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August 9, 2017
 
As the Symposium is organized jointly by two leading Research Institutes of Russian Academy of Science - Institute of Water Problems and Melnikov Permafrost Institute, particularly the contributions on following research topics are welcome:
  • Observational evidences of change in coupled permafrost-hydrology system.
  • Present state and future projections of local, regional and pan-Arctic hydrology.
  • Modeling studies representing landscape evolution, dynamics of water storage and permafrost degradation.
  • Impacts of permafrost hydrology changes on local communities.
Media   
 
Salmon Free Alaskan Salmon: Just Bring a Net and Expect a Crowd. Wenceslous Fru, a physician assistant from Anchorage, stood on the sandy shore of the Kenai River and imagined the dinner he would put together once he felt the jostle of a salmon in his long-handled dip net. He would make it the way they do back home in Cameroon, splitting it down the belly and opening it like a book, rubbing it with ginger, garlic and spices, and then slipping it under the broiler. Fishing nearby, Raviwan Dougherty, an Anchorage restaurant worker from Thailand, envisioned steaming hers and bathing it in fish sauce, lime juice and chiles. New York Times
 
In Angoon, a Rural Water System Gets Help From Beavers. The village of Angoon's drinking water comes from a lake held up by a beaver dam. That might sound sketchy, but the beavers are one of reasons the city has public water. Not all Alaska towns do.  For about the past seven years, the federal dollars for Alaska's water and sewer projects has remained flat. That's a big problem in rural parts of the state, where the existing infrastructure is getting old, and the cost to replace or upgrade those systems is growing. KTOO
 
RSV Mikhail Somov Completes Her First Arctic Stations Resupply Mission 2017. The ice-class Research / Survey Vessel of North Territorial Department for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (HEMD) Mikhail Somov has returned to Arkhangelsk yesterday, Aug 8 from her first voyage this year to supply the Arctic stations with vital cargoes, the HEMD press office said. The 2017 resupply mission included delivery of fuel, foodstuffs, equipment, tools, medicines, overalls and other supplies to remote polar stations (FDS) of Murmansk HEMD and Severnoye HEMD. The vessel also delivered construction materials and teams of workers for renovation of premises at Marine Hydrometeorological Station-2 (MG-2) Kanin Nos, MG-2 Severny Kolguev, MG-2 Indiga, MG-2 Ust-Kara, MG-2 Solovki and Y. Fedorov MG-2. PortNews IAA
 
Yamal to Study Icelandic Experience in Arctic Agriculture. The Yamal-Nenets delegation will study Icelandic agricultural and municipal administration expertise during its official visit to Iceland, the area's Department of International and Foreign Economic Relations told TASS. Yamal officials will learn how to grow vegetables using geothermal energy. "The Yamal-Nenets official delegation <...> will be on a business trip to Iceland until August 12. Yamal officials will visit local Icelandic agricultural companies: a cheese plant, a dairy cooperative in Reykjavik, and a fishing company. They will also study Icelandic experience in growing vegetables using geothermal energy," the department's spokesperson said. The Arctic
 
Coast Guard Seal US Coast Guard Prints Spare Parts at Sea. For the average person, tracking down a spare part is merely an annoyance. But for the crew of a Coast Guard cutter, the availability of spare parts can be important to mission completion or can greatly affect their work environment. The Coast Guard Research and Development Center in New London, Connecticut, is currently studying how the use of 3-D printing technology might improve mission readiness through logistical support. Now in the evaluation phase, 3-D printers are available for crew use on five Coast Guard cutters as well as at several operational shore units, including Base New Orleans and the Surface Forces Logistics Center Engineering Services Division in Baltimore. This research will help identify ways in which 3-D printing can best be implemented to provide maximum benefits to the Coast Guard. Maritime Executive
 
Add Greenland to the Growing List of Countries on Fire. Greenland, where even the capital Nuuk, is located north of the Arctic Circle, is mostly famous for one thing-its ice. This isn't exactly a surprise given that roughly 80 percent of the nation is covered in frozen water, mostly in the form of glaciers. What is surprising, however, is, that there's a massive, wildfire burning roughly 90 miles northeast of Sisimiut, a town of 5,500 situated on Greenland's west coast. Popular Science
Future Events

VII International Conference on Cryopedology, August 21-25, 2017 (Yakutsk, Russia). The conference will be hosted by the Institute for Biological Problems of the Cryolithozone of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS). Plenary reports will be organized in the hall of the Academy of Sciences of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. The official languages of the conference are English and Russian (with translation). All technical facilities (projectors, computers, video sets) will be available during the conference for presentation of papers. Additional information will be available soon. See the Facebook page  here.
 
