Fall 2020 Issue of Witness the Arctic Publication
This issue includes updates from NSF’s Arctic Sciences Section; news of DOE’s reestablished Arctic Energy Office; an update on IARPC collaboration team activities; summary of a National Academies workshop report on global health and security risks associated with climate change; a report from the Polar Technology Community; information on a new service from the Arctic Data Center; an article about understanding two kinds of public knowledge of the polar regions; an article from a citizen science project investigating the dynamics of seasonal winter berry loss; news of the Toolik Field Station operations during COVID-19; updates from the Sea Ice Prediction Network–Phase 2 project; a summary of ARCUS member research updates; comments from the ARCUS Executive Director and the Board President; and a highlight of ARCUS member institution Cold Climate Housing Research Center and National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
ARCUS Community Coffee Chat Events
Please join ARCUS staff, Board members, and Institutional Member representatives on Friday, 11 December from 10-11am AK/11-12pm PT/12-1pm MT/1-2pm CT/2-3pm ET for a virtual coffee chat (tea, cocoa, &/or other beverages of your choice also welcome!). This online social hour will be an opportunity for members of the wider Arctic research community to share news, ask one another questions, and to explore next steps for some of the projects and ideas raised during the 2020 ARCUS Annual Meeting.
Navigating the New Arctic Projects Hub Announcement
The Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) announces the availability of a new hub of webpages featuring information about each of Arctic research projects that have been supported through the National Science Foundation’s Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) program. Explore the site to learn more about NNA project activities, team members, and field site locations. The site also includes information about the newest round of 2020 NNA grantees.
Tiny Ice: Bits From Antarctica Video Series Education
PolarTREC informal educator Jocelyn Argueta traveled to the South Pole in 2019 with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and Askaryan Radio Array Expedition. She created a YouTube series Tiny Ice: Bits from Antarctica to highlight the travel, science, and life at the South Pole, both in English and Spanish. In this 10-part series, each topic is explained in 2-minute, digestible segments which include photos and videos from her trip, as well as anecdotes to help viewers get a personal perspective of Antarctica.
Arctic Resources for the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2020 Announcement
The Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) announces our ARCUS at AGU and the Arctic Sessions webpages for this year’s virtual American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting. The Fall Meeting will be held online 1-17 December 2020. ARCUS has compiled a list of Arctic-relevant happenings to help attendees of the virtual AGU Fall Meeting 2020 find Arctic-related town halls, talks, posters, and other events. The complete list, which includes the day/time, session title, and type of event, is available on the Arctic Sessions webpage.
Witness Community Highlights Publication
The October 2020 issue of Witness Community Highlights is now available online. This issue includes two articles—in the first article, “Creating Institutional Changes to Improve Indigenous Students' Learning Experiences,” an Arctic Indigenous Scholar shares her experiences in pursuing a degree in wildlife biology and suggests changes to make everybody feel capable and accepted in their field. The second article, “The Migration in Harmony RCN Investigates the Drivers and Consequences of Arctic Coastal Migrations,” is an overview of the three-year international, cross-disciplinary network aiming to investigate how drivers and consequences of Arctic coastal migrations intersect and interact with one another—and explore the related implications for society.
2020 Sea Ice Outlook Interim Post-Season Report is Now Available Online Report
The 2020 Sea Ice Outlook Interim Post-Season Report is now available. The September monthly averaged sea ice extent at the end of the 2020 summer melt season was 3.92 million square kilometers. This is the second lowest in the satellite record that began in 1979.
This interim report is intended as a quick postseason update that summarizes how the outlooks did in comparison to the observed September monthly mean extent. A full post-season report, to be published in February 2021, will include an in-depth analysis of factors impacting sea ice this past summer, further discussion about the outlooks, comments on regional observation, predicted spatial fields, Antarctic contributions, and a summary from the Sea Ice Drift Forecast Experiment (SIDFEx).
Virtual Resources for the Classroom Now Available Education
Teachers in the U.S. and abroad currently have the difficult task of adapting to virtual and hybrid classrooms during the pandemic. To assist teachers during this time, a number of PolarTREC lesson plans have been identified and assembled into a Virtual Resources Collection for online teaching. Other lesson plans are currently being adapted for online teaching, so remember to revisit the PolarTREC website for additional resources.
ARCUS Early Career Conference Funding Award Opportunity
ARCUS is pleased to announce our new Early Career Conference Funding Award to support attendance of virtual conferences. This award program aims to increase accessibility of Arctic research for early career researchers and students, especially Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. The application period is open until 1 November 2020.
Polar Technology Conference Report Available Report
The meeting report from the 2020 Polar Technology Conference, held 10–12 March in Boulder, Colorado, is now available. The goal of the meeting was to link experts in polar science and technology development to discuss current technological resources for polar research and identify barriers to research and application of technology for problems unique to polar regions.
Image Spotlight
Interesting icebergs in front of a glacier in the inlet of Kongsfjorden, near Ny Alesund, Svalbard, Norway.
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