Can Russia claim absolute control of all navigation along the Northern Sea Route, or will the freedom of navigation act under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) allow for innocent passage right through straights whose baselines are within territorial waters?

Climate change is “real, rapid and relentless,” an international conference in Brussels on the Arctic was told. The comments were made by Mike Sfraga, who chairs the influential U.S Arctic Research Commission, and who gave an address to the Arctic Futures Symposium. The event was told that the impact of global warming is accelerating four times faster in the Arctic than the rest of the world.

This week, President Biden is hosting the second Tribal Nations Summit of his Administration to help foster Nation-to-Nation relationships and provide Tribal leaders with an opportunity to engage directly with senior Administration officials. Since taking office, President Biden has prioritized relationships with Tribal Nations that are built on respect for Tribal sovereignty and self-governance, honoring federal trust and treaty responsibilities, protecting Tribal homelands, and conducting regular, meaningful, and robust consultation. The President has also advanced an economic agenda that includes historic levels of funding specifically for Tribal communities and Native people, including $32 billion in the American Rescue Plan (ARP), $13 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and $700 million in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The Biden-Harris administration today announced the launch of a new Voluntary Community-Driven Relocation program, led by the Department of the Interior, to assist Tribal communities severely impacted by climate-related environmental threats. Through investments from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the Department is committing $115 million for 11 severely impacted Tribes to advance relocation efforts and adaptation planning. Additional support for relocation will be provided by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and the Denali Commission.

In addition to rising air temperatures and warming waters, Arctic sea ice also has hostile weather conditions to contend with, and new analysis of an extreme event earlier this year suggests it may be more vulnerable to these than we thought. Scientists studying the effects of the strongest Arctic cyclone on record have found it caused a huge and rapid loss of sea ice, which was “pummeled” by heaving waves.

It was the middle of winter under a moody Alaskan sky. On one side stretched the flat expanse of the Colville River. On the other, a soaring cliff face of frozen pewter-grey rock, backing onto hundreds of miles of desolate tundra. Armed with an ice-axe and crampons, buffeted by frigid Arctic winds in temperatures that hovered around -28C (-20F), Pat Druckenmiller was searching for something special.

The combined population of Arctic foxes across the Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian areas of Lapland may have hit a record high this year, according to David Bell, the head of the Felles Fjellrev Nord II project. The EU-funded Nord II project aims to save and protect the highly-endangered Arctic fox, which is also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox.

The “Ural,” Russia’s third vessel of the powerful LK-60 class, makes its maiden voyage to its home port of Murmansk. The 173-metre long nuclear-powered icebreaker arrived in Murmansk on Thursday this week after a six-day voyage from the Baltic Yard in St. Petersburg. It moored at Atomflot, the nuclear icebreaker base in the Kola Bay operated by the nuclear power company Rosatom.

When David Kuptana looked out the window of his home in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., and across the Beaufort Sea last Friday, he saw something unusual for November — open water, just two kilometres away. “We never used to have that. We used to have frozen solid ice,” he said. Ulukhaktok, a small coastal community on the west bank of Victoria Island, is north of the Arctic Circle. It’s where Kuptana, a full-time hunter, was born and raised.

This event is part of the Arctic Studies Center’s Ernest “Tiger” Burch Memorial Lecture Series. Viking women have been portrayed as members of the society, mostly concerned with the household and childrearing work but rarely standing out as exceptional players in their communities. These views are slowly being challenged in today’s scholarship, particularly regarding the Viking communities established across the Norse diaspora in Iceland, the Faroes, and Greenland after ca. 800 AD.

AGU Fall Meeting is the most influential event in the world dedicated to the advancement of Earth and space sciences. Every year, AGU Fall Meeting unites the Earth and space science community to share findings, connect like-minded scientists from around the world, and advance our profession and shared passion for the impact of science.

The Arctic Circle Abu Dhabi Forum is organized by Arctic Circle and the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) in association with the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Climate Change and Environment. Theme: Third Pole - Himalayas and the Arctic Model. The melting of the Third Pole / Himalayan glaciers carries water security implications for 1.65 billion people. The region will experience profound ecological and geophysical transformations as a result of climate change. As outlined in the 2019 Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment, the scope of these consequences is not fully understood and scientific data is lacking.

The key topics of Arctic Frontiers 2023 will reflect transformation, modeling, adaptation, and development in the rapidly changing global landscape. Furthermore, business development in viable industries and Arctic health will feature, due to their relevance with the concept of Moving North. While looking at both the long-term and short-term impacts of the environmental, humanitarian, and economic crises, looking for potential solutions will be a key driver of the Arctic Frontiers 2023: Moving North conference. 

The National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara, California hosts this in-person workshop will provide researchers with an overview of reproducible and ethical research practices, steps and methods for more easily documenting and preserving their data at the Arctic Data Center, and an introduction to programming in R. Special attention will be paid to qualitative data management, including practices working with sensitive data. Example datasets will draw from natural and social sciences, and methods for conducting reproducible research will be discussed in the context of both qualitative and quantitative data.

This event is organized by the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC)and hosted by the Austrian Polar Research Institute (APRI). This event provides opportunities for coordination, cooperation, and collaboration between the various scientific organizations involved in Arctic research. It was initiated by the IASC in 1999. This event includes a Science Symposium. These symposia create a platform for exchanging knowledge, cross-fertilization, and collaboration and attract scientists, students, policymakers, and other professionals from all over the world.

The Arctic360 annual conference brings together Northern and Indigenous governments, institutions, and corporations; global financial institutions, 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.

Arctic Circle and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation are pleased to announce new dates for the Japan Forum. The Forum will focus on Asia in the Future of the Arctic: science, geopolitics, economy, oceans, climate, and technology.

The International Symposium on Arctic Research (ISAR) has been held every two years since 2008 and aims to present and discuss scientific results with researchers on the Arctic from all-over the world, extracting and sharing issues to solve, and exploring the future of the Arctic. ISAR-7 will consist of General Sessions and Special Sessions. General Sessions will address the following topics: atmosphere; ocean and sea ice; rivers, lakes, permafrost, and snow cover; ice sheets, glaciers, and ice cores; terrestrial ecosystems; marine ecosystems; geospacer; laws, politics, and economy; language, culture, and health; and, engineering for sustainable development.

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

The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) is where energy professionals meet to exchange ideas and opinions to advance scientific and technical knowledge for offshore resources and environmental matters. The conference will include presentations discussing technical solutions, innovations, and advancements of all aspects of the offshore energy industry. Participants will include operators, research, vendors, and stakeholders. The experience of the last 50 years in the Arctic will be in attendance. That expertise and knowledge is available to move forward and support energy, mining, renewables, marine transport, tourism, and other activities in the harshest environments.

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.