Past Events

The National Academies’ Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate is hosting a 2-hour webinar to contribute to an ongoing dialogue on Earth System Predictability Research and Development. The goals of this event are to (1) share the main themes from the June 2020 Earth Systems Predictability workshop with the community, (2) provide any updates to the community on relevant activities, and (3) open a dialogue about how the community might contribute to advancing the initiative.

Please follow the link above for more information and to register.

COVID-19 Update: Our annual Arctic Shipping Forum Helsinki and Arctic Shipping North America conferences have moved online, taking place 27 – 30 October 2020. We look forward to bringing together the who's who of the Arctic shipping industry in this new virtual format to learn, connect and move forward together.

Developing technological capabilities. Improving emergency response. Securing a sustainable future for shipping in the Arctic.

Follow the link above for more information.

Join us as members of the MOSAiC expedition education and outreach team lead you through the new MOSAiC-related curriculum "Exploring the New and Old Arctic”. The curriculum can easily be adapted to virtual learning as students engage with immersive 360° virtual expeditions, authentic Arctic datasets, and App-based labs.

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 the MOSAiC-related curriculum, "Exploring the New and Old Arctic".
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.

The National Environmental Satellite Data Information Service (NESDIS) which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates a number of satellites for monitoring the earth’s environment. These satellites are divided into two types of orbiting strategies.

Geostationary (GEO) satellites orbit at the same speed and direction as the earth’s rotation. Their fixed position relative to the earth provides continuous monitoring of the development and movement of weather systems, however to synchronize with the earth’s rotation their orbit is quite distant from the surface and centered over the equator. This results in degraded resolution and parallax displacement in the high latitudes like Alaska. The newest generation of GEO satellites can take observations as frequently as every 30 seconds.

Polar-orbiting satellites travel from pole to pole covering a new swath of the earth with each pass. They are positioned much lower than geostationary satellites and are often referred as Low Earth Orbiting or LEO satellites. LEO satellites are usually sun-synchronous, covering the entire globe twice a day (once ascending and once descending) and passing over the same point around the same time each day. They have much higher resolution imagery than GEO and minimal parallax, however even with multiple LEO satellites and orbital trajectories converging over northern latitudes, the coverage for Alaska is less frequent than GEO. LEO satellites are often equipped with additional sensors, such as passive microwave which is able to see through clouds.

For Alaska, LEO and GEO satellites have advantages and disadvantages, however other traditional observation networks are sparse in the state, so it is important to utilize the best qualities of each platform to fully diagnose and monitor hazardous natural events. This presentation will show several examples of how data from each of these satellite platforms can be complementary in this process.

Please follow the link above to register.

International Glaciological Society Global Seminar #21:

Eric Rignot, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, "Where Ice Melt by the Ocean Matters Most".

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.

Polar Institute and Sandia National Laboratories welcome your participation in the live webcast.

Research stations and infrastructure in the North American Arctic (Alaska, Canada and Greenland) provide critical science and information about Arctic climate and environment, provide safe bases of operations, and can stimulate international collaboration.

Hosted in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, this panel aims to survey existing research infrastructure among the North American Arctic nations, explore existing gaps and discuss emerging opportunities for new capabilities or collaboration. Panelists will provide overviews of current research infrastructure in Alaska, Canada and Greenland and plans for addressing emerging needs. Moreover, they will highlight the need for close, international cooperation between North American research institutions.

Note: please submit questions to polar [at] wilsoncenter.org or the Polar Institute's Twitter during the Q&A session.

Please follow the link above to register.

The College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences will hold its fourth weekly seminar via Zoom. The talk will be offered by Jessica Black (Gwich’in), an assistant professor in UAF’s College of Rural and Community Development, and Courtney Carothers, a professor in UAF’s College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

Black and Carothers will present the “Indigenizing Salmon Science and Management” project that gave rise to “Tamamta ‘All of Us’: Transforming Western and Indigenous Fisheries and Marine Sciences Together,” a new National Science Foundation $3 million dollar grant to transform graduate education at CFOS.

For more information and to find the link to the webinar, please follow the link above.

Update from the organizers: We are sorry to announce that the 3rd International Conference on Polar Climate and Environmental Change in the Last Millennium that was planned for 24-26 September 2020 has been rescheduled for 23-25 November 2020. Furthermore, Important dates were also postponed. 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 Nicolaus Copernicus University COVID-19 policies.

The aim of the conference is to present scientific achievements and to identify gaps in the field of the historical climatology of the polar regions based on early meteorological observations, history, dendroclimatology, paleolimnology, geophysics, geomorphology, and other sources.

The conference is supported by the Polish Geophysical Society, the Committee on Polar Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Polish Polar Consortium.

Registration will open on 15 November 2019.

Learn lessons from planned relocations around the world from environmental displacement and how they relate to Arctic migrations.

