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Large-scale Volcanism in the Arctic: The Role of the Mantle and Tectonics, October 13-18, 2019 (Selfoss, Iceland). The American Geophysical Union (AGU) Chapman Conference will focus on the diversity of Arctic magmatism and tectonics from the Paleozoic to present-day. The conveners are Owen Anfinson, Bernard Coakley, Carmen Gaina, and Grace Shephard. The program will focus on five themes including: Theme I: pre-breakup and rifting; Theme II: seafloor spreading; Theme III: mantle-derived heterogeneity (including plumes and large-igneous provinces); Theme IV: subduction related volcanism, and, Theme V: HALIP and environmental effects.
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Can Tiny Glass Beads Keep Arctic Ice From Melting? Maaaybe. Arctic sea ice acts as a massive parasol for the planet, its white surface reflecting the sun's rays back into space and keeping the air and ocean cool across the top of the globe. As the atmosphere warms, however, that ice has shrunk to historically low levels, according to satellite data. What if you could rev up the Arctic ice maker and build new layers of sea ice to counteract the warming effects of climate change? A group of Bay Area scientists and engineers say they have just such a solution: A thin layer of tiny glass beads that, when spread across the ice, would boost its surface reflectivity, start a slight Arctic cooling trend, and overall create more ice.
WIRED
 Wilson Center Entrusted With Critical Arctic Documents from Guggenheim Partners. The Wilson Center announced today that as part of a newly formed partnership with Guggenheim Partners, Guggenheim's Arctic Infrastructure Inventory would be transferred to the Wilson Center and managed by the Center's Polar Institute. The Wilson Center's Polar Institute raises awareness about critical issues facing the Polar regions by fostering research, dialogue, and programmatic activity on Arctic and Antarctic issues.
Wilson Center
The Swiss Arctic Policy Draw Parallels Between the High Altitude of the Alps and the Arctic. Switzerland boasts several centuries of experience with exploration and scientific ventures in the Arctic. It is partially on this legacy, and partially on the commonalities between Arctic and Alpine countries, that Berne has elaborated an Arctic policy. In a plenary session at the recent Arctic Circle Assembly in Iceland, the Head of the Sectoral Foreign Policies Division, Ambassador Stefan Estermann, outlined the broad strokes of the Swiss approach.
High North News
 Russia's Thawing Permafrost May Cost Economy $2.3 Billion a Year. Russia plans to pay more attention to the impact climate change is having on its vast permafrost area. Thawing of once permanently frozen ground covering more than half of Russia is putting buildings, pipelines and other infrastructure at risk of damage. With the Arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, that's a big problem. The economic loss is 50 billion to 150 billion rubles ($2.3 billion) a year, said Alexander Krutikov, deputy minister for the Far East and Arctic development.
Bloomberg
Believes the EU's New Arctic Strategy Will Include More Security and Geo-Economics. Marie-Anne Coninsx has been the EU's Ambassador at Large for the Arctic since 2017 and is to leave office in just a few weeks. It will thus be her successor who gets the main responsibility for following up the updating of the EU's Arctic Strategy. Coninsx, who will remembered as an engaged, interested and most present Ambassador, nevertheless has clear expectations as to what the new strategy should contain.
High North News
 NOAA Issues Its 2019 Winter Outlook. Read How Alaska Fares. Alaska is forecast to see warmer than average temperatures this winter according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's Climate Prediction Center. The agency issues long term forecasts, this 2019 Winter Outlook covers December, January and February. The outlook notes the greatest chance of warmer-than-normal conditions are in Alaska and Hawaii, with more modest probabilities for above-average temperatures spanning large parts of the Lower 48.
KTUU
Mercury Reallocation in Arctic Circle Causes Environmental Problems. Scientists from the University of New Hampshire have found that this process can lead to a significant conversion of the mercury into more mobile and potentially harmful forms, thereby leading to environmental problems and health concerns for the fishing industry, wildlife, and people in the Arctic and beyond. In a study recently reported in Geochemical Perspectives Letters, researchers investigated mercury reallocation-the movement from already frozen soils into the surrounding areas-north of the Arctic Circle in Abisko, Sweden.
