Past Events

The Polar Prediction Workshop will be held at the University of Oklahoma Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS), in Norman, Oklahoma. Deadline to register is March 15, 2019.

Snow avalanches are the most deadly natural hazard on National Forest land, killing around 25-30 people in the U.S. each year, with 3-4 of those fatalities occurring in Alaska. Avalanches also pose a serious threat to transportation infrastructure across the state, including vital highways and railroads. Several avalanche forecasting centers work throughout the winter to help keep Alaskans safe by issuing backcountry avalanche forecasts and performing avalanche control work. Weather is one of three main contributors to avalanche hazard and a successful avalanche forecasting center relies heavily on accurate and timely weather observations and forecasts. This presentation will discuss ways in which various NWS offices provide support to avalanche forecasting operations and highlights how the NWS Anchorage office has engaged its core partners while providing vital support during significant avalanche events across Southcentral Alaska. Additionally, this presentation will discuss new and up and coming technology, including testing of a coupled weather and snow cover model to simulate snowpack and avalanche conditions throughout several mountain ranges in Southcentral Alaska.

We strongly encourage pre-registration for webinars. The audio portion of the call is through a toll-free phone line and the slide presentation is streamed via computer.

The Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) announces the next two webinar in their Public Webinar Series. These webinars, NSF Program Manager Chats: Arctic System Science and Social Sciences, will take place Wednesday, 24 April 2019 at 3:00 p.m. EDT (Social Sciences) and 4:00 p.m. EDT (System Science).

Between 2015 and 2018, the Arctic Sciences Section at the National Science Foundation (NSF) invested $76 million dollars in Arctic Social and System Sciences. With the arrival of new program officers to the Arctic Section, there are many new and continuing opportunities to fund Social and Systems Science research in the Arctic, including through the Arctic Social Science, Arctic System Science, and Arctic Observing Network Programs, as well as the Navigating the New Arctic Big Idea.

To clarify opportunities for funding and to provide a chance to answer questions and receive feedback from the research community, two NSF Program Officers – Colleen Strawhacker and Roberto Delgado – will lead two back-to-back webinars for the Arctic Social Science and Arctic System Science communities. The first webinar will focus on Arctic Social Science funding and answer questions from the research community regarding opportunities that exist within the Arctic section to fund social science-related research. The second webinar, immediately following, will focus on opportunities related to Arctic Systems Science Research.

The fifth annual Arctic Encounter drew over 100 speakers, 32 sponsors, 11 media partners, 13 guest performers and artist exhibitors to the downtown Seattle waterfront to discuss and debate emerging challenges and solutions in Arctic security, including energy, environment, international relations and geo-politics, and economics. The 2018 Arctic Encounter also featured photography and fashion installments, the Far North Fashion Show on the red carpet during the keynote seated dinner, artist exhibitor sales of their work, and more. The Arctic Encounter was thrilled to welcome over 300 participants from across Alaska, the U.S., and the world to the 2018 convening.

Please join us at the sixth annual Arctic Encounter Seattle to engage the topic of innovation in the Arctic, specifically disruptive business and investment models, energy and power, climate research, national security, new economic and trade models, and popular media trends impacting the Far North.

The two day conference aims to promote discussion on UK astrobiology. Abstracts for oral and poster presentations will be accepted in ALL aspects of Astrobiology (including research, applied impact and outreach). The keynote theme is 'The habitability of cold and icy environments', aiming to facilitate discussion between planetary scientists and researchers within the terrestrial cryosphere.

There will be a linked UK Space Agency sponsored early career event for PhD students/early career scientists on the afternoon of Wed 24th April, where representatives from different sectors of the UK Space sector (academia, government, industry) will discuss their different career pathways, alongside a workshop to develop key skills for effectively communicating science to different audiences and media.

PhD students will receive a discounted conference registration fee if they submit an abstract for a talk or poster. Accommodation subsidies will also be available for those attending the early career event. See website above for further details.

