Past Events

The European Space Agency, together with the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC) and the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) is organizing the SeaSAR2023 workshop in Longyearbyen, Svalbard from 2-6 May 2023.

The following topics will be addressed:

• Wave Retrievals
• Near Surface Wind Retrievals
• Doppler Shift Retrievals
• Detection of Extremes
• Sea Ice Retrievals
• Sensor Synergy
• Methodology and Techniques
• Future Missions
• Applications (Oil Spill, Ship Detection, etc)

The workshop is open to ESA Principal Investigators, co-investigators, Sentinel-1 users, scientists, students, representatives from national, European, and international space agencies and value adding industries. No participation fees will be charged. Participants are expected to finance their own travel and accommodation expenses.

Due to the capacity of the venue, the number of attendees will be limited to around 120.

Deadline for abstract submission: 25 January 2023.

Organizers are pleased to announce the start of the Arctic Coastal Observations, Research, and Networking Series (ACORN). ACORN talks will be scheduled for the fourth Wednesday of each month, starting January 2023.

Abstract

Subsea permafrost forms when sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic. Although year-round sea ice has until recently hindered measurement of subsea permafrost distribution, best estimates indicate that over 2.5 million km2 of permafrost exists under the Arctic continental shelf, with some areas of the Laptev and Kara seas underlain by permafrost that is more than 700 meters thick. Understanding subsea permafrost is important because it stores organic carbon and methane, which, if thawed, may reach the atmosphere as greenhouse gasses. Sea-level variations control subsea permafrost distribution. Yet to date, no subsea permafrost model has included local sea level that differs from the global mean due to glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA). Here we present the first model of pan-Arctic subsea permafrost over the last 400,000 years to incorporate GIA. This model allows us to estimate present-day subsea permafrost extent and explore the effect that relative sea level has on permafrost evolution. Additionally, we extend the subsea permafrost simulation 1000 years into the future for the emissions scenarios outlined in the International Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report. Our future projections enable us to map the vulnerability of Arctic subsea permafrost to climate warming.

Users of satellite data at high latitudes face unique challenges, both related to the operational mission and to the quality and availability of observational data. This presentation will share examples and best practices for leveraging GOES and JPSS satellite data in the high latitudes.

Please register to attend.

The organizers welcome oral and poster contributions on all aspects concerning the mass balance and dynamics of Arctic glaciers, including the Greenland Ice Sheet.

The purpose of the meeting is:

• To present and discuss new results on observations and modelling of the dynamics and mass budget of Arctic glaciers, including the Greenland ice sheet
• To plan and coordinate field work on Arctic glaciers with the aim of using the available infrastructure and logistics in the most efficient way
• To develop ideas for future projects and collaboration

In addition to the workshop, the meeting will host a special session on "Glacier - atmosphere interactions in a warming and wetting Arctic".

With funding from IASC, the organizers will be able to provide financial support to a selection of early career researchers.

Please register and submit your abstract by 25 November 2022.

Harvard Kennedy School's Arctic Initiative announces their upcoming book talk featuring Douglas Causey (Arctic Initiative Associate and Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Alaska Anchorage) and Christian Leuprecht (Class of 1965 Professor in Leadership at the Royal Military College of Canada), co-editors of the new book, Polar Cousins: Comparing Antarctic and Arctic Geostrategic Futures.

Drawing from their new book, Causey and Leuprecht will discuss the impacts of geopolitics and climate change on national and international security interests in both polar regions, as well as the lessons learned from the Arctic experience for addressing challenges relating to governance, environmental protection, and maritime operations in the Antarctic.

Attendance

In-person attendance is limited to Harvard ID holders; no RSVP required. Room capacity is limited and seating will be on a first come, first serve basis.

Members of the public are welcome to attend virtually via Zoom. Virtual attendees need to register to receive a confirmation email with a Zoom link.

Historically, the Arctic Region has served as a natural strategic buffer between nations competing for geopolitical and economic interests. The impacts of climate change on the Arctic’s physical environment have coincided with the reemergence of great power competition for resources, influence, and governance around the globe. The White House’s recent release of the National Strategy for the Arctic Region emphasizes the convergence of these competing interests and for the first time, the Arctic is included as a regional priority in the National Security Strategy. The Department of Homeland Security’s multi-faceted mission through agencies like the United States Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement makes it integral to upholding and advancing the nation’s priorities under the NSAR’s four pillars.

