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December 7, 2018

No Arctic-science events are scheduled for today.
Media

NOAA NOAA, Partners to Announce Findings From 2018 Arctic Report Card. NOAA and its partners will release the latest scientific observations of the Arctic, a sensitive part of the world that impacts other parts of the planet, at a news conference on Tue., Dec. 11, at 10:00 a.m. ET, hosted by the American Geophysical Union at its annual fall meeting in Washington, D.C. A panel of scientists, led by retired Navy Rear Adm. Timothy Gallaudet, Ph.D., acting NOAA administrator, will provide this year's report on sea ice, snow cover, air temperature, ocean temperature, the Greenland ice sheet, vegetation and ecosystem changes. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
 
GOP Senator: Arctic Ocean May Be Ice-Free in Summer Within 20 Years. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) on Thursday said the U.S. must prepare for an Arctic Ocean that is ice-free in the summer months within the next 20 years. Sullivan, speaking at a hearing for the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard, which he chairs, pointed to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicating that as of 2011, Arctic sea ice was "42 percent thinner than it was in 1979." The Hill
 
DDT in Alaska Meltwater Poses Cancer Risk for People Who Eat Lots of Fish. Children in Alaska whose diet includes a lot of fish from rivers fed by the Eastern Alaska Mountain Range may have a long-term elevated risk for cancer because of insecticides -- including DDT -- in the meltwater. Even with low levels of organochlorine pollutants (OCPs) in glacial meltwater, the risk of cancer for youth and adults who rely on fish as a staple of their diet is above the Environmental Protection Agency's threshold limit, says Kimberley Miner, research assistant professor at the University of Maine Climate Change Institute. EurekAlert!
 
Government of Canada Delivers Marine Safety Infrastructure to Nunavut Through the Oceans Protection Plan. Protecting the marine environment and all users of  Canada's oceans and waterways is of paramount importance. That is why the Government of  Canada, under the Oceans Protection Plan, is taking action to make Arctic resupply operations faster, safer, and more efficient for remote communities. Transport  Canada is assisting the Government of  Nunavut to deliver marine safety infrastructure across the territory by providing funding to two projects. Canada NewsWire
 
Polar Bear Eating Fish Scientists Find Hundreds of New Toxins in Polar Bear Blood. Hundreds of previously unknown contaminants were found in a new study of polar bear blood, published in a German chemical journal this week. There are many unexplained chemicals in human blood, as well as in wildlife and environmental samples, according to the study's author, toxicologist Jon Martin. "This is a polar bear story, but it's likely a human story as well," said Martin, with the University of Stockholm in Sweden. CBC News
 
Prehistoric Whale Jaw Bone Sheds Light on Evolution of Baleen. f you observe a feeding fin, blue or humpback whale, you are likely to catch a glimpse of the bristles of baleen that fill its gaping jaws. Baleen is unlike any other feeding structure on the planet. Made of keratin, the same material as hair and finger nails, baleen hangs from the roof of a whale's mouth and is used to filter small fish and crustaceans from large gulps of water. As water rushes into the mouth of a whale, the small creatures easily pass through the comb-like bristles, but once a whale's mouth is full of water, it flushes the water back out, trapping the tiny creatures in the wall of baleen to be swallowed whole. Smithsonian Magazine
 
Empowering Arctic Indigenous Scholars and Making Connections - Call for Applicants. ARCUS and the Inuit Circumpolar Council Alaska (http://iccalaska.org/) invite applications from and/or nominations of Arctic Indigenous scholars to travel to Washington D.C. and meet with officials at U.S. government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other groups. Four selected scholars will be able to share their interests via a seminar and meetings, learn of available resources, build toward collaborative relationships, and provide on-the-ground perspectives to key decision-makers. For the purposes of this opportunity, scholars are defined as an expert within their own knowledge system. This includes hunters, fishers, and gatherers; those that process and store food; health aides; and others. It includes youth, elders, and adults. Education may come from the land, the water, or a classroom. To apply for the 2019 opportunity, or to nominate a scholar, please visit the webpage for instructions at https://www.arcus.org/indigenous-scholars. Applications are due by 5:00pm AKST, Thursday, 10 January 2019. Letters of nomination are due by Friday, 28 December 2018.
Future Events

