Microplastics are tiny plastic waste found across oceans and eaten by many marine organisms. The stomachs of spotted seals harvested for subsistence near Gambell and Shishmaref during 2012 and 2020 were examined for microplastics. Come learn the results of microplastics in seals between locations, years, and ages. Do different prey types determine the amount of microplastics eaten?

This year lecture will be presented by Dr. April Counceller (Alutiiq, of the Sun’aq Tribe), Director of the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, Alaska. The lecture will take place at 2 p.m. at the Kerby Room (CE-340) of the Natural History Museum building. For 28 years, the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, Alaska has been a leader in tribal research and museum practice. Kodiak Alutiiq/Sugpiaq tribal organizations and researchers began sponsoring community-based archaeology programs beginning in the 1980s, in response to past archaeological practices that tended to exclude Indigenous perspectives, priorities, and epistemologies. Alutiiq/Sugpiaq research methodologies have continued and expanded into cultural and linguistic studies through projects led by the Alutiiq Museum. Alutiiq scholars have made notable impacts on museum best practices, theory, and public policy while establishing priorities based on community needs. Dr. Counceller will highlight several studies and projects that helped establish the Alutiiq Museum as a leading research museum nationally.

A University of Alaska Fairbanks–led research team has been awarded a $1.9 million federal grant to explore whether seaweeds are absorbing rare-earth elements near a rich deposit in Southeast Alaska. The study will focus on seaweeds in the waters near Bokan Mountain, a remote landmark on Prince of Wales Island known to contain rare-earth elements. Starting in March 2024, researchers will collect and analyze seaweed samples to determine whether significant amounts of metals that have washed into the ocean are being absorbed.

The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday to discuss what it sees as growing threats in Arctic regions, with a particular focus on Russia and China. The Republican-led panel is increasingly concerned about the ways some U.S. adversaries are using the polar waters to set up trade routes and potentially create strategic military positions. In particular, the committee hopes to learn more about how Beijing and Moscow are starting to take advantage of the area and what risks that may pose to the U.S.

A Coast Guard leader and Republican senator on Wednesday spotlighted the depleted U.S. icebreaker fleet in the Arctic and warned of the consequences of falling further behind Russia and China in the area. The U.S. has two national polar icebreakers — the heavy Polar Star, which was produced in 1976, and the medium Healy, which is focused on scientific operations and has to undergo annual repairs.

"By studying the effects of global warming on the polar biosphere and glaciers, we can predict major impacts it could have on the Earth's climate and environment in the coming decades if global warming continues," a Chinese researcher said.

The Fulbright Arctic Initiative (FAI) brings together a network of professionals, practitioners, and researchers from Arctic Council member countries to address key research and policy related questions through a diverse, multi-dimensional, cooperative framework including monthly webinars, thematic group collaboration, three in-person meetings, and an individual exchange experience. Application deadline: March 1, 2024

For more than 100 years AGU has been opening science—opening pathways to discovery, opening greater awareness to address climate change, opening greater collaborations to lead to solutions and opening the fields and professions of science to a whole new age of justice equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. This year, as AGU convenes >25,000 attendees from 100+ countries in San Francisco for AGU23, the theme is: Wide. Open. Science.

This event is part of the Arctic Environmental Humanities Workshop Series. The Arctic is warming four times faster than anywhere else on Earth, as a recent article in Nature confirmed (Rantanen et al, August 2022). The High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is often invoked as a living laboratory of such accelerated climate change, but Svalbard’s human history has generated social, aesthetic, and political change for centuries. Join this interdisciplinary conversation as we explore the dynamic social, geopolitical, and cultural forces transforming this unique and cosmopolitan place now and into the future. The speakers include the authors and editors of two major new books: Zdenka Sokolíčková, author of The Paradox of Svalbard: Climate Change and Globalisation in the Arctic (2023), and Mathias Albert, Dina Brode-Roger, and Lisbeth Iverson, editors of Svalbard Imaginaries: The Making of an Arctic Archipelago (2023).

The Alaska Marine Science Symposium (AMSS), has been bringing together scientists, educators, resource managers, students, and interested public for thirty years to discuss the latest marine research being conducted in Alaskan waters. Over 700 people attend this 4-day long conference held annually during the month of January.

The Arctic Frontiers annual conference aims to connect different expertise and perspectives from areas such as policy, science, and business. It is an arena for networking and knowledge exchange.

Arctic360’s Annual Event brings together Northern and Indigenous governments, institutions, and corporations; global finance; state leaders; mining, innovation, and other industry leaders; and Arctic experts from Canada and around the circumpolar North to advance the conversation and foster action for building a sustainable, peaceful, and prosperous Arctic region.

The 52nd International Arctic Workshop will be held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The International Arctic Workshop is a friendly, informal, and relaxed conference open to all students and professionals interested in the Arctic. Originally started at INSTAAR at the University of Colorado - Boulder, the Arctic Workshop alternates between INSTAAR and an international host. This year, University of Massachusetts with the department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences & Climate System Research center will be hosting. The event website will be available in August.

Abstract deadline: February 25, 2024

The 7th biennial AOS as part of Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 2024. The AOS draws a wide range of participants from across the spectrum of Arctic observing – Indigenous experts, operational agency representatives, scientists, and others – from around the world. Much of the summit is organized around discussions led by working groups on particular themes (Regional to global observing, Data sharing, System implementation/SAON ROADS, Observing System Benefits). In addition to plenary and working group sessions, this year we will include additional breakout sessions. 

As the largest Arctic policy and business conference in North America, with partners and convenings worldwide, the Arctic Encounter continues to gather leading voices from around the world. The Arctic Encounter is eager to welcome 1,000+ participants to Alaska for a world-class arts and cultural experience, including policy debates, dialogue with international leaders, business executives, Indigenous peoples, scientists, students, defense leaders, diplomats, policymakers, and more.

Nordland Research Institute and NORD University host this event. The congress includes high-level plenary sessions, several parallel sessions, network activities, and social and cultural events. Researchers, policymakers, businesses, and students exchange knowledge and connect across the Arctic. IASSA and UArctic will also hold their General Assemblies.

The 12^th International Conference on Permafrost will consider “Integrating Perspectives of Permafrost Thaw, Change, and Adaptation.” Event partners include the Canadian Permafrost Association, IPA, and Yukon University.

In lead up to its 35th anniversary in 2025, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) is coordinating a multi-year planning process for the Fourth International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV) that will engage Arctic researchers, policymakers, residents, and stakeholders from around the world to collegially discuss the state of Arctic science, the place the Arctic occupies in global affairs and systems, to consider the most urgent knowledge gaps and research priorities that lie before us and to explore avenues to address these research needs. This event is hosted by a consortium of US institutions, including the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Northern Iowa, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Alaska Pacific University. ICARP I, II, and III focused the attention of the world’s researchers toward the value of strategic international coordination in accelerating progress in addressing critical challenges. ICARP IV will build upon this concept by striving to achieve consensus and build collaborations among the leading scientific, academic, environmental, Indigenous and political organizations currently concerned with Arctic issues.