Climate change and the extreme weather events it intensifies, are today and will continue to be the largest catalyst for migration worldwide. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center estimates that the number of new displacements associated with weather events will reach 22 million for 2019, making it the worst years for weather-related disaster displacement since records began.

Join the Migration in Harmony Reserach Coordnation Network for this webinar to learn what support is, and is not available, to communities are relocating away from environmental hazards. Migraiton experts Dr. Elizabeth Ferris, Sanjula Weerasinghe, and Erica Bower will share their experiences working with the International Organizaiton for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the World Bank to create international guidance and toolkits for planned community relocations, and discuss lessons learned for future relocations in a climate changed world.

Dr. Elizabeth Ferris is an ISIM Research Professor at Georgetown and a non-resident senior fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution. Her current research interests focus on the politics of humanitarian action and on the role of civil society in protecting displaced populations. She previously served as Senior Advisor to the UN General Assembly’s Summit for Refugees and Migrants and spent 20 years working in the field of humanitarian assistance. Sanjula Weerasinghe is a non-resident Fellow at ISIM and a consultant with UNHCR. Her recent experience includes work with the Migrants in Countries in Crisis Initiative Secretariat, where she was the lead secretariat drafter of the Initiative Guidelines to Protect Migrants in Countries Experiencing Conflict or Natural Disaster. Erica Bower is a PhD candidate at Stanford University, where she focuses on how people make decisions on the move in climate change contexts, and understanding the conditions under which voluntary migration can be a strategy for climate change adaptation.Previously, she was a Climate Displacement Policy specialist at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Migration In Harmony is an international, cross-disciplinary network of Arctic migration researchers funded by the National Science Foundation. Learn more and sign up here.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus situation, the organising committee have decided to postpone the PalaeoArc network meeting in Pisa, originally scheduled for 28th September - 2nd October 2020 to 24-28 May 2021.

The new registration, abstract submission and fee payment deadline is 1st March, 2021

Please refer to this Website and to the PalaeoArc Twitter account (https://twitter.com/PalaeoArc) for further news.

The PalaeoArc is a network research programme aiming to further understand past and present environmental changes and processes in the Arctic. It is the successor of the previous network programmes of PONAM (Polar North Atlantic Margins), QUEEN (Quaternary Environment of the Eurasian North), APEX (Arctic Palaeoclimate and its Extremes) and, most recently, PAST Gateways (Palaeo-Arctic Spatial and Temporal Gateways).

We welcome contributions on the overall theme of Arctic palaeo-environmental changes and modern processes and we invite contributions particularly on: Role and dynamics of polar ice sheets and ice caps; Role and dynamics of high latitude ocean and sea ice; Role and dynamics of terrestrial environment and landscape evolution; Climate response to, and interaction between, different parts of the Arctic System.

The conference will include oral and poster presentations over 2.5 days and a mid-conference field trip. Workshops for young researchers will be offered. The Program Committee will select the winner for the Best Student Poster award. To be eligible, the presenting author of the poster must be a full-time student.

UPDATE - JUNE 16th, 2020:

The International Symposium on Plastics in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region will now be held 2-4 March 2021, at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica Hotel, (https://www.hilton.is/) Reykjavik, Iceland.

We fully understand that your schedule for the fall may be unclear, but in case circumstances oblige you to cancel your plans to participate in the Symposium, the organizers would appreciate a timely warning.

The Government of Iceland in collaboration with the Nordic Council of Ministers is hosting an International Symposium on Plastics in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region in April 2020 in connection with the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Arctic Council.

Iceland holds the Chairmanship of the Arctic Council from May 2019 to May 2021 and intends during this period to promote discussion on ways and means that may reduce the impact of plastics in the Arctic Marine Environment.

Iceland holds the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2019. The Icelandic Presidency prioritizes the ocean with a focus on the fight against plastic in the marine environment, one of our times biggest challenges. The Presidency project NordMar Plastic runs for three years, up until 2021 and is in joint partnership of all eight Nordic countries.

The International Symposium will focus on scientific knowledge of the problem and the best practices to deal with the huge challenge. In this way the symposium is expected to build a foundation of science and deliver information and advice for decision makers.

The symposium is furthermore expected to contribute to the Arctic Council's work on plastic litter during the Icelandic Chairmanship.

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).

Abstract

In the first two decades of the present century, we have seen a growth of what has been called the “integrative humanities.” Looking back at the politics of frugality and various symptoms of crisis, humanities scholars and institutions around the world have looked for new agendas. These have varied, but a common feature has often been the idea that relevance and a sense of purpose have increased when different strands of humanities have organized themselves into intellectual and issue-oriented alliances around, for example, environment, climate, natural resources, rights issues, health, and sustainable development. In this respect, the Arctic, or the Poles, may be seen as an issue area, rather than as just a region among other regions, or as just the object of a set of disciplinary practices, like any topic. Arctic knowledge production remains dominated by the sciences while the issues that are looking for answers are, by and large, societal and cultural, and indeed also political. This talk will explore how the humanities can articulate the desire for a stronger presence in polar research and, despite some progress (mostly limited to certain disciplines), illustrate how we have not yet reached as far as we can.

