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ICESAT-2 Cryospheric Science Hackweek, June 15-19, 2020 (Virtual).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.
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Arctic Reading for the Quarantine:
If you find yourself looking for a good read, consider boosting your Arctic knowledge with this report.
 (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, June 2020).
Mapping the Coast of Alaska: A 10-year Strategy in Support of the United States Economy, Security, and Environment. Alaska's 66,000 miles of Arctic and sub-Arctic shorelines constitute a tremendous strategic, economic, and ecological resource to the Nation. Accurate and contemporary mapping of Alaska's coastal and nearshore regions is critical to informed use of these vast resources, maritime domain awareness, safeguarding of the health and security of coastal communities, and strengthening of the Blue Economy. The November 2019 Presidential Memorandum on Ocean Mapping of the United States Exclusive Economic Zone and the Shoreline and Nearshore of Alaska calls for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the State of Alaska, and the Alaska Mapping Executive Committee (AMEC) to develop an Alaska coastal mapping strategy. The Alaska Coastal Mapping Strategy (Strategy) builds on decades of effort to modernize Alaska's geospatial infrastructure, including AMEC's creation in 2012, and envisions an Alaska that in 2030 possesses seamless coastal mapping data.
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Arctic Ocean Acidification Rises Faster Than Expected. In the 21st century, Arctic Ocean acidification has increased faster than was projected previously, climatologists from the University of Bern (Switzerland) and their French colleagues believe. They published the results of their research in the scientific journal Nature. The scientists contend that the greater acidification is caused by the ocean's uptake of large volumes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
The Arctic
 China's Ice Pathfinder Satellite Sends Back First Pictures of Arctic Region. China's first satellite dedicated to polar observation has begun sending back images from the Arctic, according to scientists working on the project. The Ice Pathfinder was launched in September and is the first of 24 probes that will form a polar observation satellite constellation. It had earlier been used to send back more than 1,000 photographs of the southern polar region, according to a report by China Science Daily.
South China Morning Post
Cotton Fibers, Microplastics Pervade Eastern Arctic, Study Finds. Chelsea Rochman wasn't surprised when her research cruise through Canada's Eastern Arctic showed tiny plastic shards and other human debris in nearly every bucket she hauled aboard. What puzzled her was the color. The answer changed the way she looks at her wardrobe. "Some of the particles that we sampled weren't microplastics," said Rochman, a University of Toronto scientist who has just published her research in the journal Facets.
CBC News
Scientists Alarmed About Siberia's Record Breaking Winter and Spring Temperatures. Scientists say that Siberia's unusually warm weather through winter and spring is "an alarming sign" - illustrating some of the most notable effects of global climate change as the world warms. In May, surface temperatures "were up to 10 degrees Celsius above average in parts of Siberia," according to research by a climate agency affiliated with the European Commission. "It is undoubtedly an alarming sign, but not only May was unusually warm in this region," says Freja Vamborg, Senior Scientist at the Copernicus Climate Change Service in a statement on Wednesday. "The whole of winter and spring had repeated periods of higher-than-average surface air temperatures."
Time
Lasers and Bubbles: Solving the Arctic's Methane Puzzle. Trudging through snow up to their thighs, researchers Nicholas Hasson and Phil Hanke pull 200 pounds of equipment through boreal terrain near Fairbanks, Alaska. Once they reach their destination - a frozen, collapsing lake - they drill through two feet of ice to access frigid water containing copious amounts of methane. Hasson lies flat on his stomach and reaches both of his arms into the subzero water. The stench of 40,000-year-old rotting vegetation floats up from the permafrost. He attempts to open the valve on a piece of equipment underneath the water's surface using his fingers, but his thick protective gloves (water would instantly freeze onto his arms, otherwise) make simple tasks challenging. Finally, he manages to collect his sample, close the valve, and put a stopper in the vial, which is now full of methane gas.
NASA Earth Expeditions
 [Canadian] Coast Guard to Limit Interaction With Nunavummiut Due to Covid-19 Risk. The Canadian Coast Guard is planning to keep interaction with Nunavummiut to a bare minimum this summer due to the threat of Covid-19. The Coast Guard has cancelled all non-essential activities such as community visits, exercises, open houses and tours of Coast Guard ships for the season.
Northern News Services
Researcher Flies to Iceland to Study Arctic Terns. A researcher who managed to fly from the UK to Iceland during lockdown has said how grateful she is to be able to continue her research. Dr Lucy Hawkes from the University of Exeter is studying the migration patterns of Arctic terns in an effort to find out why their numbers are declining.
BBC News
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Future Events
113th meeting of the US Arctic Research Commission, June 22, 2020, 9 am to noon, Alaska Time (Virtual)
. After postponing the Commission's original
 113th meeting, scheduled (for in-person participation
) for March 24, 2020 at the University of Maine, in Orono, ME, USARC has renumbered its meetings, and will now meet virtually, on June 22nd. The three-hour-long meeting will focus on commission business and on an initial discussion of the outline and content of USARC's next publication "Report on the Goals and Objectives for Arctic Research 2021-2022 for the US Arctic Research Program Plan." The part of the meeting open to the public (from 9:00 am until 10:15 am, Alaska time) will be on commission business. The remainder of the meeting will not be open to the public, because the discussions on the next goals report are pre-decisional and deliberative. Details, an agenda, and the URL link to the YouTube live broadcast of the meeting can be found here
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Arctic Science Storytelling Webinar With Film Michael Snyder, June 24, 2020 (Virtual). Great stories can change the world, and you have one to tell! Join the Migration in Harmony NSF-Research Coordination Network and our collaborator, award-winning filmmaker Mike Snyder, in this virtual workshop to learn how you should think about your research topics and experiences in the context of a story, how to develop photographer and videographer partnerships, and how to pitch your work to different outlets. The event is hosted by Migration in Harmony. Migration in Harmony: An Interdisciplinary Network in Littoral Species, Settlements, and Cultures on the Move (MiH-RCN) is 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.
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.
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.
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