Arctic Update Header
April 15, 2020


** Updated **   North x North Festival + Critical Futures, April 13-19, 2020 (Anchorage, Alaska USA).   N orth x North is  postponed until the fall .  Additional information will be available soon.
Arctic Reading for the Quarantine:


Newly shared reports this week.

(ICC Alaska) Alaskan Inuit Food Security Conceptual Framework: How to assess the Arctic from an Inuit Perspective, 2015. Drastic changes are occurring within our world. We are on the forefront of these changes. We have lived here for millennia and have grown and changed with all that is around us. All that is around us physically and spiritually nourishes us, and our culture reflects the Arctic because we are part of this ecosystem. With these rapid changes comes the need for holistic information based on Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and science. With this understanding, we brought our concerns regarding the impact of Arctic changes on our food security to forums throughout the Arctic.

(Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment) Arctic Ship Traffic Data, February 2019. PAME's Arctic Ship Traffic Data (ASTD) project was developed in response to a growing need to collect and distribute accurate, reliable, and up-to-date information on shipping activities in the Arctic. The ASTD System was launched in February 2019.
News From the Frontlines of Arctic Research:


The ship is rumbling.  Extremely loudly. The rumbling is punctuated by a sound like two pieces of Styrofoam rubbing together.  Then there is scraping...screech! We are in the middle of a ridge that is building and the ice is moving along the side of the ship.  We are "pinched".  We are not breaking ice; it is breaking around us.  We had been sitting in a big lead but now the lead has collapsed, with the two sides crashing together and forming a ridge.  It started, driven not by wind but by ocean currents.  Today the wind has picked up and it continues.  So strange to hear the sound of ice breaking on a stationary ship!


 
The middle-end of March had some particularly dynamic ice conditions, with a great rearrangement of the puzzle pieces surrounding our central ice floe on which many of the on-ice facilities are based.  In recent days, things have settled down around us, although we still see some cracks in the ice floes.  Power lines have been re-established to the peripheral "cities" and to the facilities on the central ice floe, including Ocean City where we now do our net tows.  No more generators!  Not only are they a constant source of work, being very thirsty, but they also provide less electricity than the power lines and thus constant juggling of the instruments and equipment that can be used at any one time. We are all very happy that we have been able to re-connect to reliable "shore" power (for the moment, the ice could change that situation for us at any time). 
 
With the reduced storminess in the last week has come some very beautiful sunny days, with blue skies and sparkling snow.  The temperatures remain very "Arctic", often hovering in the low -20s (e.g., -29C) for most of the day Because of the cold, the snow is not melting on the ice but remains intact and is still a clean sparkling white.
 
Each day seems to go past very quickly.  Our schedules are, as usual, punctuated by the meals.  Breakfast followed by two hours of work on the ice or on the ship, then lunch at 11:30, then work again from 13:00 until the end of the on-ice work day at 17:30.  Evenings are filled with meetings and more lab work.  And then after 10 PM, sometimes relaxing in the Red Salon to undwind before bed.
 
Working at Ocean City, through a hole in the ice, is going well. Serdar and I pack up our stuff on sleds and trudge out across the ice floe, along "roads" marked by flags, to the Ocean City tent.  We are using a smaller diameter net because Ocean City is very crowded.  We collect the samples and put them in largish jars and then transport them back to the ship in a cooler.  Once on board the ship, we make sure the zooplankton are "happy" in their jars and, after cleaning up the nets, we go through the samples hunting for amphipods and other large macrofaunal. I pick a bunch of copepods for different assays such as the carbon and nitrogen content or the digestive enzyme activity.  I also select some out for experiments to measure their respiration (amount of oxygen they consume), egg production (how many eggs they produce per day), and grazing (how much and what they eat).  I do this work in the "cold room" - a lab container that is maintained near 0 deg. C. I also work under red light, since it is still quite dark under the ice and we don't want to shock the copepods with unnatural light conditions.  The copepods are quite beautiful and can be tricky to catch with my pipette, as many of them are rather energetic and frisky. 
 