2017 University of the Arctic Rectors' Forum and Conference, August 27-29, 2017 (Aberdeen, Scotland).  This conference will also consider how northern scholarship can add to discussions on the North into broader terrains of intellectual engagement. In so doing, it will challenge dominant paradigms of research in both the natural and the social sciences, above all by calling into question the very separation of the world of nature from that of human society which underwrites the distinction between these two branches of scientific inquiry. In its place the conference will seek to forge a new practice of interdisciplinary research, done in collaboration with northern residents and on their terms, which recognizes that every discipline is itself an ongoing conversation, or a way of knowing, rather than a compartment within an overarching, hierarchically organized system of knowledge. Conversations from the North will, then, help to generate a science that is more open-ended, responsive to environmental variation and respectful of the wisdom of inhabitants. 

2017 Arctic Energy Summit, September 18-20, 2017 (Helsinki, Finland). The 2017 Summit will address energy in the Arctic as it relates to:
  • Small and off-grid community energy solutions
  • Oil and gas development
  • Renewable energy
  • Regulation and Financing
  • Transportation and transmission
The AES is a multi-disciplinary event expected to draw several hundred industry officials, scientists, academics, policy makers, energy professionals and community leaders together to collaborate and share leading approaches on Arctic energy issues.

** New this week **  5th Northern Oil and Gas Research Form, October 11-13, 2017 (Anchorage, Alaska USA). The United States is hosting the 5th Northern Oil and Gas Research Forum from  October 11-13, 2017,  in Anchorage, Alaska. This meeting will feature current research and highlight information needs for management of petroleum activities in the US and Canadian Arctic. Abstracts for poster presentations on research and how research is used in management actions are presently being solicited. Please visit the Forum's website ( here ) for additional details. Deadline for abstract submission is  September 10 . There is no registration fee for the Forum. Please use the website link above for information on registration, agenda, lodging and transportation.

2017 Arctic Circle Assembly, October 13-15, 2017 (Reykjavi­k, Iceland).  The annual Arctic Circle Assembly is the largest annual international gathering on the Arctic, attended by more than 2000 participants from 50 countries. The Assembly is held every October at the Harpa Conference Center and Concert Hall and is attended by heads of states and governments, ministers, members of parliaments, officials, experts, scientists, entrepreneurs, business leaders, indigenous representatives, environmentalists, students, activists and others from the growing international community of partners and participants interested in the future of the Arctic. 

Polar Law Symposium 2017 and Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit, November 13-16, 2017 (Rovaniemi, Finland). The purpose of the Polar Law Symposium is to examine, in detail, the implications of the challenges faced by the Polar Regions for international law and policy and to make recommendations on appropriate actions by states, policy makers and other international actors to respond to these emerging and re-emerging challenges. The Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit  Conference is integrated with the Polar Law Symposium, which will be organized by the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law at the Arctic Center of the University of Lapland.
 
ArcticNet invites the global Arctic research community to Arctic Change 2017! This conference will bring together Arctic researchers and students with Inuit, Northerners and government, industry and NGO stakeholders. The world's foremost Arctic scientists will presen t research  findings and discuss impacts of climate change and modernization. With over 1500 participants expected, Arctic Change 2017 will be one of the largest trans-sectoral international Arctic research conferences held in Canada. We welcome students and early career researchers to participate in "Student Day" at the start of the Conference. See an excerpt from last year:  ArcticNet ASM2016 .
 
ISAR-5 Fifth International Symposium on Arctic Research, January 15-18, 2018 (Tokyo, Japan).  The fifth ISAR has been planned at the recommendation of the science steering committee of ISAR-4, which was held in Toyama, Japan in April 2015. The fifth ISAR will be devoted to discussions on environmental changes in the Arctic and their regional and global implications, to seek additional international scientific collaboration in this area by gathering, synthesizing and sharing information related to these changes occurring in the Arctic. Special emphasis will be placed on the fields of the social sciences and humanities, which were not included in the previous ISARs.  ISAR-5 will consist of general sessions and special sessions. The 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; geospace; policies and economy; and social and cultural dimensions. Special sessions will be solicited on cross-cutting themes.  

The Effects of Climate Change on the World's Oceans, June 4-8, 2018 (Washington, DC USA). 
The 4th International Symposium will bring together experts from around the world to better understand climate impacts on ocean ecosystems - and how to respond. The event is hosted by a variety of groups including International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
 
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.
 
** New this week ** 17th International Congress of Circumpolar Health (ICCH17), August 12-15, 2018 (Copenhagen, Denmark). The ICCH congresses are held every third year in different locations in the circumpolar area and represent the largest scientific meetings worldwide on circumpolar health. The ICCH congresses serve as the primary source of information exchange and scholarly communication in issues relating to circumpolar health. More than 750 participants generally register and participate in each Congress, and more than 400 scientific papers or posters are usually presented.

Arctic Biodiversity Congress, October 9-11, 2018 (Rovaniemi, Finland). The second Arctic Biodiversity Congress is hosted by the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), the biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council, and the Ministry of the Environment, Finland. The second Arctic Biodiversity Congress will build on the success of the first Congress, held in 2014 in Trondheim, Norway, and will bring together scientists, policymakers government officials, Indigenous representatives, Traditional Knowledge holders, industry, non-governmental organizations, and others to promote the conservation and sustainable use of Arctic biodiversity. 

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