Past Events

The tools and techniques for making monthly and season scale climate forecasts are rapidly changing, with the potential to provide useful forecasts at the month and longer range. We will review recent climate conditions around Alaska, review some forecast tools and finish up the Climate Prediction Center’s forecast for September and the fall season. Join the gathering online to learn more about Alaska climate and weather.

Please follow the link above to register.

BEPSII is an open network for international knowledge exchange related to Biogeochemcial Exchanges Processe at Sea Ice Interface. BEPSII aims to quantify the role of sea ice in polar ecosystem services – from biodiversity impacts to climate change – and communicate these globally-relevant issues. BEPSII’s work highlights sea ice in polar regions as an important medium for biogeochemical processes that can have large impacts on local and regional scales.

The BEPSII Annual Meeting will include various discussions and poster sessions. The meeting will also include an event for Early Career Researchers on the 21st August.

In additions to task group updates for BEPSII and ECVice, we are planning on having discussion sessions around the topics of:

1. Developing a position analysis for the Antarctic
2. Developing a joined CATCH -BEPSII SCOR working group
3. Planning for a "new technologies" meeting in 2021

Details about the program can be expected soon on the BEPSII website.

Spring and summer in Interior Alaska is now warmer, and in recent years wetter than in the past, and the impacts of these changes are affecting the lives and livelihoods of Alaskans. Persistent rains keep water levels high of rivers but potentially accelerate permafrost melt. Warmer springs and higher nighttime temperatures open up more garden and agricultural possibilities but also set the stage for increased wildfire activity. We’ll examine what’s happening and what the coming decades may bring for Interior summers. Precipitation variability and change has important impacts on fire weather and its management, and fire managers need skillful information regarding the upcoming fire season to inform decisions. We will also examine using multi-model seasonal forecasts as a potential tool for fire managers to develop fire weather outlooks in March when management information is needed.

Please follow the link above to register.

Heather Purdie, Canterbury University, NZ, "Morphological Changes to the Terminus of a Maritime Glacier During Advance and Retreat Phases: Fox Glacier/Te Moeka o Tūawe, New Zealand"

Please register in advance for the seminars. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the seminar.

The seminar will also be available afterwards on the Friends of the International Glaciological Society Facebook page so that you can watch it there if technology fails or you can't make it.

Satellite records from the mid 1980s onward provide the opportunity to examine surface water distribution and change in permafrost regions. This is important because the nature of permafrost can create conditions where change is likely to occur but hydrology conditions can be highly variable. We will discuss how to account for these conditions and produce summaries which can be easily understood and updated.

Please follow the link above to register.

Hosted by Commonwealth North's Arctic Policy Study Group, the event will explore the future of Arctic Ocean governance, the Central Arctic Oceans Agreement, perspectives on international cooperation, Alaska's role in cooperative efforts, and international fisheries issues that impact Alaska. The discussion aims to answer what governance structures are in place to regulate activities in Arctic waters, and how stakeholders can establish efforts to dissipate tensions and ensure cooperation in the Arctic. Mike Sfraga, Director of the Wilson Center's Polar Institute will moderate the discussion.

The event will occur via Zoom. For registration, Zoom connection information, and other information about this event, please follow the link above.

Join the Migration in Harmony Research Coordination Network for a webinar with Dr. Andreas Østhagen on Svalbard hub for Arctic fisheries.

As warming oceans push the range of fisheries further north, new opportunities for Arctic fisheries are emerging. But this opportunity comes with a responsibility to establish ethical, sustainable, and equitable approaches to development.

Join the Migration in Harmony Research Coordination Network for a webinar with Dr. Andreas Østhagen as he shares the research behind his new project, "The Blue Potential on Svalbard: A Hub for Arctic fisheries?’ (SVALFISH). Learn about the ongoing transition on the Svalbard Archipelago, specifically Longyearbyen, now undergoing the transformation from a mining community towards a multi-functional 21st-century Arctic hub, and hear how you can engage with Dr. Østhagen in investigating the potentials and conditions for increased fishery and related activities based on Svalbard, and what this might entail, both for Longyearbyen and for polar fisheries more generally.

Migration In Harmony is an international, cross-disciplinary network of Arctic migration researchers funded by the National Science Foundation and co-led by The Arctic Institute. Learn more and sign up at https://migrationharmony.org/contact

We are sorry to announce that the 50th Arctic Workshop that was rescheduled for 29 August – 1 September 2020 has been postponed until next year: 15 – 17 April 2021.

