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No Arctic-science events are scheduled for today.
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Media
 Arctic Ice Sets Speed Limit for Major Ocean Current. The Beaufort Gyre is an enormous, 600-mile-wide pool of swirling cold, fresh water in the Arctic Ocean, just north of Alaska and Canada. In the winter, this current is covered by a thick cap of ice. Each summer, as the ice melts away, the exposed gyre gathers up sea ice and river runoff, and draws it down to create a huge reservoir of frigid fresh water, equal to the volume of all the Great Lakes combined. Scientists at MIT have now identified a key mechanism, which they call the "ice-ocean governor," that controls how fast the Beaufort Gyre spins and how much fresh water it stores. In a paper published today in Geophysical Research Letters, the researchers report that the Arctic's ice cover essentially sets a speed limit on the gyre's spin.
MIT News
In the Arctic, Increased Vessel Traffic Brings Concerns Over Pollution. While some of the vessels, which are led by large cargo ships, tugboats, and research ships, provide important services for people, science, and commerce, they also present serious and growing challenges, especially given that the traffic is forecast to continue increasing. The health of this marine environment is inextricably connected to the way of life and cultural well-being of the region's Indigenous peoples. The Bering Sea area has been an ecological, cultural, and economic center for Yup'ik, Cup'ik, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, and Inupiaq peoples for millennia. The northern Bering Sea also supports local commercial fisheries for herring, crab, halibut, and salmon.
The Pew Charitable Trusts
 Trump Picks Founders Fund's Ken Howery as Ambassador to Sweden. President Donald Trump announced plans Tuesday to nominate Founders Fund partner and PayPal co-founder Ken Howery as U.S. ambassador to Sweden, the White House said in a statement. Howery was PayPal Holdings Inc's first chief financial officer and started Founders Fund, a San-Francisco-based venture capital firm, with former PayPal chief executive officer Peter Thiel. Thiel was a member of Trump's transition team and has been a vocal supporter and financial backer of the president.
Bloomberg
Report Says Mercury, PCBs Still Threaten Arctic; New Chemicals Emerging. A new summary of toxins in the Arctic shows old-fashioned contaminants such as mercury continue to threaten polar bears and whales. But new threats -- both chemical and climatic -- are emerging, says the report done for the eight nations that ring the North Pole.
CTV News
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Future Events
Arctic Circle Assembly, October 19-21, 2018 (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.
** New this week **
Towards a Roadmap for Coordinated Arctic Observing, October 24, 2018 (Berlin, Germany). The side event is a follow up to the Arctic Observing Summit held in June 2018. The theme for the AOS was "Business Case for a Pan-Arctic Observing System." The first part of the session will demonstrate the value of Arctic observations, linking these to relevant Societal Benefit Areas. The second part will show how Arctic long-term observing systems are linked to and support decision-making from local to global scales. In the summing up panel, calls to action to the Arctic Science Ministerial will be formulated. This event is convened by the Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) initiative of the Arctic Council, the European Commission, and the Arctic Observing Summit (AOS), an activity jointly overseen by SAON and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC).
Arctic Science Forum Associated with the 2nd Arctic Science Ministerial, October 25, 2018 (Berlin, Germany and via webcast).
How vulnerable and how resilient are nature and the people of the Arctic region? How well do we understand the regional and global dynamics which are driving change in the Arctic? What impact will change in the Arctic have on us? These and other questions are the focus of this two-day conference. It will take interdisciplinary research in the Arctic to gain an understanding of past and future processes - a complex and cost-intensive venture. This makes an international network of Arctic research so important for delivering better results. Cooperation in research, the exchange of data, collaborative observation and monitoring schemes - international cooperation is imperative in research on the Arctic.
Only the Science Forum, on October 25th, will be webcast. The Arctic Ministerial, on October 26th, will NOT be webcast.
aim of this Government of Canada and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador supported international conference is to promote stakeholder collaboration, technological innovation, harsh environment research & development, and world-class education efforts that are contributing to both Maritime and Arctic issues. This two day conference will draw a diverse group of speakers and attendees representing government, military, Canadian and U.S. Coast Guard, industry, academic leaders, Northern Leaders, research and other key stakeholders. We hope you can join us to be a part of this important dialogue
American Geophysical Union Fall meeting, December 10-14, 2018 (Washington, DC USA). The AGU 2018 Fall Meeting will mark another dynamic year of discovery in Earth and space science, serve as the advent of AGU's Centennial year, and provide a special opportunity to share our science with world
 leaders in Washington, D.C. As the largest Earth and space science gathering in the world, the Fall Meeting places you in the center of a global community of scientists drawn from myriad fields of study whose work protects the health and welfare of people worldwide, spurs innovation, and informs decisions that are critical to the sustainability of the Earth.
ArcticNet: Annual Scientific Meeting 2018, December 10-14, 2018 (Ottawa, ON 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. Building on the success of its previous Annual Scientific Meetings and International Arctic Change Conferences, the Arctic Network of Centers of Excellence announces the 14th ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting.
Arcti
c F
ron
tiers, January 20-25, 2019 (Tromso, Norway)
. The Arctic Frontiers
is a global scientific conference on economic, societal, and environmental sustainable growth.
This year's theme will be "Smart Arctic," with a pan-arctic emphasis, and an effort to build new partnerships across nations, generations and ethnic groups. Arctic Frontiers provides a forum for dialogue and communication between science, government and industry
. The plenary program will have five main sessions: State of the Arctic, Blue Growth, Smart Solutions, Bridging the Gap, and Arctic business prospects. An abstract-driven science program will address Plastics in the Ocean, the Future of Governance and Handling Vulnerability in Arctic Ecosystems, State of the Arctic and A Smart Arctic Future.
 of the AAG includes over 8,500 geographers converging from the U.S., Canada, and nearly 60 other countries in a typical year including geographers, GIS specialists, environmental scientists, and other leaders for the latest in research and applications in geography, sustainability, and GIScience.
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must-attend event to gain a wide perspective on challenges, opportunities and policies related to the Arctic and North Atlantic maritime environments. The