Ice-Locked Arctic Science Expedition Faces Challenges After Team Member Tests Positive for COVID-19. An individual involved with an international expedition to study the effects of climate change in the Arctic has tested positive for the coronavirus, in a development that could interrupt this important science mission. A team member of the expedition known as MOSAiC has tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in the quarantining of 20 other team members, reports Nature News. None of these individuals are currently stationed in the Arctic, but their absence is expected to disrupt the aerial component of the research, as all affected members are from the airborne component of the mission. Gizmodo

 

[Russia] Arctic Tectonics: Russia's Right to the Arctic Shelf Reaffirmed. The circumpolar countries have differing opinions on the borders of the Polar Ocean shelf. Russia filed a claim with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf back in 2001. However, serious geophysical and geological research is required to prove which part of the Arctic sea bottom is an extension of the continent. Russian scientists are currently researching this issue. Another stage of the research resulted in an article published in Geotectonics, which describes the results of modeling the evolutionary periods of the Arctic region since the late Cretaceous until today (the last 100 million years) based on the modern concept of tectonic plates. The Arctic

 

Arctic Tundra is 80 Percent Permafrost. What Happens When It Thaws? Canadian scientist Philip Marsh and I were flying along the coast of the Beaufort Sea, where the frozen tundra had recently opened up into a crater the size of a football stadium. Located along the shoreline of an unnamed lake, the so-called thaw slump was gray, muddy, and barren, in sharp contrast to the brilliant russet and gold of the surrounding autumn tundra. These retrogressive thaw slumps, or landslides - formed as warming temperatures rapidly thaw permafrost - are increasing across the Arctic, including the kilometer-long, 100-meter-deep Batagaika Crater in the Yana River Basin of Siberia. The Narwhal

Arctic Scientists on a 24-Hour 'Night Shift' to Measure Effects of Light Pollution. Marine scientists have used the cover of darkness to expose how 'light pollution' is affecting creatures in the Arctic Ocean. Working during the depths of the constantly dark Arctic winter in January 2018, a team of Norwegian and UK researchers used a novel strategy of switching off every source of light, plunging themselves into complete darkness, to examine the marine biology of the polar north. Phys.org

 

NOAA Job Opportunity: Arctic Program Director. NOAA is seeking a physical scientist to serve as the Arctic Research Program Director, providing leadership, management oversight, direction, and overall day-to-day management for NOAA's Arctic Research Program (ARP). ARP provides support for carrying out a research program to develop, maintain and extend Arctic observing systems targeting the ocean, marine, and sea-ice environments. The Arctic Research Program Director develops the strategic vision and other planning and budget documents and presentations to guide the program in consultation with the GOMO Director; proposes, defends and manages the program budget; and monitors the performance of the ARP. She/he conducts long-range planning and sets goals and priorities; guides staff, and ensures effective, timely and economical accomplishment of program objectives. She/he contributes leadership for Arctic research within OAR and represents OAR and NOAA at scientific, intra- and inter agency, and international meetings. USAJobs