Arctic Update Header
October 14, 2016
 
Today's C ongressional Action:   
The House and Senate are not in session.
Media   

permafrost Slow-Motion Wrecks: How Thawing Permafrost is Destroying Arctic Cities. At first, Yury Scherbakov thought the cracks appearing in a wall he had installed in his two-room flat were caused by shoddy workmanship. But then other walls started cracking, and then the floor started to incline. "We sat on the couch and could feel it tilt," says his wife, Nadezhda, as they carry furniture out of the flat. Yury wasn't a poor craftsman, and Nadezhda wasn't crazy: one corner of their five-storey building at 59 Talnakhskaya Street in the northern Russian city of Norilsk was sinking as the permafrost underneath it thawed and the foundation slowly disintegrated. In March 2015, local authorities posted notices in the stairwells that the building was condemned. The Guardian
 
Loss of Arctic Sea Ice Thins Alaskan Lakes.
"The air on the Alaskan North Slope gets cold very quickly: temperatures well below freezing are not uncommon in September and it gets even colder in October," Vladimir Alexeev of the University of Alaska Fairbanks told environmentalresearchweb. "Therefore, if the Arctic Ocean is ice-free in October it significantly warms up the cold air, and also adds more humidity to the air. This warm and moist air travels inland where it warms the surface and loses moisture. The moisture precipitates out as snow, which insulates lake ice and slows its growth."  Field and satellite measurements have indicated that seasonal Arctic lake ice is thinning. At the same time September sea ice concentrations have generally declined. To find out more about any linkage between these phenomena, Alexeev and colleagues forced a lake ice growth model with outputs from the Weather Research and Forecasting model.   Environmental Research Web
 
Finland Set to Chair Arctic Council as Member Relations Sour. Finland will assume the two-year rotating chairmanship position of the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum addressing sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic, in May 2017. The council was founded two decades ago and includes the countries of Iceland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Russia and the US, along with 12 additional observer countries that include China and India. In addition, six organizations representing Arctic indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants are permanent participants. YLE

Two National Parks to be Established in Russia's Arctic Zone by 2020. Russia plans to create two new national parks on its Arctic territory by 2020, according to Special Presidential Representative for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport Sergei Ivanov. "Before 2020, two new national parks will be established -Tsentralnochukotsky in the Chukotka Autonomous Area and Khibiny in the Murmansk Region as well as Medvezhyi Ostrova (Bear Islands) reserve in Yakutia," Mr Ivanov said at the conference International Cooperation in the Arctic: New Challenges and Vectors of Development." The Arctic
 
Arctic Climate Change: Fears of More Damage as Fish Move North. Most of the cod and haddock we eat comes from the seas around the Arctic, where rapidly receding sea ice means an entire new ocean is being uncovered. Environmentalists are concerned that, despite a voluntary moratorium protecting pristine Arctic waters, irreparable damage could be done by fishing trawlers. The Global Herald

Climate Change Could Drive 1 in 6 Species to Extinction by 2100.
Two-thirds of  polar bears  could vanish by 2050, thanks to melting sea ice. But the effects of a warming climate aren't limited to the Arctic Circle. About  1 in 6 species  could go extinct by the end of the century, including some you might not expect.  Warming oceans spell trouble for  lobsters . Climate scientists forecast the waters off the coast of Maine could be 5 degrees warmer by 2100, too warm for the local lobsters to survive.  Warm, acidic waters also threaten  corals . These reef ecosystems help feed  millions of people  on land and help drive billion-dollar economies, and within 100 years, some experts warn they could be collapsing.   WPTV
 
US, Russia Can Do Better Job on Scientific Research in Arctic Region. The US commissioner explained that back in 2013 the United States and Russia decided to work on a scientific research program in the Chuckchi Sea involving US and Russian research vessels but the financial resources for that have not been found yet. "The one place where we cooperate well but we could do a better job is in scientific research [in the Arctic region]," Benton said on the sidelines of the international conference dedicated to the international cooperation in the region underway in Moscow. Sputnik News

Cold Vengeance: The Epic Story of Humanity and Arctic. Join Pulitzer Center grantee Eli Kintisch on Sunday, October 16, 2016, for "Cold Vengeance: The Epic Story of Humanity and Arctic" at American University. Kintisch explores the Arctic's history and modern unraveling through photos, video footage and the stories of the region's inhabitants, explorers and scientists. The Arctic is warming at twice the global average rate, but the effects of its thaw could affect billions far from its frozen shores.  Kintisch is a Washington, D.C.-based, award-winning correspondent for   Science   magazine who has traveled to seven Arctic nations since 2013 and has witnessed the thawing of the region. Last year, an article he wrote on how the Arctic might be impacting global weather was included in the annual   Best American Science and Nature Writing   anthology. Pulitzer Center
 
