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August 1, 2017

No Arctic science events are scheduled for today.
Media   
 
Forget That Big Iceberg-A Smaller One in the Arctic is More Troubling. The world saw headlines about one of the largest icebergs ever calved a few weeks ago. But a smaller one on the other end of the globe might have bigger consequences. The chunk of ice, which broke free in the Arctic last week, is more worrisome to climate scientists who are watching one of Earth's largest glaciers shed pieces in a way that stands to raise sea levels. Compared with the Delaware-sized iceberg that split off of West Antarctica earlier this month, this one is almost paltry - the size of three Manhattans or so. Scientific American
 
Russian Scientists Rate Arctic Professions. Murmansk scientists published a rating of professions, which will be of demand in the Arctic region from 2018 through to 2022, press service of the region's government said on Tuesday. "They have classified most demanded specialties into ten groups," the press service said. "They were chosen in reference to activities and investment projects in the Arctic, due between 2018 and 2022." TASS
 
Loss of Arctic Sea Ice Impacting Atlantic Ocean Water Circulation System. Arctic sea ice is not merely a passive responder to the climate changes occurring around the world, according to new research. Scientists at Yale University and the University of Southampton say the ongoing Arctic ice loss can play an active role in altering one of the planet's largest water circulation systems: the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Phys.org
 
Unexpected Life Found at the Bottom of High Arctic Lakes. In the shallow, frigid waters of Nunavut's Ward Hunt Lake, something mysterious lingers at the lake floor. It's fuzzy, it's bright orange - and it's alive. For more than 50 years, scientists from around the world have traveled to Ward Hunt Lake, the northernmost lake in the Canadian Arctic, to study the region or launch expeditions to the North Pole. Until recently, the prevailing notion was that come wintertime, when night casts a long shadow over the island, the waters would freeze up, and the microbial creatures of the deep that inhabit the lake bottom would all but disappear. But surprisingly, a recent study by researchers at Université Laval, Quebec City found just the opposite. Rather, Ward Hunt Lake is no longer freezing up entirely in the polar night, and as a result, a thick, diverse biofilm of living cells - including many species adapted to low oxygen conditions - are colonizing the lake. News Deeply
 
Chinaflag China Interested in Project to Lay Submarine Cable Line Along Russian Arctic Coast. China has taken interest in the Arctic submarine trunk line project, the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media reports. A meeting between Minister Nikolai Nikiforov and Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei took place on July 28. According to the press release, the issues discussed include the project to establish a submarine fiber-optic trunk line in the Arctic and a personal mobile satellite communication system, as well as the digital economy in Russia, China and other countries. The Arctic
 
UAF Vessel Launches Bering Research Program. The University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel, Sikuliaq, recently completed the first cruise of its spring and summer research program in the Bering and Chukchi seas. University scientists and researchers from the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences spent the month of June aboard Sikuliaq studying spring productivity and food web dynamics as well as the negative effects that disappearing sea ice cover may have on Arctic habitats. This 20-day voyage had scientists at sea between St. Lawrence Island and Point Hope. Ketchikan Daily News
Future Events
         
Building Resilience to Reduce Suicide in Arctic Communities, August 3, 2017 (Webinar). The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is proud to present research that showcases two different community-based approaches that aim to build resilience in indigenous communities with the hope of reducing suicide in the Arctic.

Map Exhibit: Explore Alaska's Arctic Waters, August 4, 2017 (Anchorage, Alaska USA). Join Audubon Alaska to celebrate the release of our 'Ecological Atlas of the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas,' a comprehensive atlas featuring over 100 maps of Arctic marine mammals, seabirds, sea ice, subsistence, and more. Come view a selection of our dynamic maps, learn about our conservation work in the Arctic, and find out how you can advocate for the protection of these ecologically vital places.

As the Symposium is organized jointly by two leading Research Institutes of Russian Academy of Science - Institute of Water Problems and Melnikov Permafrost Institute, particularly the contributions on following research topics are welcome:
  • Observational evidences of change in coupled permafrost-hydrology system.
  • Present state and future projections of local, regional and pan-Arctic hydrology.
  • Modeling studies representing landscape evolution, dynamics of water storages and permafrost degradation.
  • Impacts of permafrost hydrology changes on local communities.
VII International Conference on Cryopedology, August 21-25, 2017 (Yakutsk, Russia). The conference will be hosted by the Institute for Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS). Plenary reports will be organized in the hall of the Academy of Sciences of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. The official languages of the conference are English and Russian (with translation). All technical facilities (projectors, computers, video sets) will be available during the conference for presentation of papers. Additional information will be available soon. See the Facebook page  here.
 
