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No Arctic-science events are scheduled for today.
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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
Security Strongmen Take on Key Role in Russian Arctic Policy. According to a decree signed by President Putin on the 25th August, the Security Council is to establish a special commission that will promote Russian national interests in the far northern region. Among its responsibilities will be "analysis of the international and social-economic situation in the Arctic zone". That includes also military-political issues, the Security Council informs. The Barents Observer
 Fire on Coast Guard Icebreaker Healy Ends Arctic Scientific Mission. The icebreaker USCGC Healy had an engine room electrical fire last week while off the coast of Alaska and headed to Seattle, the U.S. Coast Guard said. There were no injuries aboard the 21 year-old ship, but its diesel-powered starboard propulsion motor and shaft were damaged. The cause of the fire is currently unknown, but a Coast Guard report on Tuesday said the incident occurred on Aug. 18, and the fire was extinguished after the burning motor was disconnected from the drivetrain. UPI
Alaska's Salmon are Shrinking, and Climate Change May be to Blame. Alaska's highly prized salmon - a favorite of seafood lovers the world over - are getting smaller, and climate change is a suspected culprit, a new study reported, documenting a trend that may pose a risk to a valuable fishery, indigenous people and wildlife. The study, led by University of Alaska at Fairbanks scientists, found that four of Alaska's five wild salmon species have shrunk in average fish size over the past six decades, with stunted growth becoming more pronounced since 2010. Hardest hit is Alaska's official state fish, the Chinook salmon, also known as king salmon. Arctic Today
 Polar Bears' Dropped GPS Collars Reveal How Ice Drifts. Just because a scientist puts a GPS tracking collar on a wild polar bear does not mean the animal will obligingly keep it on. In fact, these humongous neckbands are purposefully girthy so that if one becomes irritating, a bear can remove it. But scientists have now found a way to use signals from the discarded devices. "These dropped collars potentially would have been considered garbage data," says Natasha Klappstein, a polar bear researcher at the University of Alberta. She and her collaborators (including researchers at the University of British Columbia and Environment and Climate Change Canada) instead used measurements from such collars, left on sea ice in Canada's Hudson Bay, to track the ice itself. Scientific American
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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