Canadian Government Recruiting Polar Knowledge Canada Board Members. The Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett, has launched a selection process for a vice-chairperson and up to seven regular member of the Polar Knowledge Canada (POLAR) Board of Directors. These are part-time positions. The application deadline is October 28, 2016. The Government of Canada

Legislative Action futureevents   

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.
Future Events
 
Arctic Technology Conference, October 24-26, 2016 (St. John's, Canada).  Founded in 1969, the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) is the world's foremost event for the development of offshore resources in the fields of drilling, exploration, production and environmental protection. The Arctic Technology Conference (ATC) is built upon OTC's successful multidisciplinary approach, with 14 technical societies and organizations working together to deliver the world's most comprehensive Arctic event.

Fulbright Arctic Week. October 25-27 (Washington, DC) The 18-month Fulbright Arctic Initiative supports U.S. priorities on Arctic issues and increasing mutual understanding between Americans and those in other countries. As a culmination of the program, 17 scholars will be presenting their work at public events. Other invited speakers will include officials from the Inuit Circumpolar Council, Arctic Executive Steering Committee, and U.S. Arctic Youth Ambassadors, among other. For more information, please visit the  Fulbright Arctic Week website  and/or  register your interest for updates
 
October 25, 2-5:30pm - Smithsonian Natural History Museum
October 26, 2-5pm - Arctic Policy Dialogue at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
October 27, 9am-4:30pm - Fulbright Arctic Symposium at the National Academy of Sciences (Constitution Ave. location)

ARCUS Arctic Research Seminar Series with George Divoky, October 26, 2016 (Washington, DC USA).  The Arctic Research Consortium of the US (ARCUS) is pleased to announce the Arctic Research Seminar Series event "Years of Change: a seabird responds to a melting Arctic." The ARCUS Arctic Research Seminar Series brings some of the leading Arctic researchers to Washington, DC to share the latest findings and what they mean for decision-making. These seminars will be interest to Federal agency officials, Congressional staff, NGOs, associations, and the public. 

Towing Safety Advisory Committee, October 2016 Meeting, October 26-27, 2016 (Washington, DC USA). The Towing Safety Advisory Committee will meet in Washington, DC, to review and discuss recommendations from its Subcommittees and to receive briefs. This committee is established in accordance with, and operates under the provisions of, the Federal Advisory Committee Act. As stated in 33 U.S.C. 1231a, the Towing Safety Advisory Committee provides advice and recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security on matters  relating to shallow-draft inland and coastal waterway navigation and  towing safety.

Converging Interests: Maritime & Arctic Security & Safety Conference (MASS16), October 27-28, 2016 (Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada). MASS16 will once again focus on the challenges associated with both northern and maritime environments. The aim of the Government of Canada and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador supported international conference is to promote stakeholder collaboration, technological innovation, harsh environment research & development, and world-class education efforts that are contributing to various components of northern development. 
 
The 5th Forum for Arctic Modeling and Observational Synthesis (FAMOS) project School and Meeting, November 1-4, 2016 (Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA). The major goals of the meeting are to discuss results of ongoing FAMOS activities, and to plan 2016-2017 coordinated modeling and observing projects, with a special focus on high and very high spatiotemporal resolution processes. You can register here.

** New this week **  1st International Muskox Health Ecology Symposium, November 7-10, 2016 (Calgary, AB Canada). The goal of this symposium is to share knowledge on muskox health ecology and sustainability across a variety of international stakeholders including community members/users, industry, wildlife management, and academia. We will discuss: the values, ecological, economic, social and cultural, of muskoxen; population status and trends; threats, vulnerabilities and resilience or sustainability; knowledge gaps; disease ecology; and existing and new tools for muskox health monitoring and research. For more information, please contact Susan Kutz.

Annual Scientific Meeting 2016, December 5-9, 2016 (Winnipeg, MP Canada). ArcticNet   will host its 12th Annual Scientific Meeting.  The ASM2016 will welcome researchers, students, Inuit, Northerners, policy makers and stakeholders to address the numerous environmental, social, economical and political challenges and opportunities that are emerging from climate change and modernization in the Arctic. As the largest annual Arctic research gathering held in Canada, ArcticNet's ASM is the ideal venue to showcase results from all fields of Arctic research, stimulate discussion and foster collaborations among those with a vested interest in the Arctic and its peoples.

POLAR 2018, June 15-27, 2018 (Davos, Switzerland).  POLAR2018 is a joint event from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). The SCAR meetings, the ASSW and the Open Science Conference will be hosted by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL under the patronage of the Swiss Committee on Polar and High Altitude Research. The WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF is organizing POLAR2018.

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