Past Events

Arctic science has profound importance for Arctic residents as well as people around the world. However, the Arctic research community itself is highly demographically homogeneous. To make Arctic research more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive, the Arctic research community needs to continue to learn and update our approaches and systems.

Therefore, the IARPC Collaborations Diversity & Inclusion Working Group is hosting a quarterly reading group initiative, designed to encourage reading and open conversations on topics related to diversity and inclusion in Arctic Science. Their next event will focus on Indigenous food sovereignty and self-governance, featuring a discussion with Carolina Behe of the Inuit Circumpolar Council Alaska.

This will be an open, informal event focused on conversation, curiosity, and learning. The organizers hope that this supportive learning environment will lead towards action and change. All are welcome to join.

Join the Alaska Marine Policy Forum, sponsored by Alaska Sea Grant and Alaska Ocean Observing System. Every other month the organizers host a one-hour meeting with participants across the state interested in marine policy in Alaska. Hear the latest about state and federal marine funding, legislation and policy issues.

Climate futures – the projected changes in climate and their impacts – are key content for adaptation plans, vulnerability assessments, and other planning efforts that consider climate change and its impacts. Despite this need, climate projections consistent with best practices for climate information and tailored to areas of interest for those engaged in planning for climate change have been rare in Alaska. For example, summaries are available for a whole climate division, or a specific community, but what about a specific land management unit, or area of interest to a community? In this talk, Jeremy Littell will describe work the Alaska CASC has done to provide climate information that meets these needs and some encouraging developments that will allow us to better meet the information needs that are emerging from this work.

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

As seasonal sea ice diminishes and vessel traffic increases, the Bering Strait region’s natural resources, habitat, and people are at greater risk from potential oil spills or other accidents.

Please join the Alaska Ocean Observing System to learn more about the interactive, web-based tool being developed for both US and Russian planners and responders for emergency incidents in the transboundary Bering Strait region.

This session is open to the public. The organizers will provide background information on why they are developing the tool and give a demonstration of the tool so far. In this session we hope to hear feedback on what users and community members would like to see in the tool.

USNORTHCOM “The Watch” Command Magazine and the Center for Arctic Security and Resilience (CASR) - University of Alaska Fairbanks invite you to attend the February 2022 Arctic eTalks on "Finland and the Arctic: Finnish Diplomacy and Arctic Cooperation” featuring Ambassador Petteri Vuorimäki, Finland Ambassador for Arctic and Antarctic Affairs.

The organizers would like to recognize their Global Partners including United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), United States European Command (USEUCOM), and United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) for supporting the Arctic eTalks speaker series.

The Arctic eTalks is a monthly forum for open discussion (non-attribution, Chatham House Rule) on key issues affecting the Circumpolar Arctic for academics, defense and security professionals, and military leaders from Canada, Kingdom of Denmark (Greenland and Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States, as well as the United Kingdom and Germany.

Ambassador Vuorimäki will provide a 30-minute presentation followed by a 60-minute Q&A session (non-attribution) that will be moderated by Dr. Timo Koivurova, Research Professor, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland and Ms. Johanna Hämäläinen, Senior Specialist, Defence Cooperation Unit, Finland Ministry of Defence.

Note: Past Arctic eTalks presentations are posted on the Arctic eTalks website. However, the Q&A discussions are not posted and available only to registered Arctic eTalks participants during the live event.

The Biden-Harris Administration has reactivated the Arctic Executive Steering Committee (AESC), created by Executive Order in 2015. David Balton and Raychelle Daniel coordinate the work of the AESC, along with one of its sub-groups, the Task Force on the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area.

The work of these bodies is proceeding in parallel with that of another federal interagency body, the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee, whose work is organized by Larry Hinzman.

The Institute of the North will be hosting a virtual event for the business community in Alaska with interests in the Arctic. The event will begin with briefings by Mr. Balton, Ms. Daniel, and Mr. Hinzman, followed by an opportunity for questions and feedback.

To register for this event, please click the link below. Once registered, you will receive a Zoom link and calendar appointment.

ArcticNet, in partnership with UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and Mitacs, is issuing this Call for Proposals (CFP) that is partially funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to initiate new projects that are relevant to the Network’s mandate and that address emerging science priorities that support a self-determined and sustainable Canadian North.

The CFP has been endorsed as a contribution to the United Nations (UN) Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 (“Ocean Decade”) in recognition of the role it will play in achieving the Ocean Decade’s vision. Marine proposals funded as part of the Call for Proposals (CFP) will be endorsed as Decade Actions and will become part of a highly visible, shared, global effort to advance ocean science by opening up opportunities to create new collaborations across disciplines, geographies and generations, and to establish access to new sources of support.

