming with marine life that walruses, even when forced onto land by a lack of floating sea ice, are known to make the nearly 300-mile round-trip swim to Hanna Shoal to feast on its abundant clams, snails and worms. Alaska Dispatch News
Swarm of Earthquakes Hit Alaska's Pribilof Islands. An unusual swarm of earthquakes in Alaska's Pribilof Islands has the community of St. George on edge as seismologists work to figure out the cause. The Bering Sea islands were shaken by 15 earthquakes from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening, according to the Alaska Earthquake Information Center website. The quakes ranged from magnitude 3.90 to 5.05. Thirteen were magnitude 4.0 or higher. Alaska Dispatch News
Alaska Lawmakers Discuss Arctic Projects, But Money a Question. The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission has recommended the state take several steps to enhance Arctic communities, but finding the money for the improvements could be a challenge. The report's recommendations center around four areas of focus: economic and resource development, infrastructure, healthy communities, and science and research. The report details several projects that would advance those goals. During a news conference Monday, Rep. Bob Herron, D-Bethel, said a lot of the projects may be postponed for a while until funding is available, but that it was important to start planning for them. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
 Alaska Should Seize Arctic Opportunities, Commission Report Says. With industry poised to invest billions of dollars in the rapidly thawing and increasingly accessible and resource-rich Arctic, Alaska now has a blueprint to help the state to take advantage of the situation, members of the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission said Monday. That blueprint comes in the form of the commission's newly released final report, outlined at a Juneau news conference by lawmakers who are members of the organization. Alaska Dispatch News
Researcher's Data Show Climate Change is Accelerating the Melting of Siberia. Siberia, one of the world's largest storehouses of frozen greenhouse gases, is melting at a quickened pace. Over the last 7,000 years, winter temperatures in the Siberian permafrost regions have gradually risen, according to new research from German and Russian scientists at the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) and published in the journal Nature Geoscience. It's a trend that has long been predicted by climate models but never before been proved. E&E News
 Offshore Interests Represented in Obama's FY 2016 Budget. President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2016 (FY 2016) budget includes a request of $170.9 million to fund the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) mission to safely and responsibly manage the Nation's offshore energy and mineral resources. The request would provide BOEM with resources needed to effectively manage oil and gas development, renewable energy, and mineral resources on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in a way that promotes efficient and environmentally responsible development... BOEM recognizes the importance of understanding ecosystem science and global change to better inform future decisions. Included in the FY 2016 request is an additional $500,000 to support the bureau's critical role in supporting the United States during its term as Chair of the Arctic Council and to increase its expertise on ecosystem science. Maritime Executive
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Legislative Action
No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.
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Future Events
Alaska Forum on the Environment, February 9-13, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The Alaska Forum on the Environment (AFE) is Alaska's largest statewide gathering of environmental professionals from government agencies, non-profit and for-profit businesses, community leaders, Alaskan youth, conservationists, biologists and community elders. The diversity of attendees and comprehensive agenda sets this conference apart from any other. Each year there are over 80 technical breakout sessions and sensational Keynote Events. There will be a full week of sessions on climate change, energy, environmental regulations, cleanup and remediation, fish & wildlife, solid waste, and of course much more. The event will continue to present expanded content on Marine Debris, Coastal Issues and Tsunami's in order to address the pressing concerns from Alaska rural coastal communities.
International Symposium on Northern Development, February 25-27, 2015 (Quebec, Canada). The Qu�bec government, in collaboration with Universit� Laval, will co-chair with the Nordic Council of Ministers the International Symposium on Northern Development. The event will allow for the pooling of knowledge, experience and perspectives in the realm of northern development. It will assemble representatives of the northern countries, the universities and local populations, including the Aboriginal nations, and businesspeople and enterprises. The key themes will be the North as a living environment; the North as a physical territory; the North as a hub of economic development; and, the North as a hub of knowledge training and research.
2015 Public Policy Forum: Predicting and Preparing for a Changing Arctic. March 4, 2015 (Washington, D.C.). The Consortium for Ocean Leadership will host a forum on a changing Arctic. One panel will discuss the state of knowledge in predicting major changes occurring in the Arctic as well as identifying research and observational gaps. The second panel will consider the science needs of commercial and community stakeholders living and working in the Arctic.
US Arctic Research Commission's 103rd Meeting, March 4-5, 2015 (Washington, DC, USA). More information to come.
PNWER...Pacific NorthWest Economic Region's Arctic Caucus meeting, March 5, 2015, (Washington, DC, USA). More info to come.
Arctic Summit 2015, March 12, 2014 (Oslo, Norway) The Economist is hosting the Arctic Summit 2015 where discussions will focus on whether commercial interest in the Arctic is a bubble about to burst. There are discounted registration fees are available for NGOs, government, academics, charities and students. There are also discounts for groups of 3 or more people.
Polar Shelves and Shelf Break Exchange in Times of Rapid Climate Warming, March 15-20, 2015 (Lucca, Italy). The GRCs provide an international forum for the presentation and discussion of frontier research in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences, and their related technologies. The guiding principle of a GRC is to encourage communication and discussion of ideas and new unpublished results at the very frontier of a particular field of research, by bringing together outstanding scientists from academia, industry, and government, ranging from senior experts to Ph.D. students. With the increasing impacts of reduced sea ice and warming seawater conditions in both the Arctic and Antarctic, this conference can act as a forum for potentially transformative discussions for interdisciplinary, international and compare/contrast evaluation of polar sciences. In addition, the Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) will precede the GRC to provide a forum for graduate students and post-docs to present and exchange new data and cutting edge ideas with experts in the different polar fields of science.
Sweden-U.S. Planning Workshop on Joint Arctic Research Using the I/B Oden, March 30- April 1, 2015 (Stockholm, Sweden). The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Arctic Section is supporting a 'Planning Workshop on joint Arctic Research using the Swedish Class 1A Icebreaker Oden.' This workshop is held in collaboration with the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (SPRS) and the Swedish Research Council (Formas and VR). The US delegation will be led by Drs. Patricia Matrai (Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences) and Peter Minnett (RSMAS, U. Miami), as workshop co-organizers with Dr. Caroline Leck (Stockholm U.). This workshop will bring together those with research and operational/ logistical interests in the Arctic and will discuss a baseline for establishing a new, longer-term collaborative relationship among U.S. and Swedish scientists for Oden-based research in the Arctic Ocean.
Arctic Science Summit Week, April 23-30, 2015 (Toyama, Japan). The Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) is the annual gathering of the international organizations engaged in supporting and facilitating Arctic research. The purpose of the summit is to provide opportunities for coordination, collaboration and cooperation in all areas of Arctic science. The summit attracts scientists, students, policy makers and other professionals from all over the world.
The Polar Geography and Cryosphere, April 21-25, 2015 (Chicago, IL, USA). The Polar Geography and Cryosphere Specialty Groups of the Association of American Geographers will host its annual meeting in Chicago to consider: current topics in human-environment interactions; current topics in politics, resource geographies, and extractive industries; current topics in Antarctic research; advances in cryosphere research; high latitude environments in a changing climate; an mountain ice and snow.
6th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations, July 14-16, 2015 (Washington, DC, USA). Program in development...check back soon. To see the programs from prior symposia, click here.
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.
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