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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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 Kids are Obsessed with Narwhals. Here's Where They Live. You don't have to search far and wide to find narwhals these days. The so-called "unicorns of the sea" are plastered on everything from kids' pajamas and lunchboxes to plush toys and LEGO sets. But seeing the animals in the wild is something else entirely. As a true Arctic whale, narwhals can mostly be found in the frigid waters of Canada and Greenland.
National Geographic
Enormous Hole in the Ozone Appears Above Arctic in Rare Atmospheric Phenomenon. A huge hole in the ozone layer has appeared above the Arctic in a rare atmospheric phenomenon. Freezing temperatures have caused ozone levels to plummet, leaving a hole stretching from Hudson Bay to Russia's northern Arctic islands. Images from NASA's Arctic Ozone Watch show how the hole has been growing since the start of March, with ozone levels dropping significantly. Blue and purple colors show where there is the least amount of ozone, while reds and yellows indicate where levels are higher.
Newsweek
 Purdue Study Downgrades Arctic Methane Emissions Thanks to Soil Microbes. Rising global temperatures are expected to thaw Arctic permafrost, reinvigorating the microorganisms that live in the region's carbon-rich soils. When that happens, those microbes will begin consuming the carbon stored in the permafrost and emitting massive amounts of methane, one of the most powerful greenhouse gases on the planet. This injection of methane into the atmosphere is a concern for climate scientists worried that it will exacerbate global warming. But Purdue University scientists say that while there will likely be more methane - and still a concerning amount - the net emissions from the Arctic may be much smaller than expected.
Purdue University
Methane-Eating Bacteria Could Help Decrease Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Thawing Arctic Tundra. As global temperatures rise, scientists warn that thawing Arctic permafrost is releasing an alarming amount of methane - a greenhouse gas 25 percent more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term - into the atmosphere. Now, a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change has discovered a type of methane-oxidizing bacteria living in upland Arctic soils that could potentially offset some of these emissions.
YaleEnvironment 360
Berry Professor Tapped for Climate Research Above Arctic Circle. A Berry College professor could be spending the summer on a research vessel in the Arctic Circle - if the COVID-19 pandemic eases up. Associate Professor of Geology Tamie Jovanelly was selected to spend about three months aboard an old-fashioned tall ship examining climate change and water quality in the International Territories of Svalbard.
Rome News- Tribune
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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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