American Geophysical Union Fall meeting, December 10-14, 2018 (Washington, DC USA). The AGU 2018 Fall Meeting will mark another dynamic year of discovery in Earth and space science, serve as the advent of AGU's Centennial year, and provide a special opportunity to share our science with world AGU logo leaders in Washington, D.C. As the largest Earth and space science gathering in the world, the Fall Meeting places you in th e center of a global community of scientists drawn from myriad fields of study whose work protects the health and welfare of people worldwide, spurs innovation, and informs decisions that are critical to the sustainability of the Earth. 
 
ArcticNet: Annual Scientific Meeting 2018, December 10-14, 2018 (Ottawa, ON Canada). Canada's North is experiencing unprecedented change in its sea and terrestrial ice, permafrost and ecosystems under the triple pressures of climate change, industrialization and modernization. The impacts of these pressures can be seen on food and energy security, shipping, sovereignty, northern community health and well-being, and sustainable development and resource exploitation. All these issues have brought the North to the forefront of national and international agendas. Building on the success of its previous Annual Scientific Meetings and International Arctic Change Conferences, the Arctic Network of Centers of Excellence announces the 14th ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting. 

USARC Commissioner Jacqueline Richter-Menge to deliver the Nye Lecture at the 2018 AGU Fall Meeting, December 11, 2018 (Washington, DC  USA). The US Arctic Research Commission (USARC) is pleased to announce that Commissioner Jacqueline Richter-Menge will present this year's  Nye Lecture, titled "A Career of Change,"  at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Washington, DC at 2:50 pm on Tuesday, December 11, 2018 in the Marquis room of the Marriott Marquis Hotel, 901 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001.

** New this week **  Arctic Report Card Release, December 11, 2018 (Washington, DC USA). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA (NOAA) is expected to release the 2018 Arctic Report Card during the American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual fall meeting. A press conference of the release will be steamed live on the AGU press events webpage- see here . The 2018 Arctic Report Card brings together the work of more than 80 scientists from 12 nations to provide the latest information on Arctic environmental change, including air and sea surface temperature, sea ice, snow cover, the Greenland ice sheet, vegetation and the abundance of plankton at the base of the marine food chain. This year's peer-reviewed report led by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will also include special reports on the health of caribou and reindeer populations, harmful algal blooms, microplastic pollution, and connections between Arctic weather patterns and severe weather in the more populous mid-latitudes.

** New this week ** First Results From NASA's New Ice-Measuring Space Laser, December 11, 2018 (Washington, DC USA). Glacier crevasses, cracks in sea ice and forest canopies - the first height data from NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 are so clear that scientists can easily distinguish these and other features of Earth's surface. At this press conference, scientists will present the first results and new data visualizations from ICESat-2, which launched Sept. 15. They'll discuss how the airborne Operation IceBridge campaign led into ICESat-2 and how the satellite's seasonal measurements of changing ice sheets and sea ice will lead to better understanding of sea level rise and global weather and climate patterns.

** New this week **  Keynote: US Senate Perspectives on Science Policy, December 12, 2018 (Washington, DC. USA). U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Maria Cantwell of Washington will discuss today's top science policy topics, from hazards to scientific integrity. The senators will be sharing remarks on the science policy issues facing their constituents and the world, followed by a Q&A moderated by AGU CEO and Executive Director Chris McEntee. This event is part of the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting.

