We are happy to welcome Kuba Grzeda to the ARCUS staff team! Kuba joins ARCUS in the Fairbanks, AK office as a project assistant. Prior to joining ARCUS, Kuba worked on connecting commercial fishers and other small businesses in Alaska with federal grant funding, was part of the facilitation team of the Fairbanks Air Quality Stakeholders group, and helped plan a number of conferences throughout Alaska. Kuba will be working on a variety of projects and events, and we hope you will join us in welcoming Kuba to the Arctic research community!

On September 20, 2019 one of the largest research expeditions in the Central Arctic ever conducted will begin when the Polarstern icebreaker sets out to freeze itself in Arctic sea ice for a year. Keep track of the expedition and what’s going on in the Arctic through MOSAiC's weekly news – MOSAiC Monday – great for K-12, undergraduate, and graduate classroom use. Engage your students with real-time updates, behind the scenes access to the MOSAiC expedition, and short, simple activities. Sign up to receive MOSAiC Monday in your inbox every Monday during the expedition. PolarTREC educator, Katie Gavenus and researcher Anne Gold will be on the first leg of this expedition. You can follow their journey through the expedition page on PolarTREC and subscribe to their journals.

The 2019 August Sea Ice Outlook (SIO) report is now available online. The Sea Ice Outlook, an effort managed by the Sea Ice Prediction Network–Phase 2 (SIPN2), provides an open process for those interested in Arctic sea ice to share ideas. The monthly reports contain a variety of perspectives—from advanced numerical models to qualitative perspectives from citizen scientists. The Sea Ice Outlook provides an open process for those interested in Arctic sea ice to share predictions and ideas; the Outlook is not an operational forecast.

A record number of 42 Pan-Arctic outlook contributions were received for the August report. Of those contributions 7 also included pan-Antarctic predictions, 11 included regional predictions for Alaskan waters, and 5 were for the Hudson Bay region.

For the August report the pan-Arctic median value for September 2019 sea-ice extent is 4.22 million square kilometers and with quartile values of 4.0 and 4.4 million square kilometers.Although pan-Arctic sea-ice extent was tracking very close to the record minimum of 2012 from mid-June through mid-August, the rate of melt slowed down in late August. A record minimum extent is not expected for 2019, unless late summer storm activity consolidates ice extent.

The July 2019 issue of Witness Community Highlights is now available online. This issue includes two articles: “Working for Food Security in Interior Alaska,” which summarizes a case study of how stake-holders in northern cities ensure a high level of food security; and “Tracking Ticks in Alaska: Understanding how an Invasive Species may Impact the Health of Humans and Animals in the Arctic” discusses recent work to understand if invasive ticks are being imported, and surviving, in the Arctic.