Please join the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute for a conversation with DHS Deputy Secretary John Tien on DHS’s unique and significant role in the Arctic region. This chat will be followed by a panel of experts from DHS agencies who will discuss DHS’s role in upholding the NSAR’s pillars through maritime security, disaster preparedness and recovery, and law enforcement collaboration.

Keynote Speaker

Deputy Secretary John K. Tien
Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security

Moderators

Dr. Rebecca Pincus
Director, Polar Institute

Michael Sfraga
Chair & Distinguished Fellow, Polar Institute // Chair, US Arctic Research Commission

Panelists

Ambassador David Balton
Executive Director, Arctic Executive Steering Committee, Office of Science & Technology Policy, White House; former Senior Fellow, Polar Institute, Wilson Center

Rear Admiral Michael P. Ryan
Deputy Commandant for Operations Policy & Capabilities (CG-DCO-D), U.S. Coast Guard

Tasha Reid Hippolyte, Ph.D.
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Trade Policy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Robert J. Hammer
Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, Department of Homeland Security

David Kang
Director, Office of Response and Recovery, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

The Permafrost Discovery Gateway hosts a monthly webinar series on a Thursday at 09:00 Alaska time. The webinar aims to 1) connect the international science community interested in big data remote sensing of permafrost landscapes, and 2) provide the Permafrost Discovery Gateway development team with end-user stories (by the presenter and webinar participants), such as exploring tools the community needs to create and explore big data.

Abstract

Comprehensive and up-to-date analysis-ready geospatial data on pan-Arctic infrastructure is lacking, hampering risk assessment efforts that attempt to quantify the socioeconomic impacts of permafrost thaw-related natural hazards on the built environment. A recent study addresses this data gap by producing the first pan-Arctic satellite-based record of infrastructure and anthropogenic impacts within 100 km of Arctic coasts at a 10 m spatial resolution, mapping infrastructure from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery using machine learning and deep learning models. In this ongoing study, we attempt to complement and improve upon this data product by developing a deep learning framework to map pan-Arctic infrastructure at a sub-meter spatial resolution using Maxar commercial satellite imagery, which presents a number of unique challenges. Semantic complexity of objects at sub-meter spatial resolution requires a plausible classification scheme that generalizes across the thematic and geographic variability in Arctic infrastructure. The amount of time required to create a circumpolar training dataset requires the integration of numerous open-source geospatial datasets to speed up the process. Model training and testing sites must be carefully selected in order to account for variables including settlement type, structure size and shape, density of building distribution, rooftop design and material, and natural environmental factors. Early stages of the study show promising performance of a U-Net++ model trained to detect various buildings types, roads, airport runways, gravel pads, pipelines, and storage tanks in rural, medium-density, urban, and industrial settings across Alaska, Russia, and Canada.

The call for abstracts for the 54th International Liège Colloquium "Machine learning and data analysis in oceanography" is now open.

The colloquium will be a hybrid conference, taking place 8-12 May 2023 at the University of Liège in Liège, Belgium and Online. In-person attendance is encouraged.

Deadline for abstract submissions: 27 January 2023.
Early Bird registration: before 31 March 2023.

The Liège Colloquium will be organized into 3 sessions:

1. Learning from Numerical Models
2. Learning from Observations
3. Cross-cutting approaches and integration

Our Winter World and GLOBE Alaska are collaborating with the Geophysical Institute to learn how people, animals and plants rely on snow. Join us to become a citizen scientist, dig snow pits, simulate an avalanche, learn about water molecules and more.

This event will take place from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm AKST. All ages welcome! (Adult supervision required.)

The field of geographic sciences takes many forms and has been continuously evolving over the years. Physical geography specifically deals with aspects of climate, weather, wind currents, and aquatic movements. A subfield of physical geography is the field of climatology. As a recently established field under the umbrella of geographic sciences, climatology aims to address the continuous damage mankind is inflicting upon the earth’s natural atmosphere, weather, and climate by studying its causes, effects, and practical mitigation techniques.

Arctic Frontiers welcomes you to submit abstracts to their upcoming conference Moving North.

Sea ice, new species, technology hubs and the impacts of climate change are all moving closer to the Arctic, whilst simultaneously, the people of the Arctic are moving south, providing both challenges and opportunities for sustainable development. The knock-on effects of the war in Europe are vast, including food and fuel security, fertilizer and agriculture limitations, energy demand, and supply chain issues.