Abstract deadline: 20th March 2019.

The ICE LAW Project investigates the potential for a legal framework that acknowledges the complex geophysical environment in the world’s frozen regions and explores the impact that an ice-sensitive legal system would have on topics ranging from the everyday activities of Arctic residents to the territorial foundations of the modern state.

The conference will feature the following elements:

• ICE LAW subproject leaders will discuss findings from the workshops and community meetings that they have been holding for the past three years.
• Four keynote speakers will share their thoughts on topics that join the physical and regulatory environments of the Arctic.
• The ICE LAW conference will be held in conjunction with the first annual Summer School of the DurhamARCTIC programme, an interdisciplinary training initiative for PhD students and early career researchers. Funding will be available for eligible PhD students and Early Career Researchers to attend this joint event.

The conference will run from 1700 on Thursday 25 April through noon on Saturday 27 April, and will be free of charge.

For more information, please follow the link above.

Seminar 10 in the Series: From Science to Solutions: The State of the Carbon Cycle, the 2nd State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2). We plan to host seminars in this series on most Tuesdays, Feb. 26 - May 28.

Webinar Access:

We will use Adobe Connect. To join the session, go to https://noaabroadcast.adobeconnect.com/nosscienceseminars, enter as "Guest", and please enter your first and last name. Users should use either IE or Edge on Windows or Safari if using a Mac. Audio will be available thru the computer only; no phone. Questions will be addressed in the chat window. This Webcast will be recorded, archived and made accessible in the near future.

The Anchorage Arctic Research Summit (ANCARS) aims to spur innovation in how we study and understand the North. The event will provide an opportunity for Anchorage researchers to share their knowledge of the Arctic and to network with others in the community.

This year’s conference theme, “Transforming Research and Scholarship in the North" will be addressed in two morning sessions: "Transforming Research & Scholarship on Arctic Economic Security" and "Transforming Research & Scholarship on Arctic Environmental Security." Each session will feature a keynote speaker followed by a panel presentation.

During the afternoon session participants will engage in tabletop discussions that focus on creating interdisciplinary frameworks. Participants at each table will be asked to address a research challenge in the context of interdisciplinary effort.

Organizers invite abstract submissions for keynote and panel presentations on the focus of the two session topics: Arctic Economic Security and Arctic Environmental Security. Both topics are broadly defined to ensure a diversity and balance of perspectives, including perspectives rooted in Indigenous world views, non-traditional research methods, and/or framed in terms of gender.

Abstract submission deadline: 6:00 pm (AKDT) 25 March 2019.

For questions, contact:
Daniel Ahrens
Email: nxnsummit [at] anchoragemuseum.org

The Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) announces the next Arctic Research Seminar Series event featuring Lawrence Hamilton (Carsey School of Public Policy, University of New Hampshire). The in-person seminar will convene at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership building (1201 New York Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.). This seminar will also be available as a webinar live-stream for those unable to attend in person.

Registration is required for this event. Please follow the link above. Instructions for accessing the event online will be sent to webinar registrants prior to the event.

This seminar, titled What People Know: Asking About the Arctic on U.S. General-Public Surveys, will be presented by Lawrence Hamilton. Dr. Hamilton is professor of sociology and senior fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy, University of New Hampshire. Over the past 25 years he has studied human-environment interactions around the circumpolar North, from Alaska to Greenland and the northern Atlantic. Much of his research involves collaboration between social and natural scientists, to investigate topics such as climate-linked migration in Arctic Alaska, fisheries crises in Iceland and Greenland, or the accuracy of predictions about sea ice. In addition to research on the Arctic regions themselves, Dr. Hamilton conducts large-scale surveys of public knowledge and perceptions outside the Arctic – as described, for example, in Polar facts in the age of polarization or Where is the North Pole?.

