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).

Thursday marks the last sunset of Utqiagvik (pronounced uut-kee-ah-vik), Alaska until 2022. You may be more familiar with Barrow, Alaska, which was the town’s name until 2016. Now, Utqiagvik entered into a polar night, which is a phenomenon where the nighttime lasts for more than 24 hours.

“I think it is clear that the Arctic is something that all the US commands are looking at closer. There is this increasing interest of what is going on above the Arctic Circle", Major General Peter B. Andrysiak, Deputy Commanding General of US Army Europe and Africa, tells High North News. The experienced two-star general officer meets with High North News in Bardufoss, a town in the innermost parts of Northern Norway. It is early morning in the European High North and the sky outside is covered in November blue colors. 

The Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, ADM Karl Schultz, is among those who commonly say that “presence equals influence in the Arctic.” Yet, the United States has only one heavy icebreaker, the incredibly aging CGC Polar Star, and the medium icebreaker, CGC Healy- used primarily for marine science research. Neither is in a position to be utilized for year-round Arctic icebreaking operations.

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.

IARPC and the National Science Foundation will host a program manager chat focused on the Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) program. NNA program officers will provide an overview of the recently released solicitation, highlight major changes, review goals of the NNA program, and answer questions.

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.

This event will convene Arctic leaders and voices from around the world. The Arctic Encounter has brought together thousands of Arctic stakeholders since its inception in 2013. Following two years of cancellation due to COVID-19, the Arctic Encounter is eager to welcome participants to Alaska for dialogue and presentations with elected leaders, business leaders, scientists, and more.

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.