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Today's C
ongressional Action:
The House and Senate will be in session and expected to consider non-Arctic legislation.
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Media
 Arctic Lakes Melting Earlier and Earlier Each Year, Recent 14-Year Study Shows. Lakes across the Arctic are melting up to and more than a day earlier per year, according to a new study by scientists at a U.K. university.
The study looks at five different regions in the Arctic and gathers information from satellite images of 13,300 lakes between 2000 and 2013. "The kinds of trends that we've got indicate that, without any doubt at all, basically almost all lakes are getting their ice-out earlier year after year," said Mary Edwards, professor of geography and environment at the University of Southampton.
CBC News
Russian Icebreaker Ends Longest Navigation Season. The nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy has successfully completed a long, unprecedented navigation season after escorting a three-ship convoy comprised of the module carrier AUDAX, the freighter Arktika-1 and the tanker Shturman Ovtsyn along the Northern Sea Route, TASS reports, quoting the press service of Rosatomflot. Rosatomflot's Deputy Director for Fleet Operations Andrei Smirnov said, "This is the first late-season straight-through transit season, running from December 2016 through early January 2017, with one icebreaker escorting three vessels of different types."
The Arctic
 A Finnish Researcher Studies the Loneliness of the Arctic. The topic ofAnna Reetta Rönkä's research, loneliness, is both a universal experience and one particular to the Arctic, where feelings of isolation may be reinforced by the realities of dwelling in a remote, far-flung community. Young people may have few peers in smaller communities, yet moving to larger urban centers presents its own challenges in establishing new social ties.
Rönkä, a PhD candidate at the University of Oulu, Finland, is focusing in particular on loneliness among adults in the north of her home country. "When it comes to loneliness and other related, negative, socioemotional issues like violence, substance abuse and suicide, the Arctic area represents an especially fragile context," Rönkä told Arctic Deeply.
News Deeply
Fukuskima Radiation Yet, and Unlikely to Affect Alaska Seafood. After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, food safety authorities, including the FDA, reported it would be highly unlikely that radiation would affect Pacific seafood in the U.S. But Marlena Brewer, the spokesperson for DEC, said there was still significant public concern in Alaska. "Fishing is such a huge part of our lives here, so I think that there was this overwhelming concern," Brewer said. "They wanted to see Alaska specific data."
Alaska Public Radio
Alaska Suicide Prevention. Yes, suicide rates appear to have gone up in 2015, but there are solutions. Alaska Public Media talks to researchers who have been working with communities in the YK Delta for 20 years developing prevention programs based on Yup'ik values instead of Western systems and about the effectiveness of some Western systems. Alaska Public Media will also delve into both historical trauma and historical resiliency - what makes Alaskan communities and people stronger.
Alaska Public Radio
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Legislative Action
No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.
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Future Events
ARCUS Arctic Research Seminar with Craig Fleener, January 11, 2017 (Washington, DC USA). The Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) will host the next Arctic Research Seminar Series event featuring Craig Fleener (State of Alaska Arctic Policy Advisor). The ARCUS Arctic Research Seminar Series brings some of the leading Arctic researchers to Washington, D.C. to share the latest findings and what they mean for decision-making. These seminars will be of interest to Federal agency officials, Congressional staff, NGOs, associations, and the public.
Alaska Marine Science Symposium, January 23-27, 2017 (Anchorage, AK USA). The annual Alaska Marine Science Symposium (AMSS) is Alaska's premier marine research conference. It brings together roughly 800 scientists, educators, resource managers, students, and interested public to discuss marine research being conducted in Alaskan waters. Research will be presented by geographic theme, including the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea & Aleutian Islands, and the Arctic. Topic areas will include ocean physics, fishes and invertebrates, seabirds, marine mammals, local traditional knowledge and more. Keynote presentations will be held Monday, January 23rd; Gulf of Alaska presentations will be on Tuesday, Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands on Wednesday, followed by the Arctic on Thursday.
Alaska Forum on the Environment, February 6-10, 2017 (Anchorage, AK USA). This statewide gathering of environmental professionals, community leaders, Alaskan youth, conservationists, biologists and community elders will be holding its 19th meeting to continue providing a strong educational foundation for all Alaskans and a unique opportunity to interact with others on environmental issues and challenges. As many as 1,800 people are expected to attend AFE this years meeting.
6th Annual Fletcher Arctic Conference, February 17-18, 2017 (Medford, MA USA). Fletcher Arctic VI, a TEDx-style event, will showcase the ideas, stories, and initiatives of people who live and work in the Arctic. The conference will bring together inspiring leaders, innovative business people, expert scientists, and artists from the pan-Arctic region. Building on The Fletcher School's interdisciplinary approach, Fletcher Arctic VI will be a forum to engage in conversation and spark open and constructive debate between speakers and participants, providing deep insights into this unique and rapidly changing region.
IV International Forum, March 2017 (Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation)
Arkhangelsk will host the Forum. The Forum will be titled Human in the Arctic and will be aimed at putting together joint efforts of the international community to promote effective development of the Arctic region as a territory for comfort life, work and leisure. The Forum will be attended by government officials, representatives of international organizations and prominent business communities, centers for political studies, Polar researchers and members of the international Arctic expeditions, foreign political scientists and economists, Russian and foreign journalists from leading international media organizations. The Forum will be attended by the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Vladimir Putin. Additional information will be announced
here
.
- The Arctic Cryosphere
- Pollution in the Arctic
- Human Health Aspects of Pollution and Climate Change
- Global and Arctic Systems Feedback Mechanisms
- Resilience within Arctic Ecosystems
- Science and Policy Making
- Socio-Economic Drivers and Impacts of Arctic Change
Organizers announce a call for abstracts which are due by December 2, 2016. The event is organized by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP).
Ninth International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences: People and Places (ICASS IX), June 8-12, 2017 (Umea, Sweden).
ICASS IX's theme is People & Place. Research on social sciences and humanities have a great responsibility to address the challenges for sustainable development in the Arctic, with a specific focus on the many different parts of the Arctic and the people that live there. The multiple Arctics have lately been addressed by many policy makers and researchers. The purpose is often to counteract the stereotypic understanding of the Arctic too often represented by icebergs and polar bears. A focus on people and place highlights the many variances across the region in terms of climate, political systems, demography, infrastructure, history, languages, legal systems, land and water resources etc.
The 2nd Asian Conference on Permafrost, July 2-6, 2017 (Sapporo, Japan). Delegates will participate in state-of-the-art oral and poster presentations in the modern city of Sapporo (host of the 1972 Winter Olympics). Field trips will visit marginal and extrazonal mountain permafrost sites that support unique geo-eco-hydrological features. All aspects of frozen ground research will be covered, from needle ice to deep permafrost, from frozen ground engineering in cities to permafrost on volcanoes, and from links between frozen ground and ancient cultures to present-day outreach. Plan now to enjoy science and engineering, excellent food, and unique field trips in Sapporo.
Co-hosted by U.S. National/Naval Ice Center (NIC) and the U.S. Arctic Research Commission (USARC). A biennial symposium originating in 2001 that focuses on U. S. naval operations and national strategic issues in an "ice-free Arctic." This symposium brings together nationally and internationally recognized experts on Arctic observations, climate change, and maritime operations.
- 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.
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.
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.
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 storages and permafrost degradation.
- *Impacts of permafrost hydrology changes on local communities."
** New this week** VII International Conference on Cryopedology, August 21-25, 2017 (Yaktsk, 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.
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