Our decision was made in response to concerns about international and domestic travel expressed by many of you, as well as the need to protect attendees in high-risk categories. Our decision was also guided by University of Colorado policies on COVID-19.

Read the full statement here.

Founder of the Arctic Workshop, John T. Andrews has been a pioneer in advancing our understanding of Pleistocene ice sheets, their interaction with adjacent oceans, and their profound influence on the Earth system.

The workshop grew out of a series of informal annual meetings started in 1970 by John. The purpose of the early meetings was to give graduate students an opportunity to present their ongoing research, gain experience in public speaking, and obtain feedback from more senior researchers. Subsequent meetings retained this emphasis while simultaneously expanding the contributions of professional researchers.

Please follow the link above for more information.

SIOS will offer a training course on how to effectively use remote sensing data acquired from satellites, from the air or from the ground, and their associated tools and software in the context of terrestrial research in Svalbard. The course is intended for field scientists, Ph.D. students and technicians with no or little experience with remote sensing techniques. The training will be delivered by remote sensing experts from SIOS member institutions, international teachers and potential virtual talks from ESA experts.

Please note that you need to register beforehand to be able to attend the lectures and the hands-on sessions. Please follow the link above.

Goal of the training

The goal of the course is to teach participants the basic skills needed to work independently to acquire, analyse and visualize terrestrial data sets derived from a variety of close to very long-range sources.

Objectives

Many field scientists, from SIOS member institutions, have been working on research projects which would greatly benefit from the addition of a richer set of remote sensing viewpoints. However, they may lack the necessary training required to make easy but effective use of freely available data sets, tools, and software, as well as to plan and execute research-grade field remote sensing acquisitions. Ph.D. students from SIOS member institutions who are about to begin careers using remote sensing as an integral part of their research projects can also benefit from this training course.

UPDATE:

The University of Edinburgh is no longer able to host the planned consecutive meetings of the IGS British Branch and UK Antarctic Science Conference this coming September.

We are now working with the IGS Early-Career Glaciology Group (EGG) and colleagues in the National Committee for Antarctic Research (NCAR) on some online alternatives to both meetings for later in the year. The details are to be confirmed and will come to this distribution list in due course, but they will now be separate meetings, and not tied to the previously circulated dates in early September.

Looking to 2021 and 2022, I'm pleased to notify you that the IGSBB committee have agreed that the University of Liverpool will host a September 2021 IGS British Branch (exact dates tbc), and that we at Edinburgh are now working on remounting a combined IGS British Branch / UK Antarctic Science Conference for 29 August - 2 September 2022.

Although the physical meeting of the International Glaciological Society British Branch is cancelled, there will be a virtual meeting organised by the IGS British Branch and the IGS EGG from 7–9 October 2020.

We are planning 3 half days. There will be both oral and poster sessions. Abstracts are due by 17 August.

Abstract submission is now open for the 2020 virtual IGSBB meeting.

Registration will be through the IGS portal and will be announced very shortly. Registration is free but you must register.

Contacts:
BINGHAM Robert <r.bingham at ed.ac.uk>
Rebecca Schlegel <mog.schlegel at gmail.com>
Secretary General, International Glaciological Society (IGS)

The University of Edinburgh will host the International Glaciological Society British Branch Meeting. Please save the dates. Details on registration etc. will be disseminated in the coming weeks.

Join the National Science Foundation for a program manager chat about the recent Dear Colleague Letter announcing potential support for community collaborations between NSF-funded Arctic researchers and residents.

Through this Dear Colleague Letter, NSF's Arctic Sciences Section (ARC) in the Office of Polar Programs is encouraging submissions of proposals for projects that will enrich interactions and improve collaboration between Arctic residents and NSF-funded researchers. Through increasing investment in Arctic research in recent years, NSF has created greater opportunities for researchers to work in the Arctic, to build strong partnerships with Arctic residents, and to create projects in collaboration with northern communities. The Arctic Sciences Section wishes to support the development of additional research capacity of Arctic residents and local and regional organizations to strengthen communication and to enhance partnerships with the academic community that NSF typically supports.

All are welcome to attend this webinar. Please follow the link above to register.

