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Panel: NATO Needs to take Russian Offensive, Defensive Advances in Arctic Seriously. Russia's massive 70-warship Ocean Shield exercise in the Baltic Sea last year signaled the Kremlin's intention to be the dominating Arctic power militarily and economically, two international security experts said Tuesday. "The complexity of exercises has expanded significantly over the last twelve years" as Moscow has pushed conventional and nuclear military modernization programs forward to assert its dominance regionally, Katarzyna Zysk, head of the Centre for Security Policy at Norway's Institute of Defense Studies, said in a Center for Strategic and International Studies online forum on June 30.
USNI News
 Vilfand: High Temperatures Cause Arctic Forest Fires. Frequent and stable anti-cyclones are causing large-scale forest fires in the Russian Arctic, Canada and also Alaska. "During the second half of the 20th century, meteorologists seldom predicted fire hazards in areas of the Arctic. So, why are they reporting fires today? Temperatures are very high, and the forests are on fire all over the Arctic. Air circulation trends are changing, and meridional processes are becoming more frequent; this leads to the formation of stationary anti-cyclones," Roman Vilfand, Scientific Director of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia, said.
The Arctic
 Arctic Plants May Not Provide Predicted Carbon Sequestration Potential. The environmental benefits of taller, shrubbier tundra plants in the Arctic may be overstated, according to new research involving the University of Stirling. Current ecosystem and climate models suggest that, as the Arctic warms, tundra ecosystems are becoming more productive, with greater photosynthesis resulting in more carbon being removed, or sequestered, from the atmosphere.
University of Stirling
This is What Ocean Acidification is Doing to Creatures in the Arctic. As we emit more and more carbon dioxide, the effects are being felt not just above ground, but also underwater. Ocean acidification is often regarded as the unseen twin of climate warming. It's unseen because we humans don't spend much of our time underwater, but for the creatures that do, it's a catastrophe.
ZME Science
 Call for Nominations: Arctic Icebreaker Coordinating Committee (AICC). The Arctic Icebreaker Coordinating Committee (AICC), a committee of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), serves a liaison function by providing oversight and advice to the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs and to U.S. research icebreaker operators, for the purpose of enhancing scientific facilities and capabilities aboard U.S. research icebreakers, primarily the USCGC Healy (operator: United States Coast Guard) and the RV Sikuliaq (operator: University of Alaska Fairbanks). The AICC solicits, synthesizes, and presents the needs of the Arctic science community to the icebreaker operators and to the NSF, fulfilling an ombudsman role when necessary and facilitating the efficient and effective execution of scientific research by U.S. icebreakers.
University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System
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Future Events
Webinar: Understanding Arctic Disaster Risk and Response, July 15, 2020 (Virtual). Arctic environmental change is creating new hazards, and is shifting how we understand and plan for challenges, from disasters to military strategies. Traditional methods to assess risks may underestimate impacts, particularly when geophysical and ecological changes undermine resilience and adaptability, and when external shocks, like COVID-19, stress systems. Dr. Chad Briggs, a Professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, will explore tools to develop Arctic risk scenarios, and will discuss security simulations of disaster response in Alaska during the current pandemic. The event is hosted by Migration in Harmony: An Interdisciplinary Network in Littoral Species, Settlements, and Cultures on the Move (MiH-RCN), an international, cross-disciplinary network of Arctic migration researchers funded by the National Science Foundation.
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.
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.
Save the Date: 2nd Symposium on Polar Microbes and Viruses, May 3-6, 2021 (Hanko, Finland). Organizers announce, that due to the coronavirus outbreak, the 2nd Symposium on Polar Microbes and Viruses has been postponed to 2021. This symposium will bring together molecular microbial ecologists specializing in different organism groups to share our latest results and discuss methodological problems, as well as future prospects in the field, including practical international collaborations. The environmental focus will be on cryospheric environments including sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets, and permafrost, but excellent research in other polar environments is also invited. The methods to be discussed will focus on 'omics' techniques, ranging from single cells to metagenomes, but research using additional methods is encouraged as well.
update on schedule...
3rd Arctic Science Ministerial, May 8-9, 2021 (Toyko, Japan).
The Japanese and Icelandic organizers of this ministerial continue to plan for an in-person ministerial, in Tokyo, but have moved the dates from November 21-22, 2020 to May 8-9, 2021 because of Covid-19. Since the last Arctic Science Ministerial in 2018, changes in the Arctic ecosystem and the resulting impacts locally and globally have been severely felt. 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. ASM3 will be co-hosted by Iceland and Japan.
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