Seminar Abstract:

Since 2006, a number of surveys have explored U.S. public knowledge and perceptions about polar regions. At first glance, these seemed to show fairly high levels of public awareness and concern about polar climate change and related issues. Closer examination with increasingly sophisticated surveys uncovered a more complex picture, however. Some basic polar and Arctic knowledge questions, which link to people’s more general beliefs, are answered with reasonably good accuracy. But other basic questions that have answers not guessable from general beliefs tend to show lower accuracy or knowledge. Contrasting results on the “two kinds” of Arctic knowledge questions exhibit strong demographic patterns. Moreover, we see public awareness on some issues gradually rising over the years of these surveys, while on others it remains stubbornly flat. Although polar-knowledge survey questions might seem a narrow topic, these results highlight deeper characteristics of U.S. society today.

Applications are now open for the 7th Annual Summer School on Sustainable Climate Risk Management, which will take place 29 July - 2 August 2019 at Penn State's University Park Campus.

The Network for Sustainable Climate Risk Management's (SCRiM) annual summer school is designed to foster opportunities for collaboration between scholars and practitioners while providing a solid foundation in the broad, multidisciplinary knowledge, tools, and methods of the diverse fields participating in the network.

A key focus of the workshop will be developing a common vocabulary to help foster enhanced cross-disciplinary communication, catalyzing the potential for future research and decision support collaborations. Participants will also gain hands-on experience with key methods and tools including:

• Use of simple models in a transdisciplinary framework
• Analysis of relevant datasets
• Analysis of relevant datasets

This program is targeted at all postdocs, advanced graduate students, and early-career professionals in the decision-making and policy communities who are working on issues related to climate risk. Potential candidates representing NGOs and state or local agencies are strongly encouraged to apply.

In most cases, lodging, meals, registration, and travel costs will be fully covered for participants. International applicants are welcomed.

Apply by Saturday 4 May.

Future polar-focused researchers will need a strong foundation of interdisciplinary approaches to understand the rapid changes in polar regions. The Next Generation Polar Research Conference (NGPR-3) is designed to train and network early career polar researchers for interdisciplinary research careers. This week-long symposium will be held at the University of Southern California's Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island, CA. and will provide an important opportunity for training to foster communication, team-building, and leadership skills with a focus on the development of interdisciplinary research. Participants from disciplines spanning the physical, biological and social sciences will be competitively selected to participate in dynamic networking opportunity with plenary talks, special sessions, poster sessions, and professional development training.

You must have a Ph.D. in hand prior to application. Early career scientists (i.e., within 5 years of a granted Ph.D.) from the fields of atmospheric science, marine or terrestrial ecology or ecosystems, limnology, ice science, geosciences, policy, economics, cultural science or other related fields will be competitively selected to attend the conference. The conference will also be attended by senior polar researchers from a variety of professions who will provide training, mentorship and keynote talks.

Room and board on Catalina Island are provided. Participants can apply for additional funds to help defray costs of travel.

Travel funding priority will be given to applications received by January 11, 2019. The deadline for all applicants is January 25, 2019.

Polar oceans are facing profound changes. The Arctic Ocean and the waters west of the Antarctic Peninsula are at the forefront of global warming, while the rest of the polar oceans will face changes in the very near future. The changes to face are not limited to a raise in atmospheric temperature and modification in the freshwater budget. Increases of economic activities (shipping, tourism, fisheries and mineral extraction), contaminants and invasive species also put polar oceans at risk. Changes are already witnessed in terms of ice shelves volume, wind patterns and precipitation, sea ice extent, ocean circulation, ocean acidification and freshening, primary productivity, biodiversity and community structure or ecosystem functioning. As polar oceans are key components of the Earth system, changes there will have global impacts such as sea level rise, changes in low latitudes oceanic productivity, and oceanic CO2 uptake, among other ecosystem services.

The 51st Liège colloquium on ocean dynamics will address the observation and prediction of these changes and their consequences.

