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September 16, 2020

** New this week ** Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Business Meeting, September 16, 2020 (Washington, DC USA). Business meeting to consider, S. 804, to amend the Marine Mammal Protect Act of 1972 to protect the cultural practices and livelihoods of producers of Alaska Native handicrafts and fossilized ivory products, and other legislation.

High Sensitivity of Bering Sea Winter Sea Ice to Winter Insolation and Carbon Dioxide Over the Last 5500 Years, Science Advances (September 2020). Anomalously low winter sea ice extent and early retreat in CE 2018 and 2019 challenge previous notions that winter sea ice in the Bering Sea has been stable over the instrumental record, although long-term records remain limited. Here, we use a record of peat cellulose oxygen isotopes from St. Matthew Island along with isotope-enabled general circulation model (IsoGSM) simulations to generate a 5500-year record of Bering Sea winter sea ice extent. Results show that over the last 5500 years, sea ice in the Bering Sea decreased in response to increasing winter insolation and atmospheric CO2, suggesting that the North Pacific is highly sensitive to small changes in radiative forcing. We find that CE 2018 sea ice conditions were the lowest of the last 5500 years, and results suggest that sea ice loss may lag changes in CO2 concentrations by several decades.
Media

First Direct Evidence of Killer Whale Predation on Bowhead Whales in the US Pacific Arctic Documented by Scientists. For the first time, scientists have direct evidence that killer whales are preying on bowhead whales in the U.S. Pacific Arctic. A dramatic loss of sea ice in recent years may be leaving bowheads more vulnerable to killer whale predation. "Until now, bowhead whales in the U.S. Pacific Arctic were thought to experience minimal predation pressure from killer whales. Our study suggests that is no longer the case," said Amy Willoughby, the NOAA Fisheries Affiliate/University of Washington scientist who led the research. "We now know that during 2009-2018, killer whale predation was the primary cause of death observed for bowhead whales in the region." NOAA Fisheries 

New Climate Maps Show a Transformed United States. According to new data from the Rhodium Group analyzed by ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, warming temperatures and changing rainfall will drive agriculture and temperate climates northward, while sea level rise will consume coastlines and dangerous levels of humidity will swamp the Mississippi River valley. Taken with other recent research showing that the most habitable climate in North America will shift northward and the incidence of large fires will increase across the country, this suggests that the climate crisis will profoundly interrupt the way we live and farm in the United States. ProPublica 

A Comparative Study of the Official Use of Arctic Environmental Discourses of China and EU. With rapid Arctic changes, non-Arctic actors, particularly China and the European Union (EU), have been showing a growing interest in and have been playing a more active role in Arctic affairs. Non-Arctic actors' specific interests and motivations in the Arctic have already been well-explored in literature.1) Scholars such as De Mestral2), Nielsson & Magnússon3) and Wegge4) have also made some comments on the justification of non-Arctic actors' interest-motivated Arctic participation, but they only engage with this fleetingly. Most of these discussions are based on secondary sources such as non-official media reports; some do not even specify the data sources they rely on at all. Admittedly, there are a few studies that include scattered primary data on Arctic policy, but most of them have no systematic methodology. The existing research mostly ignores the systematic examination of whether non-Arctic actors actually justify their Arctic participation in line with those academic views on justification. The Arctic Institute
 
Sea Otter When the Otters Vanished, Everything Else Started to Crumble. In 1970, Jim Estes made his first trek up to Alaska's Aleutian Islands. He was greeted by an ocean filled with furry faces. Everywhere the young biologist looked, there were sea otters - lollygagging on kelp beds, shelling sea urchins, exchanging their signature squeals. Back then, crowds of these charismatic creatures shrouded the sprawling archipelago, congregating in "rafts and bunches, as many as 500 at once," said Dr. Estes, an ecologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "There were so many of them, we couldn't keep track." New York Times
Future Events
  
** New this week ** Advancing Collaboration in Canada- US Arctic Regional Security, September 17-18, 2020 (virtual). This event is hosted by the North American and Arctic Defense and Security, The Arctic Domain Awareness Center, Trent University, and the University of Alaska Anchorage. Focusing on emerging trends in medium- and long-term North American Arctic security environment, the mix of academics and practitioners at this workshop will anticipate potential North American Arctic futures to identify potential gaps and shortfalls in current strategies, capabilities, and research.