This past weekend we celebrated Easter on board the ship, with four days of special events and meals. On Friday night, some of us gathered in the Blue Salon to listen to Bach's Matthew's Passion.  Saturday night we went out on the ice to enjoy fires that were lit in barrels sunk into the ice.  On Sunday, we had a roast lamb lunch and a relaxed day. The weather was gorgeous and clear.  Twenty-five of us went on a 5 km hike out across the floe.  Sunday night we had a barbecue, with the entire ship's complement gathering in a large lab with table set up. Each person could select their items to barbecue and then go outside, into the -28C weather, to grill over large charcoal grills set up on the deck. After dinner, we had dancing with some people staying up until the wee hours of the morning.  The relaxation continued on Monday, with a morning off and a lunch of roast venison.  Finally, Monday night dinner saw some special treats on the cold buffet including a whole poached salmon and a leg of cured ham from which each person could take slices.  Now, we are back into the regular swing of our work week.
 
Walking across the ice floe on Sunday was beautiful and interesting. There were three general types of snow/ice underfoot:  The deeper snow, which was somewhat soft and hard to walk in, the very hard packed snow on which our footprints barely showed, and the slightly less consolidated snow on which our feet sunk in about an inch, requiring a bit of effort to pull each foot up to take the next step. The snow all sounded different when we walked on it. Some of it crunched but some of it made a ringing sound as we walked across.  
 
I understand it was a bit of a different Easter for you all.  I am thinking of you all and the new reality of life back home. It is hard to fathom.  I hope you are all doing OK.
Media

Mary Jane Fate, Who Stove to Improve Life for Alaska Natives, Dies. Mary Jane Fate, an Athabascan elder who dedicated her life to advocating for the health and equity of Alaska Natives, died Friday at the Denali Center at age 87 in the company of her husband of 65 years, former state Rep. Hugh "Bud" Fate. Fate's accomplishments are too numerous to comprehensively list. Among them are co-founding the Breast Cancer Detection Center of Alaska in Fairbanks, co-founding the Fairbanks Native Association, becoming the first female co-chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives, and becoming the first woman to serve on the board of Alaska Airlines. Fate was also a commissioner of the US Arctic Research Commission. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
 
ocean.jpg Texas A&M Scientists Find Trace Elements Increasing in Rapidly Changing Arctic Ocean. Significant quantities of carbon and trace elements are flowing across the central Arctic Ocean under the sea ice via freshwater runoff from rivers and continental shelf sediments, according to a new study. by an international team of ocean scientists. "This research is critical to understanding the current and future health of the Arctic Ocean, which is warming faster than much of the rest of the planet," said Jessica Fitzsimmons, a co-author of the study and assistant professor in the Department of Oceanography at Texas A&M University. Texas A&M Today  
 
Watermelons in the Arctic: A New Scientific Experiment. Scientists of the Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR, St. Petersburg) at a polar station will grow watermelons and melons, adapted for the Arctic, the institute's Director Elena Khlestkina said at TASS press center. "There (at the polar station - TASS) we continue experiments to grow melons, and this year we shall plant the varieties, made at our southern (Kuban) station," she said. "These varieties are known to grow fast and to have compact forms." TASS
 
Russian Arctic National Park Presents Virtual Tour of Tikhaya Bay. Those self-isolating at home can take a virtual tour of the historic Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island, Franz Josef Land. Russian Arctic National Park has presented a panoramic walk around one of its most remote areas. "Due to the current epidemiological situation and the threat of the spread of the novel coronavirus infection in Russia, most people throughout the country are currently isolated from the outside world. In order to help people spend their free time productively, many museums and world galleries have opened their virtual doors. The Arctic
 
flowers2.jpg Study Clarifies the Slow Nutrient Cycling in Arctic Soils. Researchers from Umeå University, Germany and Finland discover novel mechanism clarifying the slow nutrient cycling in Arctic soils. Absence of earthworms can explain why Arctic plants are starving for nitrogen. The study is published today in Nature Communications. Nutrients release from plant litter and nutrient turnover in Arctic soils proceeds very slowly and largely constrains tundra plant growth. Phys.org
 
'Zombie' Viruses: Can They Escape the Thawing Arctic? The Arctic is full of frozen viruses and bacteria. They've been found in everything from glaciers to permafrost, and often in the icy corpses of their buried victims. Most are thought to be harmless to humans. But some experts suggest that "zombie" pathogens are lurking in the ice, waiting to be set free by rising temperatures. E&E News
Future Events
 
** Updated **  The 7th Annual Arctic Encounter, April 16-17, 2020 (Seattle, WA USA).  The Arctic Encounter has been postponed. More information may be available at the link soon.

