DHS S&T's Centers of Excellence (COE) Summit is set and focused on Homeland Security Challenges: Evolving Threats & Dynamic Solutions. This event is a special opportunity for COE researchers to connect and network with DHS components, federal, state, and local stakeholders, as well as industry partners to present current and emerging solutions to threats and challenges faced by DHS. Attendees can visit the Innovation Showcase, where COE and vendor partners showcase research breakthroughs, new products and tools to assist operational decision-makers and dynamic solutions to secure our Homeland.

Twenty years ago, the Arctic was more resilient than now as sea ice was three times thicker than today and provided a buffer against the influence of short-term climate fluctuations. The recent decade has seen an increase in Arctic extreme events in climate and ecosystems including events beyond previous records. Such new extremes include Greenland ice mass loss, sea ice as thin and more mobile, coastal erosion, springtime snow loss, permafrost thaw, wildfires, and bottom-to-top ecosystem reorganizations. While their numbers increase, the distribution of the type, location, and timing of extreme events are less predictable. 

The Arctic Council hosts its Ministerial Meeting in Reykjavik. The event will be lived-streamed.

A colony of black guillemots have made Cooper Island near Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska, home for at least 50 years. The area’s unique landscape and sea ice are integral components of this bird’s habitat. The black guillemot spends the winter on Arctic sea ice, and it breeds on land near the edge of the ice in summer. One of the primary food sources for the birds’ chicks is the Arctic cod, which thrives in cold, ice-covered waters. Warming temperatures and other changes are reducing the extent and persistence of Arctic sea ice (see the Arctic Sea Ice indicator), which has been linked to a decline in the abundance of Arctic cod over the last few decades.

Even if focus was on peace and prosperity in the High North, security questions emerged during the 12th Ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council in Reykjavík, Iceland Thursday. Most of the meeting still revolved around the Arctic as a region of peace, sustainable development and continued cooperation. During the ministerial meeting, the first ever strategic plan for the Councils work the next ten years. A plan the all the participants of the meeting applauded.

A drastic drop in caribou and shorebird populations is a reflection of the dire changes unfolding on the Arctic tundra, according to a new report from the Arctic Council. The terrestrial Arctic spans approximately 2.7m sq miles (7m sq km), marked by extreme cold, drought, strong winds and seasonal darkness. Species living in this environment have adapted to thrive in the harsh conditions. But the climate crisis has upended such survival strategies, according to the State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity report, published by the council’s Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (Caff) working group.

As global temperatures rise, the once reliably frozen Arctic has seen a rash of massive wildfires in recent years. And while biting winter cold and heavy snow are enough to eventually suppress most blazes, scientists say the right conditions can create fires that just will not die. Like their undead namesakes, these so-called "zombie fires" are tough to kill.

This event is hosted by Migration in Harmony Research Coordination Network. In 2021, a coalition of organizations including The Arctic Institute, Women in Polar Sciences, and Women of the Arctic are organizing a webinar series, Breaking the Ice Ceiling, that aims to illuminate polar research and achievements (past and present) by those who identify as women and to foster discussion on systemic change in polar sciences (Indigenous, natural, and social sciences) to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. In this webinar, you will learn from Director Romani Makkik and Producer Dr. Shari Fox about strengths-based research and transforming the research process through critical reflection and new expression.

The warming of the Arctic region is opening a host of new diplomatic challenges and opportunities. What does this mean for U.S. diplomacy and for our Foreign Service? This latest event in AFSA's Inside Diplomacy series will feature guest James DeHart, U.S. Coordinator for the Arctic Region, for a discussion about the increased need for U.S. diplomacy and leadership in a region that is seeing significant climate and geopolitical changes. Hosted by AFSA President Ambassador Rubin.

ADAC will conduct the Center's Program Year 7 Annual meeting to focus on U.S. Coast Guard Project Champions, key stakeholders and the community of Arctic science and technology researchers. Included in the Program Year 7 Annual meeting are planned guest speakers from HQ U.S. Coast Guard, DHS S&T and senior Arctic Research leadership in Washington D.C.

IARPC has released a draft of the next five-year Arctic Research Plan, which will span from 2022-2026. We are now asking the public to comment on the draft plan by June 11, 2021. To provide additional information about the draft plan contents and development, the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee is hosting a series of one-hour information sessions.

Join IARPC on Thursday, June 3 at 9am AKT / 1pm ET for a webinar with Dr. Sarah Aarons, Assistant Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Aarons will provide a brief introduction to the historical context of colonialism in the Arctic, focused on Alaska, and its relationship to climate change impacts on Arctic Indigenous Peoples. For researchers working in the Arctic, this webinar will provide insight into the ways that relationships, resource extraction, compensation, and infrastructure building have been predominantly one-sided, and how climate change is now impacting Indigenous communities.

For the first time, a Regional Conference on Permafrost will be combined with the bi-annual 19th International Conference on Cold Regions Engineering. This conference is hosted by the US Permafrost Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the International Permafrost Association, the Permafrost Young Researchers Network, and the University of Colorado Boulder. A complete list of planned sessions is available here.

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.