Past Events

The Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM) is the flagship conference for the ocean sciences and the larger ocean-connected community. The 2024 meeting will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana 18-23 February 2024.

Organizers welcome a diverse community of scientists, students, journalists, policymakers, educators and organizations who are working toward a world where our global collaborations and partnerships can carry us into a sustainable future.

The Ocean Sciences Meeting is an Endorsed Decade Action program with the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

Abstract submissions close 13 September 2023 at 23:59 EDT/03:59+1 UTC.

Early bird registration ends 10 January 2024.

Join the NNA-CO education and outreach team in a hands-on session, practicing how to facilitate community storytelling and sharing with communities you work with on the science topic of your project. Lesson plans and techniques will be shared to help build your engagement and outreach toolbox.

Presenter

Dr. Katie Villano Spellman is a life-long Alaskan and Research Associate Professor at UAF’s International Arctic Research Center. She leads and collaborates on several different science education and public participation in scientific research projects including Arctic and Earth SIGNs, Winterberry Citizen Science, Fostering Science, and Fresh Eyes on Ice.

Polar STEAM is an NSF-funded program that supports broader impacts through matching educators, artists, and writers with polar researchers to co-create educational and creative resources related to polar research. Annual cohorts also include mentorship and guidance on building your broader impacts toolkit. Applications are currently open for the 2024/25 field seasons in the Arctic and Antarctic. Virtual collaborations are also available and are well-suited for lab-based researchers, those conducting data work, remote monitoring, and field work that doesn’t lend itself bringing an additional person.

A recording of the recent webinar for NSF-funded researchers is available along with FAQs and a link to the application. Researchers pre-planning for future seasons are welcome to email polarsteam [at] oregonstate.edu to discuss further.

The application deadline for polar researchers is 15 September 2023.

The U.S.-Norway Fulbright Foundation invites applications for the Fulbright Norway Distinguished Arctic Scholar Award. This fixed-term position will be located in Norway.

U.S. citizens who have a scholarly focus on polar and High North issues, a PhD or equivalent professional/terminal degree (including a Master’s degree, depending on the field) as appropriate, and a significant publication and teaching record are eligible to apply for an Arctic Scholar award.

The Arctic award for U.S. scholars is a three-month grant to do research and lecture at any institution of higher education or research in Norway. One award is given to a U.S. scholar each year. Although Fulbright Arctic Scholar funding is for three months, the grantee may stay beyond the grant period.

The start date will be agreed upon jointly between the host university and the candidate, but must occur within the 2024-25 academic year.

This award is for U.S. citizens going to Norway, and for Norwegian citizens going to the U.S. (application deadline for the latter is 1 October 2023).

Application deadline: 15 September 2023

The Polar Science Early Career Community Office (PSECCO) Conference Travel Grant Program is now open for applications. Travel awards to attend and present polar-related work at a conference are open to polar early career scientists and educators. In this Fall 2023 funding cycle, PSECCO will be distributing $5,000 of awards. Applicants may request a reasonable amount of funding to support their travel to/from a conference, up to a value of $900 per person, with awards aimed at those with demonstrated financial need. An additional $100 is available for awardees who organize a PSECCO social event at the conference.

The application deadline is 15 September 2023 at 11:59pm MDT.

PSECCO will open another round of conference travel funding in the spring of 2024.

The National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Program Arctic Sciences Section invites registration for their upcoming Office Hour webinar.

During this office hour, hosts will highlight target dates for proposal submissions, broadening participation versus broader impacts, Arctic community engagement, and providing other updates. Time will be set aside for questions and breakout rooms with program officers.

Registration is required.

The ICAT PhD school (2 ECTS) is aimed at PhD students and junior postdocs who conduct ice core analysis or are users of ice core data (glaciologists, oceanographers, climate modelers, earth scientists).

ICAT aims to educate a new generation of ice core researchers and foster a collaborative environment for future glaciological projects.

This course will educate young scientists regarding new methods developed for the analysis of ice cores with regard to climate research, with dedicated theoretical and laboratory exercise sessions.

The application deadline is 15 April 2023.

The course has a registration fee of 100 euro, which will cover lectures, excursion, social and lunches.

In conjunction with International Polar Week, the U.S. Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (USAPECS) is hosting the seventh annual international Polar Film Festival. The film festival will take place in September 2023.

For five days, the Polar Film Festival will showcase short videos on topics related to the Polar regions to the public and broader APECS community. Films will be hosted digitally on the website each day during Polar Week, and hosts are planning an online panel discussion with interested filmmakers during International Polar Week in September 2023.

Submissions of independently created films (created by you or someone you know) are welcomed and encouraged. In the past, organizers featured a range of works, from feature films and academic documentaries to independently-produced videos, interviews, and news reports. Organizers welcome a diversity of submission types and topics. Information and videos from previous years’ film festivals can be viewed online.

Organizers are also looking for people to host in-person screenings this fall. Those interested in hosting a screening should indicate this on the film submission form or email usapecs [at] gmail.com.