Applicants must submit their completed proposal by 17:00 EST February 18, 2022.

Please follow the link above for more information.

Rick Thoman will review recent and current climate conditions around Alaska, review some forecast tools and finish up the Climate Prediction Center’s forecast for March 2022 and the early spring season. Join the gathering online to learn what’s happened and what may be in store with Alaska’s seasonal climate.

Please follow the link above to register.

Organizers announce the upcoming webinar, Investigating Coastal Hazards in Alaska's Communities. This webinar, featuring Richard Buzard (University of Alaska Fairbanks – Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab and Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys – Coastal Hazards Program).

Webinar Abstract

Alaska’s coastal communities are vulnerable to flooding and erosion and face decisions that require advance planning, such as implementing shore protection or moving infrastructure. To aid in erosion planning, we estimate erosion exposure for 48 communities from the Bering to the Beaufort seas. We conduct a shoreline change assessment, forecast 60 years of erosion, and estimate the replacement cost of infrastructure in the forecast area. To aid in flood planning, we estimate historical storm heights and flood impact categories relative to infrastructure and a local tidal datum. Community-based observations and written accounts are used to estimate the height of recorded flood events. Flood impact categories are defined using National Weather Service terminology and are based on the elevation of residences, airstrips, and other critical infrastructure. These products provide a systematic, observation-based accounting of hazards that improves the current understanding of Alaska’s most at-risk coastal communities.

UPDATE: Considering the circumstances, the event will be in a HYBRID FORMAT to be able to engage with all of you throughout the world. You will have the possibility to present your work either on site or at distance.

Oxygen is critical to the health of the planet. It affects the cycles of carbon, nitrogen and other key elements, and is a fundamental requirement for marine life from the seashore to the greatest depths of the ocean. Nevertheless, deoxygenation is increasing in the coastal and open ocean. This is mainly the result of human activities that are increasing global temperatures (CO2-induced warming) and increasing loads of nutrients from agriculture, sewage, and industrial waste, including pollution stemming from power generation using fossil fuels and biomass.

The 53rd Liege colloquium will investigate new developments and insights related to deoxygenation in open and coastal waters. It is jointly organized with the Global Ocean Oxygen Network (GO2NE) and is a contribution to the Global Ocean Oxygen Decade (GOOD) program endorsed by IOC-UNESCO.

The following sessions are considered:

• Deoxygenation: understanding causes and attributing changes
• Assessing open ocean and coastal deoxygenation variability and trends
• Deoxygenation: observing and modelling
• Deoxygenation and ocean life
• Deoxygenation and co-stressors: understanding, monitoring and mitigating deoxygenation in the context of multiple stressors
• Ocean Deoxygenation - how the past can inform the future?
• Microbial Communities and their controls on biogeochemical feedbacks and interactions
• Deoxygenation, water quality and the climate system: understanding processes and feedbacks and developing actionable indicators
• Deoxygenation: ecosystem services, economic and societal consequences.
• Confronting deoxygenation and its impacts: translating science to management and policy

Deadline for abstract submission has been extended to 20 February 2022.

The rapidly changing Arctic is leading to economic and governance implications worldwide. Decreasing sea ice is opening new trade routes between Asia and Europe as well as increasing natural resource extraction, environmental exploration, and tourism.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the melting glaciers, disappearing sea ice, and thawing permafrost in the Arctic have led to predominantly negative impacts, particularly on food security, water resources, water quality, infrastructure, transportation, tourism, and recreation, as well as culture of human societies, particularly for Indigenous peoples.

The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Program on Negotiation (PON) at Harvard Law School and Polar Cooperation Research Center at Kobe University will collaborate on a project supported by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Consulate-General of Japan in Boston on Enhancing International Scientific Cooperation: Arctic Science and Technology Advice with Ministries. With the coordination by the Science Diplomacy Center at EvREsearch LTD, this holistic (international, interdisciplinary and inclusive) project, consisting of three webinars, aims to help enhance international scientific cooperation by inclusively addressing inevitable questions that involve international law, ministries of nations, Indigenous peoples, and science inclusively with global relevance. In specific, this project will consider relationships and synergies between the 2017 Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation that entered into force in 2018 among the eight Arctic states and the Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM) process that began in 2016 with dialogues among Arctic and non-Arctic states as well as Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations. The Arctic will be analyzed as a global case study with science and ministerial relationships in view of climate and the grand challenges of humanity to balance national interests and common interests “for the benefit of all on Earth across generations.”