More specifically, the following topics will be covered:

• Measuring anthropogenic impact and pollutants. This spans from measurement of physical parameters, trace contaminants, inventory of climate related gases, micro plastics measurement, bio-indicators, monitoring economic activities.
• Observing changes. Remote sensing is key to monitor sea ice and ice sheet shrinkage, ocean warming and freshening, changes in ocean circulation and environmental forcing. In parallel, several initiatives (e.g. AMAP, SOOS, SOCCOM, ASPeCt, ANTOS, INTAROS, SAON, CAFF, BEPSII among others) have developed to reinforce monitoring of the polar oceans and provide insights on current changes.
• Assessing impacts. Anthropogenic forcing are impacting physical processes and biogeochemistry but also biodiversity and foodweb functioning. Tracking changes in an evolutionary perspective is challenging.
• Specific cryosphere-oceans interaction. At the interface between land and polar oceans, ocean interactions with ice sheets and sea ice are key in controlling ice-sheet balance, sea level rise and water mass transformation rates.
• Enlarge our temporal perspective: paleo-oceanographic changes. Ocean sediment records provide paleoclimate proxy indicators of past changes. These benchmarks allow a better grasp on current changes in term of level, significance and rapidity.
• Predicting future changes. Modeling is a major tool to understand past and present changes and to predict future changes from a local to a global perspective. More specifically, simple ocean model, ice sheet or sea ice- ocean coupled model, biogeochemical model, dynamic energy budget, species/trait distribution model among others are well suited to investigate changes in polar oceans.
• Teleconnection and global perspective. As a result of the teleconnection of polar oceans to the global ocean, changes in polar oceans can propagate more globally. Assessing such impacts is critical to understand actual and future changes of the global ocean.
• Several tools can be used to mitigate or limit the impact of some anthropogenic pressures: enforcement of conservation measures, marine protected areas, sewage treatment, education and awareness raising that need to be further developed to tackle polar ocean changes.

Special sessions on dedicated projects are welcome.

Papers dealing with the above-described subject are welcome and will be published in a special issue.

Abstract submission deadline: 21st March 2019.

EPSCoR invites University of Alaska faculty, staff, students and affiliates to a workshop examining key questions about the role of Indigenous Knowledges in academia. Topics include how Indigenous Knowledges can be engaged in teaching and research with integrity, using authentic and decolonizing methods. Co-leaders Drs. Ocean Mercier and Beth Leonard will briefly present on their collaborative work, lead a roundtable discussion that examines successes and challenges, then assist participants in generating plans or strategies for engaging Indigenous Knowledges in their future teaching and/or research.

Workshops will be held at UAA on May 6 and UAF on May 10; travel funding may be available for UA affiliates in Juneau. Registration is free but space is limited. For more information visit the link above and see the flyer.

The Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) is pleased to host Helen M. Aderman, 2019 Arctic Indigenous Scholar, for a seminar/webinar entitled, “The Bristol Bay Marine Ecosystem & Subsistence Resource Needs”. The event will be held at the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) office in Washington, D.C. A live webinar is also available to those unable to attend in person. Registration is required for both the in-person and live-streamed events.

Helen Kegginarrluk Aderman is Yup’ik born in Togiak, Alaska, from Aleknagik, Alaska. She is the Bristol Bay Native Association’s Marine Mammal Manager, based in Dillingham, and the Executive Director of the Qayassiq Walrus Commission and Bristol Bay Marine Mammal Council. She holds a B.A. in Rural Development from University of Alaska Fairbanks. Helen is working to address impacts on marine mammal habitat use areas and to ensure future Alaska Native generations will have continued access to their traditional marine foods for harvest.

Empowering Arctic Indigenous Scholars and Making Connections is a program led by the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) and the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) Alaska, and supported by the National Science Foundation's Division of Arctic Sciences, to create a space for Indigenous scholars to educate and inform policy- and decision-makers engaged in Arctic Issues from the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. This seminar is offered in partnership with local hosts, USCGRP and IARPC.

