Arctic Update Header
February 6, 2015

 

capitalToday's Congressional Action:  

The House and Senate are not in session.

Media  

 

DHS Shutdown Grows More Likely. The chances of a shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security are growing by the day, with congressional leaders at a stalemate over legislation that would provide funding after Feb. 27. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson has warned that a lapse in funding would cause a "terrible disruption," while White House officials have accused congressional Republicans of putting national security at risk. The Hill 

 

Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) Seeks Executive Director. The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) seeks an experienced association professional to serve as its executive director. The ideal candidate will have 10 years of senior executive experience in associations, NGOs, or US federal government. They will have a background or experience in science policy and/or scientific membership associations and federal grant administration and reporting experience. A Bachelor's degree is required. International experience, meetings management experience, a CAE credential, and Master's degree are preferred. A PhD is not required. Arctic Research Consortium of the United States

 

Arctic Research Consortium of the United States Seeks Applications for SEARCH Program Positions. ARCUS also announces three available positions in the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) program including: 1) SEARCH Executive Director, which will be hired through the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) with applications received prior to Sunday, 15 March 2015; 2) ARCUS/SEARCH Project Manager with application review beginning on Monday, 23 February 2015; and 3) SEARCH Communicator/Facilitator, which will be hired through Rutgers University with applications due Wednesday, 1 April 2015. Further information about these positions can be found here. 

 

president signing Obama Security Plan Highlights Russia Threat. President Barack Obama's new National Security Strategy calls out Russia for its aggression against Ukraine and also puts heavy emphasis on climate change as a growing threat to peace, according to details shared with POLITICO. The much-delayed strategy document, used to prioritize threats and policies across the administration, is due to be unveiled Friday. It holds fast to the diplomacy-heavy approach that the White House has long pursued despite criticism by some in the GOP who say it makes the United States look weak. Politico

 

Russia to Give Indigenous Peoples Priority in Barents Chairmanship. More than 50 indigenous politicians and parliamentarians from Norway, Russia, Finland and Sweden gathered in Troms� this week for the Third Barents Indigenous Peoples' Congress. Sami, Nenets and Veps are the three officially recognized indigenous peoples living in the Barents Region. "This Third Barents Indigenous Peoples Congress is a tangible manifestation of this successful cooperation, which the Norwegian government wholeheartedly supports. We are therefore very pleased that the four countries of the Barents Region have now agreed to provide regular financing for the Working Group of Indigenous Peoples," State Secretary Morten H�glund of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said in his speech at the congress. Alaska Dispatch News

 

arctic shipping Arctic Ship Traffic Needs More Pollution-Reducing Measures: Report. Polluting emissions from ships in the Arctic could increase 150 to 600 per cent by 2025, finds a new research study by the International Council on Clean Transportation. That's if nothing is done to reduce the amount of sulfur in marine fuel and to tighten up on dirty emissions from vessels heading into Arctic waters. The pollutants, which include soot and carbon dioxide, are known to warm the environment and have also been linked to respiratory health issues. Nunatsiaq Online

 

Methane Seepage From Arctic Seabed Occurring for Millions of Years. Natural seepage of methane offshore the Arctic archipelago Svalbard has been occurring periodically for at least 2.7 million years. Major events of methane emissions happened at least twice during this period, according to a new study. We worry about greenhouse gas methane. It�s lifetime in the atmosphere is much shorter than CO2�s, but the impact of methane on climate change is over 20 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period. Phys.Org 

 

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

 

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday. 

 

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.

  

11th International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP 2016), June 20-24, 2016 (Potsdam, Germany). The Alfred Wegener Institute has teamed up with UP Transfer GmbH and the University of Potsdam to organize a great conference for you, permafrost researchers. The conference aims at covering all relevant aspects of permafrost research, engineering and outreach on a global and regional level.

  

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