As unprecedented changes in the Arctic continue to create increasingly important global consequences, questions concerning the role of Arctic and non-Arctic States along with Indigenous peoples as well as mechanisms to facilitate enhanced international cooperation are urgently important. The holistic project on Enhancing International Scientific Cooperation: Arctic Science and Technology Advice with Ministries will facilitate an integrated dialogue to consider relationships of science and sustainable development in the Arctic with global relevance, structured in a series of three online workshops during February and March 2022, namely:

• What is Arctic Science?
• How can science transform data into evidence for informed decision making?
• What international efforts/processes are needed to facilitate progress in understanding the Arctic system and its global impacts?

Space is limited so priority will be given to those who register before February 1, 2022.

Please follow the link above for more information on this project that originated with the 3rd ASM that was hosted in Tokyo in May 2021 by Japan and Iceland, including details about the contributing experts with background information and suggested reading. Additional information about informed decision making as the engine of science diplomacy can be found at the Science Diplomacy Center.

International scientific cooperation is fundamental to the implementation of the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, involving science and decisionmaking institutions involved with governance mechanisms and built structures. The changing Arctic has increasingly important global consequences, generating strategies that involve Arctic and non-Arctic States along with Indigenous Peoples' Organizations to enhance international cooperation with science.

Research and action contributions with science in the Arctic are highlighted by the 2017 Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation that is binding among the eight Arctic states and the Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM) process that began in 2016 among Arctic and non-Arctic states with Arctic Indigenous Peoples' Organizations. This holistic (international, interdisciplinary and inclusive) project will address the inevitable question:

What are the relationships and synergies between the Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM) process and the 2017 Arctic Science Agreement, both of which involve ministries and science?

The theme of this project funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan is Enhancing International Scientific Cooperation: Arctic Science and Technology Advice with Ministries and will consist of 3 integrated webinars that are each framed around questions:

• First Webinar: What is Arctic Science? - 21 February, 2022, at 13:00 GMT (04:00 AK / 07:00 CST / 08:00 EST / 14:00 CET/ 15:00 EET / 16:00 Moscow / 22:00 Japan).
• Second Webinar: How can science transform data into evidence for informed decisionmaking? - 10 March, 2022, at 13:00 GMT (04:00 AK / 07:00 CST / 08:00 EST / 14:00 CET/ 15:00 EET / 16:00 Moscow / 22:00 Japan).
• Third Webinar: What international efforts/processes are needed to facilitate progress in understanding the Arctic system and its global impacts? - 24 March, 2022, at 13:00 GMT (04:00 AK / 07:00 CST / 08:00 EST / 14:00 CET/ 15:00 EET / 16:00 Moscow / 22:00 Japan).

The three webinars with this project are open to Arctic scientists, decisionmakers, experts and residents as well as other interested individuals, inclusively. Registration is required.

Separate from the invited plenary presenters and breakout- session moderators, if registration exceeds capacity, priority will be given to individuals who register for all three webinars.

Registration closes on 11 February 2022.

Assistant Professor Jessica Glass, University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences will present “A Menu Mystery of Mammoth Proportions Uncovered by DNA" as part of the Science for Alaska Lecture Series.

Accounts of woolly mammoths preserved so well in ice that their meat is still edible have a long history of intriguing the public and influencing paleontological thought on Quaternary extinctions and climate. Famously, scientists and explorers from all over the world purportedly dined on frozen mammoth from Alaska in 1951 at The Explorers Club in New York City. This event became an enduring legend and popularized traditions of eating rare and exotic food that continues to this day. The Yale Peabody Museum holds a sample of meat preserved from the 1951 meal, interestingly labeled as a South American giant ground sloth (Megatherium), not mammoth. We used ancient DNA to verify its identity, which if genuine, would extend the range of Megatherium over 600% and alter our views on ground sloth evolution. Tune in to learn about the biggest culinary mystery of the 20th century and the power of DNA to solve questions of the past, present and future.

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

Update: Due to COVID delays, the organizers have postponed the scheduled NSF-funded Polar Radar Conference to be held through the University of Maine and the Army Cold Regions Research & Engineering Lab. The new virtual conference dates will be April 4-6, 2022.

The Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine will host this virtual conference over the course of several days. We plan to host several sessions or topics of discussion for several hours each day. We hope that this format will encourage discussion and feedback between the shorter sessions.

What is the overall goal of this conference?

As the usage of radar continues to become more common and widespread in the Polar Sciences, it is important for the science community to have a coherent assessment of logistical and science interests and how we will address these.

To learn more, please follow the link above.

This session explores what gaps exist in current policies using the case of Canada, Iceland, and Russia to evaluate what is required for the road ahead.

