ARCUS and the Inuit Circumpolar Council Alaska invite applications from and/or nominations of Arctic Indigenous scholars to travel to Washington D.C. and meet with officials at U.S. government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other groups. Four selected scholars will be able to share their interests via a seminar and meetings, learn of available resources, build toward collaborative relationships, and provide on-the-ground perspectives to key decision-makers. For the purposes of this opportunity, scholars are defined as an expert within their own knowledge system. This includes hunters, fishers, and gatherers; those that process and store food; health aides; and others. It includes youth, elders, and adults. Education may come from the land, the water, or a classroom. To apply for the 2019 opportunity, or to nominate a scholar, please visit our webpage for instructions. Applications are due by 5:00pm AKST, Thursday, 10 January 2019. Letters of nomination are due by Friday, 28 December 2018.

The Arctic Sciences Section of the Office of Polar Programs (OPP) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) will be hosting a Town Hall during the American Geophysical Union 2018 Fall Meeting. The Town Hall will convene 11:00am - 12:00pm EST on Monday, 10 December 2018 at the Cambria Hotel Washington D.C. Convention Center hotel, Duke Ellington Room 1 in Washington D.C.

During this Town Hall, Program Directors from NSF’s OPP Arctic Sciences Section will provide an overview of recent and upcoming news of interest to the research community.

Topics will likely include:

• Staffing changes in the Arctic Section and introduction of new program officers,
• Recent program activities and updates from Research Support and Logistics
• Upcoming opportunities at NSF of interest to Arctic researchers, and
• An overview of proposal review without deadlines.

Organizers anticipate giving a brief presentation, with the majority of the time devoted to questions and discussion.

For questions, contact:
Cynthia Suchman
Email: csuchman [at] nsf.gov

We are gearing up for a busy week at the upcoming AGU Fall Meeting in Washington, D.C.! ARCUS staff and board members hope to see many of our colleagues and friends—and meet new ones—at the ARCUS-related events at AGU this year, including an Arctic Funders “Meet and Greet”; the ARCUS Annual Meeting; our open Arctic Community Reception; several sessions, talks, and posters; and hosting the Community Meeting Room.

The Interim Post-Season Report for 2018 Sea Ice Outlook (SIO) is now available online. The goal of the SIO is to improve sea ice prediction on seasonal time-scales. This interim report is intended as a quick post-season update that summarizes how the outlooks did in comparison to the observed minimum extent. The September monthly averaged sea ice extent was 4.71 million square kilometers, based on the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) Sea Ice Index. The median extent of the 39 Outlook contributions for June, July, and August were 4.60, 4.70, and 4.57 million square kilometers, respectively. A full post-season report in January 2019 will include an in-depth analysis of factors impacting sea ice this season; further discussion about the outlooks; comments on regional observations, predicted spatial fields, Antarctic contributions; and a summary from the Sea Ice Drift Forecast Experiment. This report is the product of the Sea Ice Prediction Network–Phase 2 (SIPN2) effort.