Applications must be submitted to Grants.gov up to 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time September 30, 2020. Applications received after this time will not be reviewed or considered for funding.

Please follow the link above for complete details.

Arctic Domain Awareness Center (ADAC) will host its First Program Year 7, Customer and Partner’s Roundtable via webinar on Wednesday, 30 September 2020, with Center update, Project Reviews, and associated Customer and Partner Feedback Discussions.

ADAC will host via conference call (likely WebEx, pending coordination with HQ USCG). Registration is free at the link above.

Join us as members of the MOSAiC expedition education and outreach team lead you through the new MOSAiC-related curriculum, "Arctic Feedbacks: Not all warming is equal”. The curriculum can easily be adapted to virtual learning as students engage with immersive 360° virtual expeditions, authentic Arctic datasets, and App-based labs to discover why the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world!

Context for Use:

“Arctic Feedbacks” is a middle/high school earth science unit focused on weather and climate as it relates to Earth’s system. The unit is centered around an anchoring phenomenon known as Arctic amplification and consists of ten unique lessons, each tied to the NGSS Earth’s systems standards. Each lesson provides students with evidence they will use to explain anchoring phenomenon in a final descriptive model and written explanation.

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 the MOSAiC-related curriculum, "Arctic Feedbacks: Not all warming is equal".
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.

Call for access to Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) research infrastructure is now open!

Apply for access to research infrastructure in Svalbard through the annual call for access. Details on what is offered and how to apply are available at the link above.

Apply before 30th September 2020 for access in 2021.

International Glaciological Society Global Seminar #22:

William Harcourt, University of St. Andrews, "New Opportunities for Glacier Mapping Using Millimetre-Wave Radar";
Michalea King, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, "Nonuniform Response of Greenland Outlet Glaciers to Seasonal Meltwater Working";
Lauren Vargo, University of Wellington, "Anthropogenic Warning Forces Extreme Annual Glacier Mass Loss"

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.

Established in 1996, the Arctic Council is the leading intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States, Arctic indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular on issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic.

Learn about the Arctic Council, its role, processes, and future during this session.

Speakers:

• Mike Sfraga, Director - Polar Institute at The Wilson Center
• Ambassador David Balton, Senior Fellow - Polar Institute at The Wilson Center
• Gail Schubert, President and CEO - Bering Strait Native Corporation
• Liza Mack, Aleut International Association

The program is free of charge but please register to receive login details.

Full title:
Remote Sensing of Icebergs: Can Iceberg Elevation Time Series Provide Insights Into Changing Glacier-Ocean Interactions?

Abstract:
Icebergs have long instilled fear in the hearts of polar navigators, motivating the development of in situ and remotely-sensed datasets to monitor their movement in regions where they pose hazards to commercial shipping operations. Although icebergs have been tracked in the open ocean for decades, there was relatively little research on icebergs in glacial fjords prior to the 21st century. In this presentation, I will explain how high-resolution remotely-sensed elevation time series of icebergs in glacial fjords can be used as a tool to better understand changing ice-ocean interactions in otherwise inaccessible locations. I will focus primarily on estimation of iceberg freshwater fluxes and melt rates by members of my group and what those data can potentially tell us about submarine melt conditions near glacier termini. Iceberg melt data will be presented for both Greenland and Antarctica, including new iceberg melt time series for a dozen locations spanning the Antarctic periphery. I will also briefly describe promising new research that utilizes iceberg elevation time series and fragmentation theory to explore controls on iceberg calving. Although the full potential of iceberg elevation data is still unknown, this presentation will hopefully inspire you to think more about icebergs!

The webinar will include an interactive Q&A session with our guest speaker and PGC staff, and a recording will be available on our website. We hope you take the opportunity to attend and ask questions you may want answered.

In light of the Arctic and Antarctic field seasons cancellations and changes, the PGC is taking this opportunity to showcase some of our users’ remote sensing based techniques and research that may inspire or supplement any project changes others have experienced.

Join us to learn about the different efforts to utilize remote sensing in polar science.

We are pleased to announce this call for abstracts for the APECS Polar Career Workshop. We invite individuals early in their careers to submit their application to present a video/thesis/presentation - there is no restriction on topics.

Individuals from underrepresented and non-academic backgrounds are encouraged to submit a proposal. The event will consist of a day of workshops on a range of topics, a series of presentations, and keynote speakers. Details of topics and items to be confirmed.

Application deadline: 2 October 2020
Event Date: 14 October 2020

Please follow the link above for more information and to register.