Seminar 11 in the Series: From Science to Solutions: The State of the Carbon Cycle, the 2nd State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2). We plan to host seminars in this series on most Tuesdays, Feb. 26 - May 28.

Webinar Access:

We will use Adobe Connect. To join the session, go to https://noaabroadcast.adobeconnect.com/nosscienceseminars, enter as "Guest", and please enter your first and last name. Users should use either IE or Edge on Windows or Safari if using a Mac. Audio will be available thru the computer only; no phone. Questions will be addressed in the chat window. This Webcast will be recorded, archived and made accessible in the near future.

This webinar is designed for the sea ice research community and others interested in information about satellite and airborne observations of sea ice. While this is an open event, attendees should be aware that the discussions will largely be of a technical nature.

This webinar will be presented by Ron Kwok, National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the ICESat-2 Team. Ron Kwok is a Senior Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena California. His research interests include the mass and energy balance of the Arctic and Southern Ocean ice cover and the role of the sea ice in global climate, with current focus on the analysis of thickness, small-scale sea ice kinematics, time varying gravity from various spaceborne and airborne instruments.

The presentation will focus on one of NASA’s science objectives for the ICESat-2 altimetry mission—to provide observations to quantify changes and to add to previous satellite and airborne records of freeboard, thickness, and sea surface height of the ice-covered Arctic and Southern Oceans (e.g., from ICESat, Operation IceBridge, and CryoSat-2, etc.). ATLAS, a multi-beam photon-counting lidar, the sole instrument on the ICESat-2 observatory, launched in September 2018, provides a rich altimetric dataset of multiple profiles of the ice and ocean surfaces. In this talk, the presenters will show the capabilities of the multi-beam instrument based on data acquired thus far over the Arctic and Antarctic ice covers. In particular, they will show the precision in the retrieved surface heights over relatively flat surface, the spatial resolution of the height estimates, the time-varying freeboard estimates and sea surface height anomalies over a seasonal cycle, and assessments of the retrievals when compared with airborne and field acquisitions.

Time for participant questions will follow the presentation. The webinar will be archived and available online after the event.

For questions, please contact Betsy Turner-Bogren, ARCUS (betsy [at] arcus.org).

EPSCoR invites University of Alaska faculty, staff, students and affiliates to a workshop examining key questions about the role of Indigenous Knowledges in academia. Topics include how Indigenous Knowledges can be engaged in teaching and research with integrity, using authentic and decolonizing methods. Co-leaders Drs. Ocean Mercier and Beth Leonard will briefly present on their collaborative work, lead a roundtable discussion that examines successes and challenges, then assist participants in generating plans or strategies for engaging Indigenous Knowledges in their future teaching and/or research.

Workshops will be held at UAA on May 6 and UAF on May 10; travel funding may be available for UA affiliates in Juneau. Registration is free but space is limited. For more information visit the link above and see the flyer.

THEME:

Since the last IGS symposium on glacial erosion and sedimentation in Reykjavik in 1995, techniques for characterizing these processes and their associated landscapes and sediments have improved markedly. Diverse remote-sensing techniques measure subaerial and submarine landforms at extraordinarily high resolution, and geophysical methods reveal evolving subglacial landscapes and processes. New and refined geochronological techniques better constrain rates of erosion and deposition. Increased computer power allows models that address coupled processes of glacier flow, bedrock erosion, sediment transport and tectonic change over long time and length scales. New field and laboratory methods provide insight into the mechanics and kinematics of sediment-transport processes and their manifestations in glacial sediments.

Interesting and stubbornly enduring questions accompany these advances. How can glacial sediments and landforms inform us about glacier dynamics and how are glacier dynamics modulated by sediment-transport processes? How can large-scale models of glacial landscape evolution better approximate the small-scale processes that drive erosion and sediment transport? How can past climate variability be inferred from glacial sediments and landforms? How have rates of glacial erosion and sedimentation changed through time? How are drumlins and other subglacial bedforms sculpted, and what data can provide definitive hypothesis tests?