** New this week ** Arctic Research Infrastructure and Capabilities in North America, September 23, 2020 (virtual). Research stations in Alaska, Canada and Greenland provide critical science and information about Arctic climate and environment in North America. Scientists continue to call for increased monitoring and research capabilities in the region. Hosted in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, this panel aims to assess the existing gaps and opportunities for research capabilities and aspirations in the North American Arctic. Panelists will provide overviews of current research infrastructure in their countries. Moreover, they will highlight reasons for close, international cooperation between North American research institutions.
 
Planned Relocations in the Arctic: Lessons Learned in Environmental Displacement, 1:00 PM EDT on September 24, 2020 (virtual). Join the Migration in Harmony Research Coordination Network for this webinar to learn what support is, and is not available, to communities are relocating away from environmental hazards. Migration experts Dr. Elizabeth Ferris, Sanjula Weerasinghe, and Erica Bower will share their experiences working with the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the World Bank to create international guidance and toolkits for planned community relocations, and discuss lessons learned for future relocations in a climate changed world.

** New this week ** Arctic Domain Awareness Center Customers and Partner's Roundtable, 9 am AKDT on September 30, 2020 (virtual). The Center will host its First Program Year 7, Customer and Partner's Roundtable via webinar on Wednesday, 30 September 2020, with Center update, project reviews and associated customer and partner feedback discussions from 1:00-5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (9:00 AM-1:00 PM Alaska Daylight Time).

** New this week ** United States Air Force Arctic Strategy: Perspectives and Insights, 12:00 pm EDT on October 5, 2020 (virtual). This event is hosted by the Polar Institute of the Wilson Center. The Air Force Arctic Strategy was released in July 2020. According to the Department of the Air Force, "The strategy outlines the Department's unique regional role and efforts to optimize Air and Space capabilities throughout the region in support of the National Defense Strategy." We are honored to host a group of distinguished military leaders for a facilitated round table discussion regarding the Air Force Arctic Strategy to include contextual perspectives about the new Arctic, the Arctic in context of Great Power Competition, and the role and importance of the Air Force in Alaska and the Arctic.

** New this week ** Arctic Maritime Oil Spill Modeling, October 27- 29, 2020, (virtual). This event is hosted by the Arctic Domain Awareness Center. This event is conducted in accordance with ADAC's "Year 6 Work Plan" ADAC conducts quarterly Customer and Partner's Roundtables. More information coming soon.

Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) Annual Meeting, October 29, 2020 (virtual) The ARCUS Annual Meeting serves as an important opportunity for for the Council of ARCUS Institutional Member RepresentativesARCUS Individual Members, and other members of the broader Arctic research community to connect with one another, the ARCUS Board of Directors, and staff. The meeting will be open to all interested participants and there is no cost to attend.

** New this week ** Arctic Maritime Horizons Workshop, December 1-2, 2020 (Anchorage, Alaska USA). This event is hosted by the Arctic Domain Awareness Center. This workshop will be an assessment of the future maritime transportation system of the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort sea regions.

AGU Fall Meeting, December 7-11, 2020 (San Francisco, California USA). Fall Meeting is the largest gathering of Earth and space scientists in the world. More information will be available at the link.

2021 Alaska Marine Science Symposium, January 26-28, 2021 (virtual). The Alaska Marine Science Symposium (AMSS) has been bringing together scientists, educators, resource managers, students, and interested public for over twenty years to discuss the latest marine research being conducted in Alaskan waters. Over 700 people attend this 4-day long conference held annually during the month of January. Each day of the conference highlights important Alaskan marine ecosystems: Gulf of Alaska (Tuesday), Bering Sea & Aleutian Islands (Wednesday), and the Arctic (Thursday). Research topics discussed range from ocean physics, fishes and invertebrates, seabirds, marine mammals, to local traditional knowledge. Since its inception, NPRB has been a proud sponsor and one of the leading organizers of AMSS.

Arctic Frontiers 2021, February 1-4, 2021 (virtual). Arctic Frontiers started out in 2006 assembling the first global scientific conference on economic, societal and environmental sustainable growth in the north. In February 2021, we will arrange the 15th conference with the theme "Building Bridges". The conference has a pan arctic perspective and builds new partnerships across nations, generations and ethnic groups. Arctic Frontiers provides a forum for dialogue and communication between science, government and industry in 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.

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.
 

2021 Regional Conference on Permafrost/ 19th International Conference Cold Regions Engineering, July 11-16, 2021 (Boulder, Colorado USA). For the first time a Regional Conference on Permafrost will be combined with the bi-annual 19th International Conference on Cold Regions Engineering. This conference is hosted by the US Permafrost Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the International Permafrost Association, the Permafrost Young Researchers Network, and the University of Colorado Boulder. A complete list of planned sessions is available here.

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