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Going Viral: Alaskan TikTokkers Make Their Mark. Millions of Americans have relied on TikTok to keep themselves entertained during quarantine - Alaskans have taken to the viral video app to share everything from types of ulu knives to making the perfect Red Bull smoothie.When Patuk Glenn joined Tiktok, she didn't see very much content from Inupiaq people, so she started creating her own. "I thought, 'Hey, if I'm not seeing it, other people aren't seeing it. I should create some stuff that might relate to other Native people in the state, or even other Alaskans,'" Glenn said.
KTVA
Rapid Arctic Meltdown in Siberia Alarms Scientists. Alexander Deyev can still taste the smoke from last year's wildfires that blanketed the towns near his home in southeastern Siberia, and he is dreading their return. "It just felt like you couldn't breathe at all," said Deyev, 32, who lives in Irkutsk, a Siberian region along Lake Baikal, just north of the Mongolian border. But already this year, fires in the spring arrived earlier and with more ferocity, government officials have said. In the territory where Deyev lives, fires were three times as large this April as the year before. And the hot, dry summer lies ahead.
The Washington Post
 The Whitest Animals in the World. In nature, most white animals use their color as a camouflage in the snow to either hide from predators or by predators to blend in the snow so they can catch prey. Young harp seals, locally called "whitecoats", are known for their beautiful snowy white pelage. Who says white is boring? These animals might make it seem like nature ran out of ink, but they also look like an artist's beautiful blank canvas. In many cultures across the world, white symbolizes purity, cleanliness, or innocence.The white-tailed ptarmigian's pure white plumage extends down to their legs and feet which enable them to walk on freezing snow.
World Atlas
Rising Water Temperatures Could Endanger the Mating of Many Fish Species. Because fish that are ready to mate and their young are especially sensitive to changes in temperature, in the future up to 60 percent of all species may be forced to leave their traditional spawning areas.
In a new meta-study, experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have published ground-breaking findings on the effects of climate change for fish stock around the globe. As they report, the risks for fish are much higher than previously assumed, especially given the fact that in certain developmental stages they are especially sensitive to rising water temperatures. EurekAlert!
 The Nenets Autonomous Area to Create Infrastructure for Village Protection Against Polar Bears. The Arctic: A Safe House for Everyone project, which provides protection against endangered polar bears, will be launched in the village of Amderma, the Nenets Autonomous Area, this November. "We want to develop infrastructure that could provide security for the most vulnerable groups of this community, like children, the elderly and those requiring additional attention. We want to equip social facilities (the daycare center, school and out-patient clinic) with a video-surveillance system, install a lighting system for the polar night and put in window and playground security fences," said Sergei Uvarov, a coordinator of marine biodiversity conservation projects at WWF Russia's Barents office.
The Arctic
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Future Events
***New this week***
Arctic Policy Study Group - Study Launch, 8:00 to 9:30 AKDT, July 8, 2020 (virtual). Commonwealth North.
Please join Arctic Policy Study Group Co-Chairs Mead Treadwell, Tom Barrett, Moire Bockenstedt, Bob Cox, and Gail Schubert and invited guests from our Arctic collaborators as Commonwealth North begins a new look at policies that are shaping the Arctic. We will review the
charge statement
for the study group, hear from the co-chairs and collaborators, and consider the content and schedule for the coming sessions. Register here.
Webinar: Understanding Arctic Disaster Risk and Response, 2:00 to 3:30 PM EDT, 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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