** New this week **  The Synoptic Arctic Survey Informational Meeting During the AGU Fall Meeting, December 13, 2018 (Washington, DC USA). The Synoptic Arctic Survey (SAS) will be hosting an informational meeting during the American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2018 Fall Meeting. This open meeting will convene 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, 13 December 2018 at the Cambria Hotel Washington D.C. Convention Center (899 O Street NW, Washington, DC, 20001), Duke Ellington Room 1, in Washington D.C. The SAS is a developing international program envisioned to mount a coordinated, multi-nation, oceanographic field-based effort on a Pan Arctic Scale quasi-synoptically over a single season to achieve the baseline understanding of the fundamental structure and function of the linked carbon-ecosystem-physical systems that will permit detection of ongoing and future changes. Development of the program has been ongoing since 2015.

** New this week **  Fast Thaw, December 14, 2018 (Washington, DC USA). Arctic 21 will host a presentation with Dr. Katey Walter Anthony. The discussion with consider permafrost thaw and methane emissions from lakes in the Arctic.

** New this week **   Arctic Encounter London, January 17-18, 2019 (London, England). The first Arctic Encounter London in January 2019 will focus on the theme 
'UK-US Maritime, Aerospace and Security Cooperation in the Arctic'. Delegates will discuss and debate trade and security-focused Arctic collaboration in the Arctic between US, the UK, and their allies. This convening is designed to deepen the UK-US special relationship by strengthening trade and cooperation in four areas in particular: maritime services, aerospace, fisheries, defense and security. The Arctic Encounter London is co-produced by the Polar Research and Policy Initiative and the Arctic Encounter. The Polar Research and Policy Initiative (PRPI) is a London-based international think-tank dedicated to Arctic, Nordic, North Atlantic, North Pacific and Antarctic affairs. The Arctic Encounter is the largest annual Arctic policy and business conference convening in the United States, with partnerships and convening efforts worldwide. 

Arcti c F ron tiers, January 20-25, 2019 (Tromso, Norway) . The Arctic Frontiers  is a global scientific conference on economic, societal, and environmental sustainable growth.  This year's theme will be "Smart Arctic," with a pan-arctic emphasis, and an effort to build new partnerships across nations, generations and ethnic groups. Arctic Frontiers provides a forum for dialogue and communication between science, government and industry . The plenary program will have five main sessions: State of the Arctic, Blue Growth, Smart Solutions, Bridging the Gap, and Arctic business prospects. An abstract-driven science program will address Plastics in the Ocean, the Future of Governance and Handling Vulnerability in Arctic Ecosystems, State of the Arctic and A Smart Arctic Future.

Save the Date!  

Mark your calendars to attend IDA-8, which some have called one of the best Arctic gatherings around. Historically, this biennial symposium was co-hosted by U.S. National/Naval Ice Center (NIC) and the US Arctic Research Commission (USARC). In 2019, these partners will join forces with the preeminent Wilson Center's Polar Institute, as a third co-host. The now 2-day symposium will be held in the Ronald Reagan Building Amphitheater, in Washington, DC. The event will focus on a broad cross-section of naval and maritime operations and issues in an ice-diminishing Arctic. The symposium brings together nationally and internationally recognized experts on Arctic governance, geopolitics, marine operations, infrastructure, science, and environmental observations, from the local, regional, and pan-Arctic scale. Information on prior symposia, including lists of speakers, video clips, and copies of presentations, is available here. Attendance is free, and registration will begin in Spring 2019. The event will be webcast live, and video recorded.

Arctic Futures 2050: Science and Policy for a Changing Arctic, September 4-6, 2019 (Washington, DC USA). In 2019, the Study of Environmental Arctic Change  (SEARCH) and partners will convene Arctic scientists and decision makers to jointly forecast Arctic research needed to inform policy in the coming decades. The conference also is intended to foster more effective and iterative collaborations among Arctic scientists and decision makers.
 
of the AAG includes over 8,500 geographers converging from the U.S., Canada, and nearly 60 other countries in a typical year including geographers, GIS specialists, environmental scientists, and other leaders for the latest in research and applications in geography, sustainability, and GIScience.
 
18th International Conference on Cold Regions Engineering / 8th Canadian Permafrost Conference, August 18-22, 2019 (Quebec, Canada). Sustainable infrastructure development and permafrost science, in a climate change context, will be the focus of the discussions of this international conference.

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