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Arctic Reading for the Quarantine:
(State of Alaska and Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium) Healthy Alaskans 2030: State Health Assessment, 2019. The State of Alaska, Department of Health and Social Services, in equal partnership with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, leads the state health improvement plan (SHIP), Healthy Alaskans 2020 (HA2020). Healthy Alaskans 2020 is composed of 25 leading health indicators, or priorities, each with established targets to achieve by 2020. Through a comprehensive and inclusive process, organizations and communities of all levels have agreed to the HA2020 indicators and targets for the past decade. HA2020 is aimed at improving the health of all Alaskans and has a vision of Healthy Alaskans in Healthy Communities. To support this vision, HA2020 provides a framework supporting the work of partners and stakeholders statewide who are actively engaged in improving the health of Alaskans. To build this framework, specific steps have been followed, including the completion of a statewide health assessment, the prioritization of health objectives and targets for the decade for Alaska, and the identification of strategies and actions to reach those targets.
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 Altai Scientists Working on a System to Reinforce Ice in the Arctic Region. Researches at Altai State Technical University (AltSTU) are developing a system to reinforce ice in the Arctic regions. Eventually the results could be used for winter vehicle crossings in the Altai Territory. "The ultimate objective of this research is to find a material that can reinforce ice, make it stronger structurally, change the fracture properties and allow us to define a reinforcement structure, that is, the arrangement of an alien element in the ice that can provide a more durable ice structure. There are villages and settlements in the Altai Territory that typically wait for the onset of ice to keep in contact with the mainland, and this Arctic research project could be used there. When ice crossings are formed, one of our goals in the Altai Territory is how to wash up the ice and make it stronger," said Head of the Scientific Department at the AltSTU, PhD in Engineering Science, Yelena Ananyeva.
The Arctic
Existential Security: Lessons From the Pandemic and the Arctic. We live in an existential security world due to global warming. The coronavirus pandemic gives us a taste of the new security context. The pandemic has affected all aspects of human life globally-institutions, economies, and social relations. It has shown fragile supply chains and how very quickly life changes for people. It has killed. Unlike the pandemic, existential security from climate change is connected to multiple planetary-wide environmental changes that come at various speeds and create feedback loops at multiple scales of time and place. It no longer matters whether humans caused it, it matters how we cope.
The Arctic Institute
 Drifting with Broken Sea Ice. In September 2019, the German research icebreaker Polarstern left Norway and cruised toward the heart of the Arctic Ocean. The purpose: Spend a year frozen into the sea ice while scientists onboard make measurements of the effects of climate change. Now about halfway through the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition, the icebreaker has weathered the dark polar winter and daylight has started to return. On March 11, 2020, the low Sun angle helped produce the striking orange and blue tones on the frozen landscape.
NASA
 Intensity of Past Methane Release Measured with New, Groundbreaking Methods. Past records of methane release are crucial for understanding future climate changes. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, that has had significant impact on climate changes in the geological past. "Previously, when dating the natural release of methane, we used to measure mostly carbon isotopes. But now we know that carbon isotopes alone can't tell us the full story of past emissions of this greenhouse gas." says professor Giuliana Panieri, from CAGE Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate at UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
Science Daily
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Future Events
** Updated **
Ice Core Science Community Planning Workshop 2020, April 2-3, 2020 (Virtual Meeting Only).
Please note, this event is meeting virtually only now. Scientific discoveries achieved in the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets and temperate glaciers are critical to society today, but they are not achieved without significant advance planning. The U.S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) will sponsor an interdisciplinary ice community workshop to identify science driving future Arctic and Antarctic ice coring sites, the ice drilling technology that will be needed, and the timeline over the coming decade for advancing ice core science on multiple frontiers. The outcome of the workshop will be white papers describing community endeavors with associated timelines that will become part of the updated U.S. Ice Drilling Program Long Range Science Plan.
NOAA Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program Webinar Series, April 16, 2020 (Webinar). Deep-sea coral and sponge communities in the Aleutian Islands are important habitat features for many life stages of commercially important fish targets, including Atka mackerel, Pacific cod, and rockfish. The effects of commercial fishing activities on deep-sea corals and sponges has been difficult to quantify due to a lack of spatially-explicit fishery data, bottom contact by different gear types, undetermined location of corals and sponges, and the susceptibility and recovery dynamics these structure-forming invertebrates (SFI). To address these challenges, a fishing effects model was developed in the North Pacific to integrate spatially explicit VMS data with target-specific gear configurations for over 40,000 bottom trawls since 2003. Fishery observer coverage for Aleutian Island trawl fisheries is nearly 100 percent and records catch species composition. Species distribution models provide presence data for coral, sponge, Primnoidae, and Stylasteridae.
** Updated **
Securing S&T Success for the Coming Arctic, April 22-23, 2020 (Washington, DC USA).
The Arctic Domain Awareness Center hosts this annual meeting. The meeting will review the Center's current research and discuss better leveraging ADAC. The agenda includes discussions regarding the transition of ADAC's mature research and the initiation of new research associated with ADAC's recently awarded projects from ADAC's Arctic Incidence of National Significance 2019 workshop.
Cancelled
ICESAT-2 Cryospheric Science Hackweek, June 15-19, 2020 (Seattle, Washington USA). ICESat-2 Cryospheric Science Hackweek is a 5-day hackweek to be held at the University of Washington. Participants will learn about technologies used to access and process ICESat-2 data with a focus on the cryosphere. Mornings will consist of interactive lectures, and afternoon sessions will involve facilitated exploration of datasets and hands-on software development.
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.
3rd Arctic Science Ministerial, November 21-22, 2020 (Toyko, Japan). Since the last Arctic Science Ministerial in 2018, changes in the Arctic ecosystem and the resulting impacts locally and globally have been severely felt. While the reasons for these changes in climate largely stem from activities outside of the Arctic, the Arctic is warming at a rate of nearly double the global average. 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. The Third Arctic Science Ministerial will be co-hosted by Iceland and Japan.
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.
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