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Arctic Reading for the Quarantine:
Newly shared reports this week.
(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Arctic Program) Arctic Report Card, 2019. Issued annually since 2006, the Arctic Report Card is a timely and peer-reviewed source for clear, reliable and concise environmental information on the current state of different components of the Arctic environmental system relative to historical records. The Report Card is intended for a wide audience, including scientists, teachers, students, decision-makers and the general public interested in the Arctic environment and science.
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 Boulder Scientists Report Arctic Sea Ice at Seasonal Maximum. Arctic sea ice likely reached its maximum extent for the year, at 15.05 million square kilometers - or, 5.81 million square miles - on March 5, according to scientists at Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center. The 2020 maximum is the eleventh lowest in the 42-year satellite record. The Arctic sea ice extent number is preliminary - continued winter conditions could still push the ice extent higher, according to a news release. The center will issue a formal announcement at the beginning of April with full analysis of the possible causes behind this year's ice conditions.
Daily Camera
Murmansk Universities to Boost Training Professionals for Arctic Projects. Murmansk universities and the regional education ministry are to develop a new strategy within a month for training professionals for Arctic projects. The new strategy must rule out the need for retraining as much as possible. Governor Andrei Chibis has issued this instruction today following a meeting with the leadership of Murmansk State Technical University and Murmansk Arctic State University (UArctic).
The Arctic
 Scientists Locked in Ice Planned for North Pole's Hazards. Then Came the Coronavirus. When 43 scientists set sail for the North Pole in early December, no one had heard of the strange new virus causing pneumonia-like symptoms in the Chinese city of Wuhan. As case numbers multiplied and hospital beds filled, the researchers' vessel drifted with the Arctic sea ice through the deepest, darkest part of the polar winter, out of reach by video chat or phone. After four months in near-total isolation, the scientists are returning to a world transformed by the coronavirus pandemic. Their universities are closed. Their colleagues are sick. And, most urgently, they have no place to land.
Anchorage Daily News
A Bit of Less Bad Than Usual News About the Arctic. Ordinarily, I wouldn't be buoyed by news that an expanse of Arctic sea ice the size of Arizona and Nevada has gone missing. But given the state of the world right now, I am taking a tiny measure of solace in the latest analysis of Arctic sea ice conditions, released yesterday by the National Snow and Ice Data Center. It shows that the region's floating lid of ice likely reached its annual maximum extent on March 5th, measuring 'just' eleventh lowest in the satellite record, which stretches back to 1979.
Discover Magazine
A Cold Relation: Russia, China and Science in the Arctic. MARIO GIAGNORIO: Prof. Bertelsen, Dr. Kobzeva, thank you for your time. Let's get started and let's focus on science diplomacy. What is it, and why is it important, especially for non-Arctic States? PROF. BERTELSEN: Science diplomacy is a foreign and security policy use of scientific activity. It is the use of science in diplomacy and the use of scientific advice in diplomatic negotiations. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a clear example of that.
New Eastern Europe
 Reindeer Could Trample Permafrost Thaw. Strategically resettling herds of large Arctic herbivores like reindeer, horses, bison, and musk oxen could help top layers of permafrost refreeze after summer thaw and stay frozen for longer. Environmental management like this could prevent 400 million square kilometers of Arctic permafrost from thawing by the year 2100. "This type of natural manipulation in ecosystems that are especially relevant for the climate system has barely been researched to date-but holds tremendous potential," lead researcher Christian Beer, a professor of dynamics of soil processes at Universität Hamburg in Germany, said in a statement.
EOS
 American Polar Society Wants You! Since 1934, the American Polar Society has brought together scientists, entrepreneurs, explorers, contractors, military personnel and policy makers-people who make the polar regions matter. We publish a full-color journal, The Polar Times, and organize periodic symposia to keep our select community updated on trends and developments in the Arctic and Antarctic. We're in a rebuilding phase and need your energy, your enthusiasm and your skill sets.
Whether you're already a member or a potential member, or just want to learn more, please let us hear from you at
[email protected]
. And please check out our new, award-winning website,
www.americanpolar.org
. Let's expand horizons together in 2020!
 NOAA Job Opportunity: Arctic Program Director.
NOAA is seeking a physical scientist to serve as the Arctic Research Program Director, providing leadership, management oversight, direction, and overall day-to-day management for NOAA's Arctic Research Program (ARP). ARP provides support for carrying out a research program to develop, maintain and extend Arctic observing systems targeting the ocean, marine, and sea-ice environments. The Arctic Research Program Director develops the strategic vision and other planning and budget documents and presentations to guide the program in consultation with the GOMO Director; proposes, defends and manages the program budget; and monitors the performance of the ARP. She/he conducts long-range planning and sets goals and priorities; guides staff, and ensures effective, timely and economical accomplishment of program objectives. She/he contributes leadership for Arctic research within OAR and represents OAR and NOAA at scientific, intra- and inter agency, and international meetings.
USAJobs
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Future Events
Ground Truth Briefing: Russia's Military Posture in the European Arctic, March 26, 2020 (By-phone meeting). The Arctic has been widely understood by coastal states to be an area of "low tension." However, the Arctic is not insulated from global security challenges, especially those around the impacts of climate change, and the period of Arctic exceptionalism is coming to an end. Mathieu Boulègue, Katarina Kertysova, and Michael Sfraga will consider Russia's military posture in the European Arctic and seek to explain Moscow's military build-up in the region, Russia's general force posture, and its impact for NATO and its allies.
** 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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