The conference will have seven science sessions with the following titles:

• Occupational health and safety in the Arctic
• City transformation by and for the citizens of the Arctic using digital technologies and visualisation
• Modelling and monitoring challenges to maritime safety in a changing Arctic
• Plastic pollution, priorities and perspectives in the Arctic
• Impacts and adaptations in response to Atlantification of the Arctic Ocean
• Adaptive management of rapidly changing Arctic ecosystems using interdisciplinary and system-science approaches
• Assembling the valuable and vulnerable North

The extended abstract deadline is 26 September 2022.

This 5-day in-person workshop will provide researchers with an overview of reproducible and ethical research practices, steps and methods for more easily documenting and preserving their data at the Arctic Data Center, and an introduction to programming in R. Special attention will be paid to qualitative data management, including practices working with sensitive data. Example datasets will draw from natural and social sciences, and methods for conducting reproducible research will be discussed in the context of both qualitative and quantitative data. Responsible and reproducible data management practices will be discussed as they apply to all aspects of the data life cycle. This includes ethical data collection and data sharing, data sovereignty, and the CARE principles. The CARE principles are guidelines that help ensure open data practices (like the FAIR principles) appropriately engage with Indigenous Peoples’ rights and interests.

Inspiring Girls Expeditions is a collaborative multi-institutional partnership with branches located around the world. The program leads tuition-FREE expeditions for high school girls* that interweave field science, art, and backcountry travel combining science, art, inquiry, and outdoor exploration.

Expedition teams are selected through an application process. When selecting teams, Inspiring Girls looks for diversity in the applicants' backgrounds and interests; they believe the diversity of their program makes their expeditions stronger and more insightful. They look for applicants who will share their perspectives and learn from one another; team members are not chosen based solely on their individual applications. The team is chosen as a whole, according to what each member brings to the team.

In the U.S., the Inspiring Girls Expedition program seeks 16–18-year-old girls* still enrolled in high school or graduating from high school the same year as the expedition.

All application materials for Inspiring Girls Expeditions in the United States and Canada are due January 30, 2023 at 11:59 pm AKST. Applications, eligibility and selection criteria, and more information can be found on their website.

*Inspiring Girls Expeditions welcomes cisgender girls and transgender, agender, Two Spirit, nonbinary, intersex, and genderqueer youth.

The Joint Science Education Project (JSEP) is a hybrid remote and field experience in Greenland for students from the U.S., Greenland, and Denmark. They are currently seeking students with a passion for science, openness to new experiences, and who will be strong cultural ambassadors for the U.S.

Students who successfully complete the one week Remote Course in 2023 will be eligible to apply to join a JSEP Field Expedition to Greenland in future years. JSEP offers hands-on learning, polar research opportunities, and unique cultural experiences. Students become part of an international and intergenerational network of students, educators, and scientists.

Eligibility: Current high school juniors who are U.S. citizens can apply for the summer 2023 Remote Course. Students who completed the remote program in 2020, 2021, or 2022 and who will turn 18 before or on 1 June 2023 are eligible to apply for the summer 2023 field program in Greenland. Previous travel and research experiences are not required. All expenses are covered, and the field program offers a $1,500 stipend.

The application deadline is 31 January 2023.

Fairbanks BEST Homeschool joins the Geophysical Institute for an afternoon of night sky wonder. Bring your family and friends for space exploration, hands-on aurora activities and stargazing inside a planetarium.

This event will take place from 3:30 to 5:30 pm AKST. All ages welcome! (Adult supervision required.)

The International Association for Cryospheric Sciences (IACS) is soliciting nominations for the IACS 2023 Early Career Scientist (ECS) Prize. The IACS ECS Prize is a biennial cash prize of € 1000 awarded to two early career scientists who have published the best scientific papers on a cryospheric subject as assessed by an evaluation committee. The papers must have been published between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2022.

The nomination deadline is 1 February 2023.

The nominee must be an early-career scientist defined as a person who is currently enrolled in a PhD/MSc program or whose highest academic degree (PhD, MSc) was obtained no longer than two years before the submission deadline.

The Selection Committee will announce the winners latest in early April 2023, and the 2023 Prize will be formally presented at the IUGG General Assembly in Berlin (12-16 July 2023).

