The COP26 summit will bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Maritime Risk Symposium is an annual three-day conference in which government and maritime industry leaders, port representatives, researchers, and solution providers convene to examine current and emerging threats to maritime security. Government agencies, commercial entities, institutions of research, and higher education come together to discuss various threats, challenges, and risks to international and domestic maritime sectors.

Former USARC Commissioner Major General Randy “Church” Kee USAF (retired) will be a member of two panels: “Arctic Climate Change— ‘Operationally Relevant’ Arctic-Related Research;” and the summation panel. USARC Executive Director John Farrell will also be a panelist on the “Arctic Climate Change—‘Operationally Relevant’ Arctic-Related Research” panel.

A remote Siberian town now has its own miniature nuclear plant as a Russian state company tests a new model for residential heating. Some see it as a tool to minimize climate change.

By providing global measurements of atmospheric temperature and humidity with frequent revisit times, the polar-orbiting Arctic Weather Satellite (AWS) mission will complement the European MetOp and its counterpart US NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System. Its launch is scheduled for 2024 and a constellation may follow this prototype mission aiming to allow very short-range weather forecasting, or ‘nowcasting’, in the Arctic.

The United States reminds Canada and Russia often that Washington regards the Northern Sea Route and the Northwest Passage as straits used for international navigation, not exclusively theirs to control, an international maritime law expert said Wednesday. James Kraska, a professor at the Naval War College, said that with warming waters, military planners are regarding these waters “as a surface [area] for operations,” recognizing that the “oceans are going to be the quickest way to move large forces” from one place to another.

Over the past few decades, the annual average temperature in the Arctic has increased almost twice as fast as it has elsewhere in the world. Although the main driver of this warming is the global increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide, various climate forcers and feedback processes amplify Arctic warming. Black carbon (BC) aerosols in the Arctic have been attracting attention as a climate forcer that accelerates this warming.

The European Commission and the European External Action Service will organize a high-level EU Arctic Forum and the Annual Arctic Indigenous Peoples’ Dialogue. The EU Arctic Forum will bring together key Arctic players and stakeholders to assess recent developments in the region and discuss challenges ahead. The event will provide a strategic outlook for the updated EU Arctic policy and delve into topics that are of particular significance for the Arctic’s inhabitants.

Museums in and of the North are leading the way in creative conversations about how museums and collections can generate new narratives with old objects. Join us for a virtual roundtable discussion with Arctic museum curators and scholars speaking about museums as engines of Indigenous cultural renewal, community knowledge, decolonial efforts, creative innovation, and more.

The New England Arctic Network (NEAN) will host its 2021 meeting at the University of New England in Portland, Maine. Additional information will be published soon. 

The Wilson Center's Polar Institute is pleased to co-sponsor the 14th Polar Law Symposium, which will be a hybrid event co-hosted by the Polar Cooperation Research Centre (Kobe University, Japan), Polar Law Institute (University of Akureyri, Iceland), Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law – Arctic Centre (University of Lapland, Finland), University of the Arctic and its Arctic Law Thematic Network (Finland).

Hosted entirely online the ArcticNet Virtual Annual Scientific Meeting 2021 (ASM2021) is a hub for Arctic research in Canada. The ASM2021 brings together researchers from the natural, health, and social sciences to meet the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing Arctic region, shaped by climate change and modernization. This conference will push the boundaries of our collective understanding of the Arctic and strengthen our ability to address the Arctic issues of today and tomorrow.

The National Academies’ Polar Research Board is convening the following session at the Fall AGU meeting.

Arctic Symposium 2022 continues momentum in Arctic defense and security collaboration established in prior ALCOM-hosted events. AAS22 seeks to address the challenges faced by the U.S. military and our allies and partners in understanding and responding to our respective national interests. AAS22 is planned and organized by the Arctic Domain Awareness Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) in support and in compliance to guidance from Alaskan Command (ALCOM) Staff and Commander. More information available soon.

The participants in the forum will focus on improving the living standards in the Arctic region, preserving its unique ecological potential, ensuring sustainable socioeconomic development in polar territories, and strengthening international cooperation to this end. The IAF is a unique space for constructive cooperation with international and regional organizations and an opportunity to focus on Russian and international priorities, including climate change, the environment, economic cooperation in the Arctic, sustainable development of transport infrastructure, and human capital development.

Organizers announce, that due to the coronavirus outbreak, the 2nd Symposium on Polar Microbes and Viruses has been postponed to 2022. This symposium will bring together molecular microbial ecologists specializing in different organism groups to share our latest results and discuss methodological problems, as well as future prospects in the field, including practical international collaborations. The environmental focus will be on cryospheric environments including sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets, and permafrost, but excellent research in other polar environments is also invited. The methods to be discussed will focus on 'omics' techniques, ranging from single cells to metagenomes, but research using additional methods is encouraged as well.