2017 University of the Arctic Rectors' Forum and Conference, August 27-29, 2017 (Aberdeen, Scotland).  This conference will also consider how northern scholarship can add to discussions on the North into broader terrains of intellectual engagement. In so doing, it will challenge dominant paradigms of research in both the natural and the social sciences, above all by calling into question the very separation of the world of nature from that of human society which underwrites the distinction between these two branches of scientific inquiry. In its place the conference will seek to forge a new practice of interdisciplinary research, done in collaboration with northern residents and on their terms, which recognizes that every discipline is itself an ongoing conversation, or a way of knowing, rather than a compartment within an overarching, hierarchically organized system of knowledge. Conversations from the North will, then, help to generate a science that is more open-ended, responsive to environmental variation and respectful of the wisdom of inhabitants. 

2017 Arctic Energy Summit, September 18-20, 2017 (Helsinki, Finland). The 2017 Summit will address energy in the Arctic as it relates to:
  • Small and off-grid community energy solutions
  • Oil and gas development
  • Renewable energy
  • Regulation and Financing
  • Transportation and transmission
The AES is a multi-disciplinary event expected to draw several hundred industry officials, scientists, academics, policy makers, energy professionals and community leaders together to collaborate and share leading approaches on Arctic energy issues.

2017 Arctic Circle Assembly, October 13-15, 2017 (Reykjavi­k, Iceland).  The annual Arctic Circle Assembly is the largest annual international gathering on the Arctic, attended by more than 2000 participants from 50 countries. The Assembly is held every October at the Harpa Conference Center and Concert Hall and 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. 

Polar Law Symposium 2017 and Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit, November 13-16, 2017 (Rovaniemi, Finland). The purpose of the Polar Law Symposium is to examine, in detail, the implications of the challenges faced by the Polar Regions for international law and policy and to make recommendations on appropriate actions by states, policy makers and other international actors to respond to these emerging and re-emerging challenges. The Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit  Conference is integrated with the Polar Law Symposium, which will be organized by the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law at the Arctic Center of the University of Lapland.
 
ArcticNet invites the global Arctic research community to Arctic Change 2017! This conference will bring together Arctic researchers and students with Inuit, Northerners and government, industry and NGO stakeholders. The world's foremost Arctic scientists will presen t research  findings and discuss impacts of climate change and modernization. With over 1500 participants expected, Arctic Change 2017 will be one of the largest trans-sectoral international Arctic research conferences held in Canada. We welcome students and early career researchers to participate in "Student Day" at the start of the Conference. See an excerpt from last year:  ArcticNet ASM2016 .
 
ISAR-5 Fifth International Symposium on Arctic Research, January 15-18, 2018 (Tokyo, Japan).  The fifth ISAR has been planned at the recommendation of the science steering committee of ISAR-4, which was held in Toyama, Japan in April 2015. The fifth ISAR will be devoted to discussions on environmental changes in the Arctic and their regional and global implications, to seek additional international scientific collaboration in this area by gathering, synthesizing and sharing information related to these changes occurring in the Arctic. Special emphasis will be placed on the fields of the social sciences and humanities, which were not included in the previous ISARs.  ISAR-5 will consist of general sessions and special sessions. The general sessions will address the following topics: atmosphere; ocean and sea ice; rivers, lakes, permafrost, and snow cover; ice sheets, glaciers, and ice cores; terrestrial ecosystems; marine ecosystems; geospace; policies and economy; and social and cultural dimensions. Special sessions will be solicited on cross-cutting themes.  

The Effects of Climate Change on the World's Oceans, June 4-8, 2018 (Washington, DC USA). 
The 4th International Symposium will bring together experts from around the world to better understand climate impacts on ocean ecosystems - and how to respond. The event is hosted by a variety of groups including International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
 
POLAR 2018, June 15-27, 2018 (Davos, Switzerland). POLAR2018 is a joint event from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). The SCAR meetings, the ASSW and the Open Science Conference will be hosted by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL under the patronage of the Swiss Committee on Polar and High Altitude Research. The WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF is organizing POLAR2018.
 
** New this week ** 17th International Congress of Circumpolar Health (ICCH17), August 12-15, 2018 (Copenhagen, Denmark). The ICCH congresses are held every third year in different locations in the circumpolar area and represent the largest scientific meetings worldwide on circumpolar health. The ICCH congresses serve as the primary source of information exchange and scholarly communication in issues relating to circumpolar health. More than 750 participants generally register and participate in each Congress, and more than 400 scientific papers or posters are usually presented.

Arctic Biodiversity Congress, October 9-11, 2018 (Rovaniemi, Finland). The second Arctic Biodiversity Congress is hosted by the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), the biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council, and the Ministry of the Environment, Finland. The second Arctic Biodiversity Congress will build on the success of the first Congress, held in 2014 in Trondheim, Norway, and will bring together scientists, policymakers government officials, Indigenous representatives, Traditional Knowledge holders, industry, non-governmental organizations, and others to promote the conservation and sustainable use of Arctic biodiversity. 

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