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** New this week ** The Ocean Between Us: Governance and Cooperation in Arctic Waters, 12:00 pm EDT on August 26, 2020 (virtual). Hosted by Commonwealth North's Arctic Policy Study Group, the event will explore the future of the Arctic Ocean governance, the Central Arctic Oceans Agreement, perspectives on international cooperation, Alaska's role in cooperative effects, and international fisheries issues that impact Alaska. The discussion aims to answer what governance structures are in place to regulate activities in Arctic waters, and how stakeholders can establish efforts to dissipate tensions and ensure cooperation in the Arctic. David Balton, a senior fellow with the Wilson Center's Polar Institute will speak at this virtual event. Mike Sfraga, Director of the Wilson Center's Polar Institute will moderate the discussion.
NB: this online event is currently listed as "sold out," and thus available only afterwards, as a recording, but the possibility of adding participants, for the live event, is being considered.
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(Arctic Research Consortium of the United States, August 2020). Witness Community Highlights. Witness Community Highlights is an online publication launched in May 2017 to complement the regular publications of Witness the Arctic. It was developed in response to community feedback identifying the need for a monthly publication to highlight 1-2 Arctic research efforts and other timely items of interest to our readers. Community Highlights is distributed monthly via our Witness the Arctic mailing list of over 8,600 subscribers.
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Media
 Fire Scuttles Coast Guard Icebreaker Healy's Arctic Deployment. A fire has hobbled the Coast Guard's only medium icebreaker, cancelling the 420-foot ship's scheduled summer deployment to the Arctic and sending it back to Seattle, the service announced Tuesday. The Healy suffered a fire in one of its main propulsion motors as it left Seward, Alaska, Aug. 18 for an extended deployment to the Arctic. The blaze was discovered at 9:30 p.m. and extinguished less than 26 minutes later, but the starboard propulsion motor and shaft were left inoperable, said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Brickey, a spokesman for Pacific Area. Military.com
Growing Underwater Heat Blob Speeds Demise of Arctic Sea Ice. In March, soon after arriving aboard the Polarstern, a German icebreaker frozen into Arctic sea ice, Jennifer Hutchings watched as ice broke up around the ship, weeks earlier than expected. Even as scientists on the research cruise scrambled to keep field instruments from plunging into the ocean, Hutchings, who studies ice deformation at Oregon State University, Corvallis, couldn't suppress a thrill at seeing the crack up, as if she had spotted a rare bird. "I got to observe firsthand what I studied," she says. Science Magazine  Increase in Freshwater Arctic Ocean Could Affect Global Climate Systems. There is more freshwater in the Arctic Ocean and climate change is the reason, according to a new study. Alexandra Jahn, the lead author of the study and assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, said the ocean is already bearing the effects of climate change, with more freshwater stored there - and, within the next two decades, this additional water could drain into more southern oceans, affecting currents. "It's really sobering to see the system changing so much," she said. The Narwhal [Russia] Military Land on Kola Coast Could Become Site for New Arctic Container Port. Land and property issues were high on the agenda when Murmansk Governor Andrey Chibis on Monday met with Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Timur Ivanov. "In the Murmansk region there is land owned by the Ministry of Defense that is not in use," Chibis explains in a social media comment following his meeting in Moscow. The Barents Observer Over and Under the Arctic Ice, US Sub and Bombers Match Russian Moves. One of the U.S. Navy's most powerful attack submarines paid a visit to a Norwegian port, the Navy announced on Friday. A day later, six U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers flew from the United States to the United Kingdom. Against the constant pulse of American military deployments, the submarine and bomber missions might not seem unusual. But consider how they apparently got to Northern Europe. By traveling under and over the icy Arctic Ocean. Forbes An Arctic Innovation Hub Could Help the Region Adapt to Climate Change. A new sense of the severity of climate emergency is growing around the world, following youth activists and increasingly severe weather. As COVID-19 has forced them to create new lifestyles, climate change will demand significant transitions for each society after the tipping point. The Arctic is the most vulnerable region, with temperatures rising more than twice as fast as the global average. If we have channels to exchange needs and experiences inside and outside the Arctic, both of people will benefit from the relationship; Indigenous communities in the Arctic would solve ongoing adaptation challenges; people outside the Arctic would learn clues about how to prepare for the approaching impact of climate change. Arctic Today Call for Information on Recent Arctic Research Activities. The Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) is beginning its yearly effort to gather information on relevant research activities that have occurred over the last fiscal year. We hope this provides you an opportunity to share the work you have been doing during FY2020 with the wider research community. We welcome all to contribute information on recent work that is relevant to the Arctic Research Plan by September 4. Learn how to submit your work on IARPC's website.
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Future Events
** New this week ** The Shaggy Savior of Northern Norway, 12:00 pm EDT on September 1, 2020. Professor Dolly Jørgensen will speak on a project about muskox hunting and farming and the larger issue of northern environments and "productivity." Her current research agenda focuses on cultural histories of animal extinction, and she recently published Recovering Lost Species in the Modern Age: Histories of Longing and Belonging (MIT Press, 2019). She has also edited several books, including Northscapes: History, Technology & the Making of Northern Environments (2014) and Visions of North in Premodern Europe (2018). The Pardee Center and the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge are pleased to co-host the Arctic Environmental Humanities Workshop Series, bringing together the diverse expertise of humanistic scholars, artists, and researchers for a series of virtual presentations and conversations about Arctic issues.
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.
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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