In conjunction with Polar Week 2020, USAPECS is announcing the fifth annual Polar Film Fest.

What is the Polar Film Fest?
After the success of Polar Film Fests 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 US APECS is organizing the fifth Polar Film Fest for 2020, which is taking place during International Polar Week. To follow the previous PFF the five days of the Film Fest (September 21-25) will showcase films about the Arctic, Antarctic, and wider cryosphere.

We invite submissions for the following themes:
1) Dreamland Fieldwork
2) The Great Arctic Drift: Views of Polar Research
3) Homegrown: Stories by Indigenous Storytellers
4) “What is it that you do again?”: Explaining your research to your family
5) Ask a Polar Scientist
6) Represent for the Alpine - The quest for the perfect powder

Submissions are due September 1.

Please follow the link above for more details.

The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies and the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge are pleased to host the Arctic Environmental Humanities Workshop Series.

As the Arctic gains greater visibility among academics and diverse publics, we see an urgent need for humanities scholars to help shape the current debates and research priorities too often limited to the natural and social sciences. This rise in awareness of Arctic issues coincides with widespread academic initiatives in the emerging interdisciplinary field of environmental humanities. These growing interests in the Arctic and in the environmental humanities are in turn both catalyzed by the climate crisis; the urgency of this crisis is central to, but not exhaustive of, our collective commitment to Arctic environmental humanities (AEH).

The Shaggy Saviour of Northern Norway

Presented by Dolly Jørgensen, Professor of History, University of Stavanger, Norway and Co-editor of Environmental Humanities, 2020-22.

Dolly Jørgensen is a historian of the environment and technology at the University of Stavanger, Norway. Her work focuses on how human technologies shape the world around us and how we come to understand what is “natural” and what is not, with particular attention to human-animal relations. Her current research agenda focuses on cultural histories of animal extinction, and she recently published Recovering Lost Species in the Modern Age: Histories of Longing and Belonging (MIT Press, 2019). She has also edited several books, including Northscapes: History, Technology & the Making of Northern Environments (2014) and Visions of North in Premodern Europe (2018). Professor Jørgensen is the editor of Environmental Humanities and the co-founder of The Greenhouse environmental humanities research group.

The Synotic Arctic Survey (SAS) is still going strong despite the situation with Covid-19. On this occasion, we would like to bring you up to speed on the status of the Arctic Ocean and of SAS and hereby invite you to join the Synoptic Arctic Survey’s fall Webinar “A New Arctic Emerging” on September 2, 15:00 – 17:00 (UTC+2), local time Oslo.

This Webinar will address the Arctic Ocean in response to present and future climate change with focus on marine physical, biogeochemical, and ecological processes, and emphasizes the underlying question behind SAS’s science plan: What are the present state and major ongoing transformations of the Arctic marine system?

There will be three solicited talks with room for questions and discussions:

1. Andrey Proshutinsky (WHOI) – Freshwater in the Beaufort Gyre; accumulation, release processes, and their influence on Arctic circulation and climate.
2. Ryan Woosley (MiT) – Freshening of the western Arctic and the impacts on anthropogenic carbon uptake potential.
3. Marit Reigstad (UiT) – Understanding the driving mechanisms and potential fate of increased primary production in the Arctic.

The Webinar will take place in GoToMeeting, and moderated by Øyvind Paasche, the Chair of SAS’ Scientific Steering Committee.

If you are interested in joining, please email Anne Kari Meisingset at anne.meisingset(@)uib.no to get the meeting ID.

Frank Pattyn, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, "The Uncertain Future of the Antarctic Ice Sheet".

Please register in advance for the seminars. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the seminar.

The seminar will also be available afterwards on the Friends of the International Glaciological Society Facebook page so that you can watch it there if technology fails or you can't make it.

Join us as members of the MOSAiC expedition education and outreach team describe virtual tools (videos, ArcGIS Storymaps, tracking Apps, and more) that can be used to introduce and connect your students to this unprecedented expedition!

About MOSAiC

The MOSAiC expedition is one of the largest Arctic research expeditions ever conducted with more than 500 scientists from 19 countries participating. The goal of the expedition is to study all aspects of the changing Arctic climate system by freezing a ship in ice and drifting with the ice for an entire year! Since the start of the expedition in September 2019, MOSAiC scientists have braved sub-zero temperatures, months of total darkness, curious polar bears, and logistical challenges in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these obstacles, this unprecedented expedition has persisted and will continue through October 2020.