NOAA Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program Webinar Series, April 16, 2020 (Webinar). Deep-sea coral and sponge communities in the Aleutian Islands are important habitat features for many life stages of commercially important fish targets, including Atka mackerel, Pacific cod, and rockfish. The effects of commercial fishing activities on deep-sea corals and sponges has been difficult to quantify due to a lack of spatially-explicit fishery data, bottom contact by different gear types, undetermined location of corals and sponges, and the susceptibility and recovery dynamics these structure-forming invertebrates (SFI). To address these challenges, a fishing effects model was developed in the North Pacific to integrate spatially explicit VMS data with target-specific gear configurations for over 40,000 bottom trawls since 2003. Fishery observer coverage for Aleutian Island trawl fisheries is nearly 100 percent and records catch species composition. Species distribution models provide presence data for coral, sponge, Primnoidae, and Stylasteridae.

** New this week ** Coastal Resilience in Alaska: Programs and Policies Helping Communities Adapt in the Nation's Fastest-Warming State, April 21, 2020 (webinar). This webinar will include a briefing on scientific developments and policy initiatives helping protect Alaskan ecosystems and communities from erosion, sea level rise, and other coastal hazards.  The event is hosted by The Environmental and Energy Study Institute.

** New this week ** Year 6 Annual Arctic Domain Awareness Center (ADAC) Meeting: Securing S&T Success for the Coming Arctic, May 14, 2020 (Virtual meeting).  The ADAC meeting will include reflections by Admiral Karl Schultz and is expected to include: an updated Project Video (which explains the project research and application); a pdf copy of the Project Investigator's Powerpoint presentation; and, a short video of the Project Investigator discussing/presenting the associated Powerpoint viewgraphs.

ICESAT-2 Cryospheric Science Hackweek, June 15-19, 2020 (Seattle, Washington  USA). ICESat-2 Cryospheric Science Hackweek is a 5-day hackweek to be held at the University of Washington. Participants will learn about technologies used to access and process ICESat-2 data with a focus on the cryosphere. Mornings will consist of interactive lectures, and afternoon sessions will involve facilitated exploration of datasets and hands-on software development.

Arctic Circle Assembly, October 8-11, 2020 (Reykjavi­k, Iceland). The annual Arctic Circle Assembly is the largest annual international gathering on the Arctic, attended by more than 2000 participants from 60 countries. It 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. 

3rd Arctic Science Ministerial, November 21-22, 2020 (Toyko, Japan). Since the last Arctic Science Ministerial in 2018, changes in the Arctic ecosystem and the resulting impacts locally and globally have been severely felt. While the reasons for these changes in climate largely stem from activities outside of the Arctic, the Arctic is warming at a rate of nearly double the global average. Considering the need for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and repair measures, the relevance of an international Arctic Science Ministerial has never been greater. It is necessary to strengthen scientific cooperation and collaboration among both Arctic and non-Arctic States in order to develop our understanding of the rapid changes impacting the Arctic. The First Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM1) was hosted by the United States in 2016, and two years later, the Second Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM2) was co-hosted by Germany, Finland, and the European Commission. The Third Arctic Science Ministerial will be co-hosted by Iceland and Japan.

AGU Fall Meeting, December 7-11, 2020 (San Francisco, California USA). Fall Meeting is the largest gathering of Earth and space scientists in the world. More information will be available at the link.

Arctic Science Summit Week, March 20-26, 2021 (Lisbon, Portugal). The Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Local Organizing Committee will host the Arctic Science Summit Week 2021. The Conference is organized by FCT, Ciência Viva, AIR Center, the Portuguese Arctic Community and by IASC and partners. Framed by the overarching theme for the Science Conference "The Arctic: Regional Changes, Global Impacts," Lisbon invites International experts on the Arctic and Indigenous Peoples to discuss the "New Arctic" and also its impacts and interactions to and with the lower latitudes.

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