SUGGESTED TOPICS:

We seek papers and presentations on processes and products of glacial erosion and sedimentation and their relationships to glacier dynamics. Key focus areas include (but are not limited to):

1. Processes and patterns of glacial erosion, sediment transport and deposition
2. Glacial history and dynamics, as inferred from sediments and landforms
3. Sediment transport feedbacks on glacier dynamics
4. Models of glacial landscape evolution
5. Rates of glacial erosion and sedimentation
6. Origins of glacial landforms
7. Geophysical studies of glacial landforms and subglacial processes
8. Climate signals of glacial sediments
9. Hazards associated with glacial sedimentation and erosion.

Participants who wish to present a paper (oral or poster) at the Symposium will be required to submit an abstract by 5 February 2019 (deadline has been extended).

For more information, please see the link above.

Attracting thousands of scientists and data users, ESA’s Living Planet Symposia are amongst the biggest Earth observation conferences in the world. For decades now Earth observation has played a fundamental role in advancing our understanding of how our planet works and how it is being affected by climate change. While the need to continue to advance our knowledge and monitor global change remains paramount, Earth observation has entered a new era where it is playing a key role in a myriad of everyday applications to improve daily lives and is also becoming increasingly relevant for the competitive business sector.

The next symposium is being held at the MiCo Milano Congressi, in Milan, Italy. The Living Planet Symposium 2019 promises to be bigger and wider ranging than ever before. The event will not only see scientists present their latest findings on Earth’s environment and climate derived from satellite data, but will also focus on Earth observation’s role in building a sustainable future and a resilient society. Participants will also be able to explore how emerging technologies are revolutionising the use of Earth observation and how business and the economy can benefit from this new epoch.

This symposium focuses on how Earth Observation contributes to science and society, and how disruptive technologies and actors are changing the traditional Earth Observation landscape, which is also creating new opportunities for public and private sector interactions.

Themes:

• Earth Science
• Earth Observation Missions
• Space 4.0
• Resilient Society
• Partnership

Dates and deadlines:

• Abstract deadline: 11 November 2018
• Registration opens: Beginning of February 2019
• Registration closes: 30 April 2019

The 25th International Symposium on Polar Sciences organized by Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) will aim to bring polar scientists together to discuss their research findings and to promote international collaborative research. We cordially invite you to share your knowledge and perspectives on future outlook in Polar research.

THEME:

Korea’s first icebreaking research vessel, Araon, was launched in 2009 and made her official maiden voyage to the Antarctica in 2010. Since then, she has made a series of research and supply cruises and became one of the world’s busiest research icebreaker, spending nearly 300 days away at sea every year. With Araon, KOPRI has devoted its passion and commitment to unveil the mysteries of Polar regions. In commemoration of the scientific dedication over the years and celebrating the 10th anniversary of Araon, the theme of the 25th International Symposium on Polar Sciences will be “Araon’s Journey through the Decade: Findings in Ocean, Earth and Paleoclimate Science”.

SESSIONS:

The following six sessions are proposed:

• Response of the Southern Ocean to the Changing Climate
• Changing Arctic Ocean: Understanding the impacts of climate changes and their global consequences
• Geological and Geophysical (& Biological) processes in Circum‐Antarctic Ridges
• Rapid change in Arctic sub‐seabed
• Late Quaternary Ocean‐Cryosphere interactions in the Antarctic Ocean
• Past analogue for future Arctic: Glacial and oceanographic perspective

The symposium website is currently under renovation. More information including the overview and preliminary program of the 25th International Symposium on Polar Sciences will be provided on the symposium website from January 14, 2019.

Abstract submission deadline is extended until February 28, 2019. Please register and submit your abstract at the symposium website.

Registration will be available on the symposium website from February 13 to April 26, 2019 .

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at: symposium [at] kopri.re.kr