Bring MOSAiC into your virtual classrooms today!

WHO: K-12 science teachers.
WHAT: Webinar focused on virtual tools to introduce students to the MOSAiC expedition.
WHY: The MOSAiC expedition will continue through October 2020. Take advantage of the many MOSAiC-related virtual teaching tools and connect your students to the science and adventure of the MOSAiC expedition in real-time!
HOW: Register for the webinar to receive an invitation and Zoom link for the event.

Update: The University of Edinburgh is no longer able to host the planned consecutive meetings of the IGS British Branch and UK Antarctic Science Conference this coming September. The 2021 UK Online Antarctic Science Conference will instead take place Monday 22 to Thursday 25 March 2021. This is a replacement meeting for the cancelled 2020 meeting at the University of Edinburgh.

The University of Edinburgh will host the UK Antarctic Science Conference. Please save the dates. Details on registration etc. will be disseminated in the coming weeks.

The meeting will be held at the University of Maine campus in Orono, Maine.

All are welcome to this informal meeting – the format will likely follow that of prior years with a focus on student research, building collaborations and ideas, and discussing the future location(s) of the meeting. If you would like to continue receiving information on this event, please sign up at the link above.

[Note: this event was moved from 20 April 2020 to 21 April 2020.]

Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) is beginning its yearly effort to gather information on relevant research activities that have occurred over the last fiscal year. We hope this provides you an opportunity to share the work you have been doing during FY2020 with the wider research community.

We welcome all to contribute information on recent work that is relevant to the Arctic Research Plan. Contributions will be organized by Performance Elements, which can be found on the website for IARPC Collaborations members; non-members can find them in the Plan beginning on pages 8-9. You can identify where your work fits in by finding the relevant research goal (e.g., Sea Ice, Coastal Resilience, Permafrost etc.) and then narrowing down to the specific activity (Performance Element) your work responds to.

Please send updates to Meredith LaValley, IARPC Project Analyst, at mlavalley [at] arcus.org and indicate what Performance Element(s) they apply to. IARPC Collaborations members can also add updates directly by posting a comment on the relevant Performance Element on the website. If you are not yet a member but would like to be, you can sign up for an account.

Short narrative text and bullets are acceptable. You can include references and short descriptions of published papers, summaries of field campaigns, data analysis details, newly released or updated datasets, websites, and summaries of relevant ongoing unpublished research.

We ask that you add your contributions by September 4th so that they may be included under FY2020 activities and posted on the IARPC website.

*Update: The 28th International Polar Conference unfortunately has to be cancelled. Due to the special situation caused by the Corona crisis, currently large meetings cannot be realized allover in Germany until end of August, and furthermore, the venue at the University of Cologne might not be available because of possible shifts of lectures and seminars until the end of the summer term, that means, end of September 2020. We very much regret to take this decision. We hope to carry out the 28th International Polar Conference at a later time.

Any registration fees that have been already paid by bank transfer will be refunded. For any further question, please contact the DGP office at geschaeftsstelle at polarforschung.de*

The German Society for Polar Research invites you to attend the 28th International Polar Conference to discuss the polar regions, climate change and consequences for the earth system and society. Contributions are welcome in the field of polar and high mountain research covering the following and related topics:

• Polar Research in a Changing Society
• Humans in the Changing Arctic
• Coole Klassen – Polarbildung in der Schule
• Atmosphere, Sea-Ice, and the Polar Ocean
• Glaciers, Ice Sheets and Sea-level Rise
• Hunting the Oldest Ice
• Tectonics and Geodynamic Processes of Polar Regions
• Stratigraphy and Evolutionary Dynamics at High Latitudes
• Facing Polar Climate Change: Insights from the Past
• Permafrost in a warming World: Impacts and Consequences
• Organisms in the face of Climate Change: Discoveries and New Approaches
• Astronomy and Astrophysics in Polar Regions
• Needs for Innovative Polar Infrastructure
• Polar Resources and Governance: Chances and Risks
• Polar Ecosystems: State, Changes and Management
• Polar Research through the Lens of an Artist

Conference language: English (special German Sessions are possible).

Deadline for registration as well as for the submission of abstracts: 30 April 2020.