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June 21, 2016

14th IATS Seminar, June 19-25, 2016 (Bergen, Norway). The University of Bergen (UiB) is honored to host the 14th IATS Seminar in Bergen, Norway, from Sunday 19 to Saturday 25 June 2016 in co-operation with the Network for University Co-operation Tibet-Norway, an academic network with the universities of Oslo, Bergen and Tromsø as partners. The convenor is Professor Hanna Havnevik, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo, and Chair of the Network. 

11th International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP 2016), June 20-24, 2016 (Potsdam, Germany).  The Alfred Wegener Institute has teamed up with UP Transfer GmbH and the University of Potsdam to organize a great conference for  you, permafrost researchers. The conference aim s at  covering all relevant aspects of permafrost research, engineering and outreach on a global and regional level.

Today's C ongressional Action:   
The House is expected to consider non-Arctic legislation. The Senate is expected to consider the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill.

Media   

NASA-Style Mission Need to Map Ocean Floor. Ocean experts have called for international action to generate the kinds of maps of global seabeds that space missions have already returned for the Moon and Mars. The call to "map the gaps" comes from GEBCO, the General Bathymetric Chart of the Ocean, a body first set up in 1903 to compile maps from naval surveys around the world... "It's a matter of commitment," complains Larry Mayer [US Arctic Research Commissioner], director of the Center for Marine Science and Coastal Engineering at the University of New Hampshire, a world-leading centre of oceanographic expertise. "We could map the entire deep oceans for $3bn - no more than a single Mars mission." BBC News
 
John Kerry Just Visited the Most Stunning Example of Our Changing Climate. On Friday, John Kerry - who has led a push on climate change like perhaps no other U.S. secretary of state, culminating in the Paris climate accord late last year - visited perhaps the starkest indicator of the problem in our hemisphere: the enormous Jakobshavn (or Sermeq Kujalleq) glacier of Greenland. It was part of a far-northern tour that also took Kerry - who this year is leading the United States' chairmanship of the Arctic Council - to the remote Arctic island of Svalbard, where he saw another glacier named Blomstrand. But it's nothing like the monster of Greenland's southwest coast, not far from the town of Ilulissat, one of the frozen island's most populous settlements. The Washington Post
 
Amid Melting Arctic Ice Kerry Sees Looming Climate Castastrophe. Standing near Greenland's Jakobshavn glacier, the reputed source of the iceberg that sank the Titanic over a century ago, U.S Secretary of State John Kerry saw evidence of another looming catastrophe. Giant icebergs broken off from the glacier seemed to groan as they drifted behind him, signaling eventual rising oceans that scientists warn will submerge islands and populated coastal region. Alaska Dispatch News

US Invited Russia and Other Arctic Counties to Join Sea Rescue Exercise. The United States has sent seven Arctic Council member-states invitations to take part in a sea search and rescue exercise to be held this summer, TASS news agency reports, citing Alana Ingram, a member of the US Coast Guard press service. Named Arctic Chinook, the exercise will be organized by the US and is expected to take place on August 22-26. It will mostly be focused on the Bering Strait. All eight Arctic countries, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US, were invited. "So far we don't know who will participate apart from the US," the US Coast Guard spokesperson said, adding that decisions of this kind usually take time. The Arctic

Saving an Arctic Indigenous Language, Child by Child. In Finland's capital city, about 1,000 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, a group of young children can now learn the Saami language, spoken among Indigenous Saami across northern Finland, Sweden, Russia and Norway. Ten children, aged one to five, attend the Máttabiegga Giellabeassi (South Wind Language Nest) located near the busy downtown core of Helsinki. Nunatsiaq Online

Permafrost Thawing Below Shallow Arctic Lakes. New research shows permafrost below shallow Arctic lakes is thawing as a result of changing winter climate. Warmer winters combined with an increase in snowfall during the last 30 years have limited the growth of seasonal lake ice. In response, lakebed temperatures of Arctic lakes less than 1 meter (3 feet) deep have warmed by 2.4 degrees Celsius (4.3 degrees Fahrenheit) during the past three decades, and during five of the last seven years, the mean annual lakebed temperature has been above freezing. Space Daily

Permafrost Thaw Has Risen Fourfold in Some Arctic Regions. Arctic warming is twice as fast as anywhere else in the world. Already average temperatures in the Arctic have risen by more than 3°C since 1900, and sea ice is melting so fast that most scientists believe we'll see an ice-free summer within the next 20 years. Permafrost, some of which has persisted for thousands of years, is rapidly turning to slush. Scars show where land has slumped, but until now few had measured how quickly this change is occurring. Trevor Lantz and Rebecca Segal from the University of Victoria in Canada, and Steve Kokelj from the NWT Geological Survey, used aerial photos and satellite imagery to measure the impact of climate change on thaw slumping in the landscape in four ice-rich regions of northwestern Canada. Scouring the images for signs of slump activity, they were able to assess how much change there had been in the last 50 years or so. Environmental Research Web
 
Council of the European Union Conclusions on the Arctic. The Council discussed the future integrated EU policy for the Arctic with a view to set out a coherent response to the environmental, economic and social challenges of the region, on the basis of the joint communication by the High Representative and the Commission issued in April 2016. An important objective of the EU is to contribute to enhancing socio-economic resilience in the Arctic region, which is home to 4 million inhabitants, while also enhancing environmental resilience. Arctic Journal

Legislative Action futureevents   

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.

