Vessels are piling up on both sides of the Suez Canal, in the Mediterranean and in the Red Sea, waiting for the tugboats to free the giant container ship “Ever Given” that ran aground on Tuesday. Meanwhile, other ships have started to divert around Africa as it might take many days, maybe weeks, to free the 224,000-ton ship. For container ships en route from Asia to Europe, the voyage around Africa takes up to two weeks longer, adding millions in extra costs.

The Barents Observer

Here's why the naval maneuver is so tricky. Three Russian navy submarines punched their way through several feet of sea ice in the Arctic to the surface simultaneously within a few hundred feet of each other — one of the first times the tricky naval maneuver has been achieved. A video released by Russia’s Ministry of Defense shows the conning towers of the three subs breaking through a continuous sheet of floating ice near the Franz Josef Land archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean north of the Barents Sea.

Live Science

Sea ice in the Arctic appears to have hit its annual maximum extent after growing through the fall and winter. The 2021 wintertime extent reached on March 21 ties with 2007’s as the seventh-smallest extent of winter sea ice in the satellite record, according to scientists at the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center and NASA. This year’s maximum extent peaked at 5.70 million square miles (14.77 million square kilometers) and is 340,000 square miles (880,000 square kilometers) below the 1981 to 2010 average maximum – equivalent to missing an area of ice larger than the state of Texas and Florida combined.

NASA

Studying narwhal tusks reveals that their diet and exposure to pollution have shifted over the past half-century in response to sea-ice decline. Human emissions have also led to a sharp rise in the presence of mercury in recent years, the researchers report. In the Arctic, climate change and pollution are the biggest threats to top predators like narwhals.

Futurity

After ten years, the Deepwater Horizon oil spills cleaning efforts are still struggling to remove crude oil droplets from the contaminated water. The removal of oil droplets from wastewater is even more challenging in the Arctic, where an estimated 13% of the world’s undiscovered fossil fuel reserves exist. In the Arctic region, due to ultra-cold temperatures, the crude oil’s viscosity increases, causing oil/water mixtures to become a gel, which poses removal challenges

Advanced Science News

A global research, educational and technological center will be established in the Russian Arctic under a government-approved program for developing the Northern (Arctic) Federal University up to 2035, according to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko. “The new development prospects of the University, located where the great Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov was born, is linked with a project to do with setting up a world-class intellectual center. It will be responsible for training new specialists, analyze development options of the Arctic territories, conduct research projects, and introduce their results,” Chernyshenko said.

The Arctic

The Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) has released a draft of the Arctic Research Plan 2022-2026 for public review in the Federal Register. The comment period will close on June 11, 2021. The draft plan addresses the most pressing Arctic research needs that require a collaborative approach and that can advance understanding of the Arctic, inform policy and planning decisions, and promote the well-being of Arctic and global communities. Download the plan and learn how to comment at iarpccollaborations.org/draft-plan.html

The Federal Register

SOFWERX, in collaboration with Dr. Lilian Alessa, the USSOCOM J5 Donovan Strategy and Innovation Group, will host a Disruptive Speaker Series, led by Dr. Lilian "Doc" Alessa, entitled, "A Turmoil of Shadows: The Hidden Facets of Arctic Threats and the Role of USSOCOM in Ensuring Stability." The presentation will address the roles that the SOF Enterprise, as a force multiplier, could be responsible for in the emerging Arctic operational environment. While SOF maintains a standard of being able to operate in any conditions anywhere in the world, the Arctic is emerging as a more nuanced and complex theater.

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IARPC has released a draft of the next five-year Arctic Research Plan, which will span from 2022-2026. To provide additional information about the draft plan contents and how the public can comment, IARPC is holding a series of one-hour informational sessions focused on different areas of the plan. A webinar on April 1, 11am AKT / 3pm ET, will focus on priority areas 1 and 3: Community Resilience & Health, and Sustainable Economies & Livelihoods.

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This is expected to be the largest circumpolar One Health conference held in the United States in 2021, with participation anticipated from across the Arctic region. The event is part of the United States contribution to One Arctic, One Health, an Arctic Council project now in its sixth year of operation. The project aims to develop a circumpolar network of One Health experts that can share knowledge, conduct exercises, and spur collaborative investigations of One Health phenomena.

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This meeting is part of the ASM3 webinar series and will focus on Theme 4: Strengthen: capacity building; education; networking; resilience-prepare the next generation.

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Free, three-day virtual conference focused on sustainable energy and energy efficiency research featuring guest speakers and panelists from Alaska and around the world. Sponsored by the US Arctic Research Commission with cosponsorship by the Cold Climate Housing Research Center, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, and the Alaska Center for Energy and Power.

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Organizers announce, that due to the coronavirus outbreak, the 2nd Symposium on Polar Microbes and Viruses has been postponed to 2021. 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.

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This event is hosted by the Arctic Domain Awareness Center. This workshop will be an assessment of the future maritime transportation system of the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort sea regions.

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The Japanese and Icelandic organizers of this ministerial continue to plan for an in-person ministerial, in Tokyo, but have moved the dates from November 21-22, 2020 to May 8-9, 2021 because of Covid-19. Since the last Arctic Science Ministerial in 2018, changes in the Arctic ecosystem and the resulting impacts locally and globally have been severely felt. Considering the need for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and repair measures, the relevance of an international Arctic Science Ministerial has never been greater. It is necessary to strengthen scientific cooperation and collaboration among both Arctic and non-Arctic States in order to develop our understanding of the rapid changes impacting the Arctic. The First Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM1) was hosted by the United States in 2016, and two years later, the Second Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM2) was co-hosted by Germany, Finland, and the European Commission. ASM3 will be co-hosted by Iceland and Japan.

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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.

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This event is hosted by Canadian International Council (CIC). Featuring Rob Huebert, associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary, this event will analyze key questions: What is the new arctic maritime security environment that is now developing? Why is competition and conflict now overtaking cooperation? What does this mean for Canada? Canada has been one of the leading advocates of a peaceful and cooperative Arctic, but is also a member of both NATO and NORAD, so how will Canada navigate this increasingly complex environment?

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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.

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Postponed until June 2021.

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This meeting is part of the ASM3 webinar series and will focus on the post-ministerial review: joint statement actions.

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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.

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