Hamptons Observatory, and co-host Suffolk County Community College, are honored to present a free, virtual lecture by multi-disciplinary scientist, explorer, and the University of Maine’s Institute for Climate Change Director, Prof. Paul Andrew Mayewski.

“Journey Into Climate” covers over five decades of expeditions filled with adventure, exploration, discovery, and contributions to the understanding of climate change. The story is told through the personal experiences of the internationally acclaimed glaciologist, climate scientist, and polar explorer, Paul Andrew Mayewski. Prof. Mayewski and his teams have traveled throughout Antarctica, the Himalayas, Greenland, the Andes, and the Southern Ocean in search of answers to how and why climate changes. By living and working in some of earth’s most remote places, their journey not only documents the role played by past changes but sheds light on the transition from a “gradualist” to a fast-changing physical and chemical climate system in which human activity goes from having a relatively minor to a remarkably consequential impact. The lessons learned are now clear: we have entered the age of climate decision where our actions will define the course of civilization and the health of our planet.

Please register to attend.

Bio

Prof. Paul Andrew Mayewski is an internationally acclaimed glaciologist, climate scientist, polar explorer and Director of the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine, where he is also a Distinguished Professor in the Schools of Earth Sciences, Marine Sciences, Policy and International Affairs, as well as in the Business and Law Schools. He has led more than 60 expeditions to the remotest polar and the high elevations of the planet resulting in transformative contributions to climate science. In 2019, he led the placement of the highest automatic weather station on Mt. Everest. Prof. Mayewski has received several prestigious international awards, and has made numerous scientific discoveries. He has made hundreds of media appearances including several on the CBS show, “60 Minutes,” and the Emmy Award-Winning documentary series, “Years of Living Dangerously.” Prof. Mayewski has authored more than 500 scientific articles and has published two popular books: The Ice Chronicles and Journey into Climate.

For over 30 years, the Geophysical Institute has hosted the Science for Alaska talk series as one of its largest public outreach efforts. The series brings information about current research to Alaskans from scientists with expertise across the state.

To kick-off the 31st year of Science for Alaska, the Geophysical Institute invites you to attend a new First Friday event from 5:00 to 7:30 pm at The Pub, 1731 S Chandalar Drive, University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. Those who can’t join in person can tune in on KSUA student radio, 91.5 FM.

Enjoy a storytelling evening of six short, engaging, image-based talks about glaciers, earthquakes, the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program facility, Fairbanks winter air quality, the Alaska Satellite Facility, and flooding impacts on St. Paul island. Free snacks and door prizes will be available. Attendees must be 21+ due to location. On-campus parking is always free after 5 pm.

Join the Facebook event for the Friday Friday event at the Pub.

After this kick-off event, the traditional 2023 Science for Alaska lecture series begins Tuesday, 7 February, and runs every Tuesday through 7 March. These talks start at 7:00 pm in the Schaible Auditorium, UAF campus, and will be streamed live to Zoom and the UAF and Geophysical Institute Facebook pages.

NSF will be hosting two events on February 3, one at 2:00 pm EST aimed at middle and high school students and one at 7:00 pm EST for adults or anyone who cannot attend the earlier event.

Join researcher and educator Ariel Waldman as she dives into the soils of Antarctica, and tells stories about how Antarctica is interconnected with the rest of the Earth and can inform us about the search for life on other planets. Ariel has been working alongside PolarTREC teacher Bill Henske on the Dry Valleys Ecosystem Study.

The McMurdo Dry Valleys is a uniquely dynamic ecosystem, with microscopic animals living in the soils, helping researchers understand how animals adapt to harsh and changing environments.

To register for the webinars use the following links:

• 2:00 pm EST (aimed at students)
• 7:00 pm EST (aimed at adults)

The organizers of the 6th European Conference on Permafrost are pleased to welcome you 18-22 June 2023 in Puigcerdà, at the heart of the Eastern Pyrenees for three exciting days of plenary lectures, oral presentations and posters, combined with several local field trips across the eastern Pyrenees (Cerdanya, Núria, Andorra, etc). Two 3-day-long regional field trips across the Pyrenees will be organized before and at the end of the conference.

The organizing committee is fully committed to organizing an on-site conference to have the possibility to meet in-person, although they are also considering a hybrid format including online attendance depending on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Important dates

• The call for session proposals extended to 8 May 2022
• Abstract submission extended deadline is 5 February 2023
• Decision on abstracts (orals/posters) in February 2023
• Early bird registration until 15 March 2023