In our current era of conflict between reliable fossil-fuel and increased demand for clean renewable energy production, energy policies are being stretched and challenged in all conceivable manners turning the policymaking process into an equilibrist exercise, juggling between pragmatism, climate change compliance, and cost efficiency. As there is no single Arctic, there are significant contrasts in energy policies, ranging from Iceland with its extensive use of renewable energies to Russia with its sizeable development and use of nuclear energy. Two different approaches to natural resource management. But how do these countries navigate the policymaking process to develop efficient and low-cost energy grids in the Arctic?

Please follow the link above to register.

The 2022 Ocean Sciences Meeting is now a fully virtual event.

This year’s theme emphasizes the importance of working together. “Come Together and Connect,” focuses on strengthening the ocean sciences community through discussing both basic and applied research while making scientific and social connections.

Co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), and The Oceanography Society (TOS), Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM) is the global leader in ocean sciences conferences. We are creating a meeting and networking environment that provides opportunities for ocean scientists, from those doing basic research to those working on solutions for the ocean we want, to present and share knowledge as well as network and address emerging topics in ocean sciences.

While many participants will physically gather in Honolulu, the Program Committee anticipates a large global gathering to virtually attend online programming and events. The tradition of outstanding presentations and knowledge-sharing, through plenary speakers, in oral sessions, and in serendipitous conversations, will continue during OSM 2022.

Balance is a key to OSM 2022 – enabling as many people to meet as possible across media, disseminating scientific knowledge, and creating personal connections all while considering the ocean and planet we want for the future.

Important Dates:

• August 2021: Call for Abstracts and Auxiliary Events Posted
• September 2021: Registration Opens
• 29 September 2021: Abstract, Town Hall and Auxiliary Event Submission Deadline.
• November 2021: Presenters Notified of Acceptance, Travel Grant Recipients Notified, Program Schedule Posted

NNA PredictFest is a two-day gathering of collaboration, new ideas and planning. The goal of this event is to bring researchers and community members to identify and test ideas for future NSF NNA proposals.

We will be utilizing meeting space on the UAF Fairbanks campus. There will also be support for online participation.

Please follow the link above for more information.

The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, and International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) in collaboration with the Oceaographic Institute present 'The Cold is Getting Hot!'

Environmental change in the Arctic and Antarctic is accelerating, affecting both local biophysical and living things and affecting the broader climate, human and ecological systems far beyond the poles.

This scientific symposium will convene leading scientists to discuss how, how fast, and in what ways changes in our planet's polar regions are affecting Earth's climate, living and social systems, and how this affects us all.

This event will inform management, policy and collective action in the poles and feed into processes at international and regional levels.

The event will be held in person at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco and available to watch online through a live stream.

Programme

• Session 1: Understanding changes in the poles
• Session 2: Contribution of polar changes to the global climate
• Session 3: Effects of polar changes upon global human societies and economies
• Session 4: Management responses in the face of uncertainties

Please follow the link above for more information.

The Canadian Studies Center, along with University of the Arctic and Yukon University, invite you to join us for an engaging discussion about the development and growth of the Arctic Council—and where it might go from here.

In conversation with Arctic visionaries Rosemarie Kuptana, Franklyn Griffiths, and Oran Young
Moderated by Tony Penikett

Since the founding of the Arctic Council 25 years ago, conditions have changed. A sizable number of non-Arctic states and non-governmental organizations have joined the Council as Observers, media coverage has increased, and corporate interests have kept an eye on business opportunities. How might these developments change the operations of the Arctic Council? How can the region’s Indigenous peoples maintain a strong presence in this increasingly crowded field?

Some argue that the “new” Arctic is now part of the global system. With these pressures in mind, how can the Arctic Council retain the virtues of a smaller organization and also embrace a philosophy of inclusivity?

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Office of Polar Programs (OPP) in the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) seek proposals for a Facilitator to manage the Polar Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (Polar STEAM) initiative.

Polar STEAM is a new initiative that encompasses and enriches two longstanding efforts:

• Support for writing and artistic projects specifically designed to increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of the Antarctic and the human endeavors on the southernmost continent, known as the Antarctic Artists and Writers (AAW) program; and
• Support for educators, both formal and informal, to travel to the Antarctic and Arctic to work collaboratively with researchers, referred to as the Polar Educators program.

The Facilitator of Polar STEAM will be responsible for managing the AAW and Polar Educator program(s) as parallel but synergistic programs that promote connections and innovative partnerships between their participants. To accomplish this, the Facilitator will need to demonstrate the ability to work with the two programs’ diverse stakeholders and audiences.

Proposal deadline: 25 February 2022.

For more information about the program and how to apply, please follow the link above.