For more than 100 years AGU has been opening science—opening pathways to discovery, opening greater awareness to address climate change, opening greater collaborations to lead to solutions and opening the fields and professions of science to a whole new age of justice equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. This year, as AGU convenes >25,000 attendees from 100+ countries in San Francisco for AGU23, the theme is: Wide. Open. Science.

This San Francisco AGU Innovation Session is designed to support co-learning among Arctic climate adaptation practitioners from all disciplines, backgrounds and experience levels.

Background: Everyone comes with different perspectives, experiences, and expertise (positionality). Adapting to climate change requires these different perspectives to create a trans-disciplinary team of people invested in positive change. In Alaska, these teams are often composed of Alaska Native community, university, boundary organization, and agency partners working together to identify adaptation solutions.

Format: This AGU Innovation Session will launch with examples of Arctic climate adaptation partnerships in the context of project team members’ positionalities. A facilitated networking and participant-driven tabletop exercise will follow. The session will conclude with a share circle highlighting successful strategies for climate adaptation partnerships.

Russia has reiterated its ambition for an extended continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean. During the 13th international Arctic Forum held last week in St. Petersburg, Russian Navy chief Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov delivered a speech underlining the Arctic as crucial to Russia’s national security interests. “There is need for a full-scale expansion into the continental shelf beyond the borders of the 200-mile exclusive economic zone,” Yevmenov said.

Starlink satellites could soon be used to provide space-based communication for the US military across the Arctic following a successful test program. But outsourcing communication needs to a private entity also entails risks, as Starlink’s role in the Ukraine War has shown.

A new partnership among ArcticNet, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Polar Knowledge Canada hopes to use $50 million in federal funding to support five years’ worth of scientific research in Inuit Nunangat. And it will be done while respecting Inuit self-determination, the partners say.

The U.S. Commerce Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Friday $1 million in funding to improve the collection of Arctic climate data. In a statement, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the U.S. Arctic region — which consists of the state of Alaska — is warming faster than any region in the United States and demands immediate action.

A new report from the Council of Canadian Academies lays out changes to the way Arctic and northern research is carried out so that it better serves the North. The council, an Ottawa-based non-profit that brings together experts to evaluate science research and policy, sought to answer a question posed by more than 40 organizations in Canada: what is needed to make research more inclusive, collaborative and effective? 

This event is part of the Arctic Environmental Humanities Workshop Series. The Arctic is warming four times faster than anywhere else on Earth, as a recent article in Nature confirmed (Rantanen et al, August 2022). The High Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is often invoked as a living laboratory of such accelerated climate change, but Svalbard’s human history has generated social, aesthetic, and political change for centuries. Join this interdisciplinary conversation as we explore the dynamic social, geopolitical, and cultural forces transforming this unique and cosmopolitan place now and into the future. The speakers include the authors and editors of two major new books: Zdenka Sokolíčková, author of The Paradox of Svalbard: Climate Change and Globalisation in the Arctic (2023), and Mathias Albert, Dina Brode-Roger, and Lisbeth Iverson, editors of Svalbard Imaginaries: The Making of an Arctic Archipelago (2023).

Join Harvard Kennedy School’s Arctic Initiative for a debrief with Arctic experts recently returned from the United Nations Conference on Climate Change. The panelists will reflect on their key takeaways from the conference and answer any questions you might have about its outcomes, with a focus on Arctic biodiversity, permafrost thaw, and Indigenous peoples.

The Alaska Marine Science Symposium (AMSS), has been bringing together scientists, educators, resource managers, students, and interested public for thirty years to discuss the latest marine research being conducted in Alaskan waters. Over 700 people attend this 4-day long conference held annually during the month of January.

The Arctic Frontiers annual conference aims to connect different expertise and perspectives from areas such as policy, science, and business. It is an arena for networking and knowledge exchange.

Arctic360’s Annual Event brings together Northern and Indigenous governments, institutions, and corporations; global finance; state leaders; mining, innovation, and other industry leaders; and Arctic experts from Canada and around the circumpolar North to advance the conversation and foster action for building a sustainable, peaceful, and prosperous Arctic region.

The 52nd International Arctic Workshop will be held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The International Arctic Workshop is a friendly, informal, and relaxed conference open to all students and professionals interested in the Arctic. Originally started at INSTAAR at the University of Colorado - Boulder, the Arctic Workshop alternates between INSTAAR and an international host. This year, University of Massachusetts with the department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences & Climate System Research center will be hosting.

Abstract deadline: February 25, 2024

The 7th biennial AOS as part of Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 2024. The AOS draws a wide range of participants from across the spectrum of Arctic observing – Indigenous experts, operational agency representatives, scientists, and others – from around the world. Much of the summit is organized around discussions led by working groups on particular themes (Regional to global observing, Data sharing, System implementation/SAON ROADS, Observing System Benefits). In addition to plenary and working group sessions, this year we will include additional breakout sessions. 

As the largest Arctic policy and business conference in North America, with partners and convenings worldwide, the Arctic Encounter continues to gather leading voices from around the world. The Arctic Encounter is eager to welcome 1,000+ participants to Alaska for a world-class arts and cultural experience, including policy debates, dialogue with international leaders, business executives, Indigenous peoples, scientists, students, defense leaders, diplomats, policymakers, and more.

Nordland Research Institute and NORD University host this event. The congress includes high-level plenary sessions, several parallel sessions, network activities, and social and cultural events. Researchers, policymakers, businesses, and students exchange knowledge and connect across the Arctic. IASSA and UArctic will also hold their General Assemblies.

The 12^th International Conference on Permafrost will consider “Integrating Perspectives of Permafrost Thaw, Change, and Adaptation.” Event partners include the Canadian Permafrost Association, IPA, and Yukon University.

In lead up to its 35th anniversary in 2025, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) is coordinating a multi-year planning process for the Fourth International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV) that will engage Arctic researchers, policymakers, residents, and stakeholders from around the world to collegially discuss the state of Arctic science, the place the Arctic occupies in global affairs and systems, to consider the most urgent knowledge gaps and research priorities that lie before us and to explore avenues to address these research needs. This event is hosted by a consortium of US institutions, including the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Northern Iowa, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Alaska Pacific University. ICARP I, II, and III focused the attention of the world’s researchers toward the value of strategic international coordination in accelerating progress in addressing critical challenges. ICARP IV will build upon this concept by striving to achieve consensus and build collaborations among the leading scientific, academic, environmental, Indigenous and political organizations currently concerned with Arctic issues.