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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.
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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 unwind 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.
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Many Canadian Arctic Communities are Vulnerable to the Social Impacts of COVID-19 Crisis. "Intimate partner violence is seven times higher in Canada's north than national rates," says Dr. Pertice Moffitt, manager and instructor, Health Research Programs at the Aurora College in Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories (NWT). Moffitt is also a co-investigator on the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative for Vulnerable Populations 2015-2020, which explores the unique needs of indigenous, immigrant, refugee, rural, remote and northern communities and children exposed to domestic violence.
High North News
 Bacteria Capable of Cleaning Up Oil-Contaminated Soil Discovered in the Arctic. Scientists have discovered bacteria which can serve as the basis for a preparation to clean up oil-contaminated soil under temperatures of 2 to 6°С. These micro-organisms can be used to produce bio-products to remediate soil contaminated with petroleum products in the Arctic. "Since the amount of oil pollution may be immense and the soil self-cleaning process takes a long time, the biotechnology methods of soil remediation which we are studying in Franz Josef Land are exceptionally important," said Dmitry Kryukov, head of the Clean Arctic comprehensive scientific project.
The Arctic
 Persistent Cloudless Skies Helped Fuel Exceptional Greenland Ice Melt. The Greenland ice sheet saw some of its highest melt rates on record last summer. Now, scientists say they know why it happened. It's not only that temperatures were warm in the Arctic. An unusual set of atmospheric conditions, which altered the movement of air and the formation of clouds over Greenland, was a primary driver of the melting ice. These conditions may be linked to climate change in the Arctic, the researchers note.
Scientific American
Unusual Weather Leads to Ozone Low Over the Arctic. In 2020, ozone concentrations above the Arctic reached a record low for the month of March. In an analysis of satellite observations, scientists found that stratospheric ozone levels reached their lowest point-205 Dobson Units-on March 12, 2020. For comparison, the lowest ozone value observed over the Arctic in a typical March is at least 240 Dobson Units. While such low levels are unusual, they are not unprecedented in four decades of observations. Similar low ozone levels occurred in the Arctic stratosphere in 1997 and 2011. Such "low" levels for the Arctic are still nearly double the levels found in
Antarctic ozone holes.
NASA Earth Observatory
New Arctic Terminal Will Be Built Twice as Big as Planned. The Russian federal government this week approved an adjusted financial scheme for the grand industry and infrastructure project on the coast of far northern Gydan Peninsula. The changes, that have been lobbied by project operator Novatek, include an increase in total investments to 164.1 billion rubles (€2 billion), up 14 percent from the original schedule.
The Barents Observer
Join a research coordination network. We invite
traditional knowledge holders, natural and social scientists, engineers,  students, economists, health professionals, cultural heritage workers, and educators to join our new, free network titled "
Migration in Harmony" created by support from the National Science Foundation.
Migration in Harmony: An Interdisciplinary Network on Coastal Species, Settlements, and Cultures on the Move (MiH-RCN) is an international initiative to synthesize current research and build collaborative project teams to support a resilient, just, and sustainable Arctic. We (Georgetown Univ., Univ. Alaska Anchorage, and The Arctic Institute) strive to nurture a sense of community within the network by providing education, training, and exchange opportunities for all members. Network membership includes a monthly newsletter with member news, exclusive publications and research, and travel opportunities to annual meetings. Join
here
.
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Future Events
** New this week **
Ground Truth Briefing: Policy and Action on Plastic Pollution in the Arctic Ocean, April 23, 2020 (Teleconference). The Wilson Center's Polar Institute and the Harvard Kennedy School's Arctic Initiative recently released a report entitled "Policy and Action on Plastic Pollution in the Arctic Ocean." This report describes the nature of challenges posed by Arctic marine plastic pollution and provides targeted recommendations to policymakers and researchers; it is based on a workshop the two organizations co-hosted with the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Arctic Council. Ambassador David Balton, Brittany Janis, Halla Hrund Logadóttir, and Marisol Maddox will discuss the report, the challenges of Arctic marine plastic pollution, and recommendations to combat plastic pollution in the Arctic Ocean.
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.
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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