AZO CleanTech
 Russia's Chukotka and America's Alaska Are an Era Apart. It is easy to forget-if you ever knew-that Russia and the United States are less than three miles apart, across the icy waters of the Bering Strait (see map). From America's Little Diomede Island, which is indeed very little, you can cheerily wave or glower, depending on your attitude, at Russia's Big Diomede Island. Little Diomede has a hundred Alaskans on it, mainly Inuit; Big Diomede has a few military installations and some transient Russian soldiers. The two countries' mainlands are only 55 miles (89km) apart at their closest. Far-sighted or foggy-minded engineers have long fantasised about building a connecting tunnel that would be only twice the length of the one that links England and France.
The Economist
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Future Events
** New this week **
Alaska Board of Fisheries Meeting: Work Session, October 23-24, 2019 (Anchorage, Alaska USA). This event will include a presentation on ocean acidification in Alaska-- Ocean Acidification in Alaska - Hear the latest on ocean acidification in Alaska including current and future conditions and species response. Bring your questions! The presentation also includes a new project on pink salmon response in Alaska and exploring potential management and economic implications. Organizers welcome input and participation from the fishing community.
Narwhal: A Tusk with a Twist, October 28, 2019 (Washington, DC USA). After over a dozen years chasing the elusive and mysterious Narwhal in its Arctic habitat, conducting laboratory analysis, and applying a traditional study of Inuit and Greenlandic culture, Martin Nweeia, a dentist in Connecticut and lecturer at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and assistant professor at Case School of Dental Medicine, solved one of science's greatest riddles: the function of the narwhal's unicorn-like tusk. Join the National Museum of Natural History as Nweeia reveals his findings and what we can learn about the evolutionary history of the narwhal and its tooth, and asks us to consider adaptation of northern regions, animals, and peoples in a rapidly warming Arctic.
Greenland Science Week, December 1-5, 2019 (Nuuk, Greenland).
Greenland Science Week builds bridges between science and the Greenlandic society, business community and government, and creates a networking and cooperation platform for the Greenlandic and international science community around research in the Arctic.
ASM2019 Annual Scientific Meeting, December 2-5, 2019 (Halifax, NS Canada). Canada's North is experiencing unprecedented change in its sea and terrestrial ice, permafrost and ecosystems under the triple pressures of climate change, industrialization and modernization. The impacts of these pressures can be seen on food and energy security, shipping, sovereignty, northern community health and well-being, and sustainable development and resource exploitation. All these issues have brought the North to the forefront of national and international agendas.
With a focus on networking events, this gathering of
leading Arctic researchers, graduate students, Northern community representatives, government and industry partners and stakeholders from all field
s will provide all with
valuable connections where innovative ideas and initiatives
can
develop
in
support of health
and sound
governance in the Arctic.
Greenland Science Week, December 2-5, 2019 (Nuuk, Greenland). The Arctic research conference, Polar Research Day, will be held in Nuuk on December 4, 2019. Alongside the one-day conference, several additional science events are planned and organized, so that the conference, a public outreach day, themed workshops, seminars and networking activities will be part of Greenland Science Week. The event will include opportunities to meet and network with a broad range of researchers, business community, government employees and society in an Arctic context, and the organizers anticipate participants from all disciplines in discussions of Arctic science in relation to Greenland. Greenland Science Week is organized by Ilisimatusarfik, AAU Arctic, Sermersooq Municipality and Greenland Perspective.
ISAR-6: Arctic Research: the Decade Past and the Decade Future, March 2-6, 2020 (Tokyo, Japan). Rapid changes are taking place in the Arctic that impact regional human and natural systems, and affect the global environment. The International Symposium on Arctic Research (ISAR) will meet for the sixth time since its first symposium in 2008 to identify changes in the Arctic environment and society, and to discuss possible future sustainable development. The hosts invite all researchers with interests in the Arctic to participate in this multidisciplinary symposium and share their insights, their challenges, and to explore the possible futures of the Arctic.
Arctic Science Summit Week and the 5th Arctic Observing Summit. March 27 to April 2, 2020, (Akureyri, Iceland).
The Arctic Observing Summit (AOS) is a high-level biennial summit that provides a platform to address urgent and broadly recognized needs of Arctic observing across all components of the Arctic system. The theme of AOS 2020 is Observing for Action. AOS 2020 will be held in Akureyri, Iceland (March 31-April 2) and will focus on pressing issues related to the use, design, optimization and implementation of the observing system. To that end, submissions in the form of white papers, short statements and poster abstracts are requested that address any and all aspects of the overarching theme and sub-themes. Currently seeking submissions to the AOS. See link for additional information.
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