Future Events
    
This webinar will review recent conditions and current state of the climate system in and near Alaska and the status of important global climate drivers, review guidance available for the monthly and seasonal scale outlooks and finish up with the official outlooks by NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. The webinar is sponsored by the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment Policy.

** New this week**  Sea Ice Back to 1850: A Longer Observational Record for Assimilation by Models and Use in Reanalyses, June 27, 2106 (Webinar). The NCEI Arctic Team will sponsor a webinar on the use an integrate of data and models in tracking sea ice.

Arctic 2020: Building a Sustained Observing System June 28, 2016 (Fairbanks, Alaska, USA and webinar). With critical past, and potential future environmental changes affecting Alaska and the Arctic Region, the United States needs to rapidly expand long-term observing of the ice and marine environment across the greater Arctic Ocean Basin, as well as conditions across the state of Alaska. This will allow us to better monitor changes across the region, and support stakeholders with improving prediction capabilities for weather, marine ecosystems, sea-ice, and climate. This event is hosted by the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy.

TOW Arctic Broadband Summit, July 13, 2016 (Barrow, Alaska, USA). The Arctic Economic Council, the Iñuit Arctic Business Alliance and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation will host this event. Summit topics include the challenges of connectivity; the government's role in, and commitment to, broadband development; and, private investment opportunities.  Policy leaders, regulators, other government officials, along with industry experts and executives have been invited to present and attend.

A Collaboration with Rural Alaskans: The Driftwood Harvest in a Changing Climate, July 19, 2016 (Webinar). As part of the OneNOAA Science Seminar Series, ACCAP Climate Webinar will sponsor this event. The webinar will consider a study that examined flood events in the Yukon River with the goal of understanding how actual or perceived changes in driftwood availability are related to river hydrology and how future changes in hydrology may affect the driftwood harvest.

Conference on Water Innovations for Healthy Arctic Homes: September 18-21, 2016, Anchorage, Alaska. This circumpolar conference will bring together engineers, health experts, researchers, community members, policymakers, and innovators to discuss health benefits, challenges and innovations associated with making running water and sewer in remote northern communities safe, affordable and sustainable. Information and an expression of interest in attending can be found here. (The full link is:  http://wihah2016.com/)
 
13th International Conference on Gas in Marine Sediments: September 19-22, 2016 (Tromso, Norway).   GIMS 13  promotes the study of natural gas and release systems on a global scale and   facilitates interdisciplinary and international cooperation. The conference   intends to bring together geologists, biologists, microbiologist, geophysicists, oceanographers, geochemists and scientists from modeling disciplines. The forum will provide a platform for current knowledge and future programs in gas inventories, fluxes and their role within the carbon cycle and biodiversity. Conference is organized by CAGE - Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate at UiT The  Arctic University of Norway. Abstract submission deadline is May 30th and registration deadline is June 20th. For more information:  http://gims13.uit.no
 
Bridging the Future of Arctic Social Science Research, September 23-24, 2016 (Monticello, Virginia, USA). The event is sponsored by Arctic Horizons.  The event will reassemble the members of the National Steering Committee and a small but diverse selection of representatives from the five regional workshops, to total about 15 people. The aim will be to identify and synthesize the core threads of the previous workshops and public contributions proffered between workshops. The target output for the workshop will be a final report draft and outline of steps leading to the final report release in June 2016. The Jefferson Institute will manage production of the publication.
 
Second International Conference on Natural Resources and Integrated Development of Coastal Areas in the Arctic Zone, September 27-29, 2016 (Arkhangelsk, Russia).  The Conference is organized by FASO of Russia, Russian Academy of Sciences, Government of Arkhangelsk region, Arkhangelsk Scientific Center and International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). Conference is aimed at elaboration of research-based practical measures and instruments for realization of human, natural and transport-logistical potential of the Arctic zone, including development of the Northern Sea Route and implementation of models of integrated coastal areas management. For additional information, please email.

Arctic Ambitions V: International Business Conference & Trade Show, October 4-5, 2016 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). This once-a-year event uniquely focuses on business and investment opportunities flowing from developments in the Arctic. With interest in commercial development in the Arctic growing rapidly, WTC Anchorage initiated the Arctic Ambitions conference five years ago to address issues such as innovation, investment, infrastructure development, transportation, natural resources, and trade. At the event, corporate executives and senior government officials from across the Arctic, and around the world, make presentations and participate in panel discussions. This year's conference also includes a Trade Show and B2B Matchmaking Session. For more information, please contact Greg Wolf ( greg@wtcak.org) or call 907-278-7233.

Inuit traditions are a repository of Inuit culture and a primary expression of Inuit identity. The theme for the 2016 Inuit Studies Conference invites Elders, knowledge-bearers, researchers, artists, policy-makers, students and others to engage in conversations about the many ways in which traditions shape understanding, while registering social and cultural change. The institutional hosts of "Inuit Traditions," Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Nunatsiavut Government, invite you to contribute to an exchange of knowledge to be held in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, October 7-10, 2016. Presentations on all aspects of Inuit studies will be welcome.

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.
 
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.
 
 

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