Extended submission deadline: 1 September 2023, 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Join Migration in Harmony Research Coordination Network for a fireside chat with expert Alina Bykova to examine the transformation of Svalbard from a primarily mining-focused region to a modern and economically diverse archipelago in the High North. This chat will discuss important moments in Svalbard’s modern history and show that affairs on the archipelago were, and still are, more than a geopolitical rivalry between Norway and Russia. Through a lively discussion, this event will add nuance to current debates about the role of politics and resources on the archipelago base on Bykoba's groundbreaking report published by The Arctic Institute.

Migration in Harmony is a Research Coordination Network on Arctic migrations funded by the National Science Foundation. They are a network of researchers, practitioners, and traditional knowledge holders working to synthesize current research, jointly identify and prioritize research topics, and build collaborative project teams to support a resilient, just, and sustainable Arctic in motion.

Bio

Alina Bykova is a Research Associate and the Editor-in-Chief of the editing team at The Arctic Institute. Her research focuses on Arctic and Soviet environmental history with a focus on energy and industry and she is currently Alina writing her dissertation on the history of extraction on Svalbard, Norway at Stanford University. Prior to her work in academia, she completed a Bachelor of Journalism at Ryerson University and worked as a breaking news reporter at the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper.

The far north is feeling the heat from climate change more than anywhere else on Earth, with rising temperatures and melting ice putting increasing pressure on marine life, ocean currents, and human lives and livelihoods. Host Véronique LaCapra will talk with scientists studying Earth’s northernmost regions and learn how changes in the Arctic affect the rest of our planet.

Speakers

• Sarah Das, Climate Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• Evie Fachon, Marine Biologist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• Isabela A Le Bras, Oceanographer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Rick Thoman will review recent and current climate conditions around Alaska, discuss some forecasting tools and finish up with the Climate Prediction Center’s forecast for October 2023 and the early winter season. Join the gathering online to learn what’s happened and what may be in store with Alaska’s seasonal climate.

Please register to attend.

For more than 30 years, the Falmouth Forum, presented by the Friends of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), has brought free cultural enrichment to our community. The Falmouth Forum is supported by the Falmouth Forum Endowment, the Bakalar Endowed Director's Discretionary Fund, and The Falmouth Fund of The Cape Cod Foundation.

Lectures are free and open to the public. Free parking is available in any Marine Biological Laboratory lot. No registration required for in-person attendance. Doors open at 7:00 pm, lectures start at 7:30 pm.

Bio

Melody Brown Burkins is the Director of the Institute of Arctic Studies, Senior Associate Director in the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, and Adjunct Professor of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College. In January 2022, she was also named the UArctic Chair in Science Diplomacy and Inclusion. With more than 30 years of experience as a polar scientist working in academia and governance, she is an advocate for policy-engaged scholarship, experiential education, and the support of science policy and diplomacy initiatives advancing sustainability, inclusion, and gender equality in the Arctic and around the world.

A "science diplomat" for Arctic and global issues, Burkins is a Special Advisor and Assembly Representative to the UArctic global network, an elected member of the Founding Governing Board of the International Science Council, and Past Chair of the U.S. National Academies' Board on International Scientific Organizations. Over the past two years, she has served on the UN Office of Disaster Risk Reduction Global Assessment Report Advisory Board and UNESCO Global Independent Expert Group on Universities and the 2030 Agenda.

Born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, Burkins' strong personal and professional connections to the North also inform her work to connect Dartmouth students and faculty with opportunities for Arctic scholarship, cooperation, and engagement. She enjoys sharing the experience of developing and leading effective science policy and diplomacy collaborations with colleagues and students in talks, webinars, workshops, and panel discussions.

Burkins earned her B.S. in geology at Yale and both her M.S. and Ph.D. at Dartmouth, focusing her doctoral studies on earth and ecosystem studies in the Antarctic Dry Valleys.

Polar STEAM is an NSF-funded program that supports broader impacts through matching educators, artists, and writers with polar researchers to co-create educational and creative resources related to polar research. Applications are currently open for the 2024/25 field seasons in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Educators in the following areas are welcome to apply:

• Educators across all subject areas
• Informal educators who work in science education settings such as museums and science centers
• Faculty from community colleges and Minority Serving Institutions
• Middle and High school educators

The application deadline for polar educators is 24 September 2023 at 11:59 pm Pacific Time .

The 2023 WAIS Workshop will be hosted at the University of Minnesota's Cloquet Forestry Center in Cloquet, Minnesota. The conference will kick off with an informal dinner on Monday 25 September, and the formal science agenda will conclude by lunch on Thursday 28 September. For 2023, the organizers hope to have a set of Thursday afternoon workshops ranging in topic, likely including education, cloud computing, data archiving, and more.

Sponsored by the NSF and NASA, the workshop will focus on marine ice-sheet and adjacent earth systems, with particular emphasis on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Registration and abstract submission is now open. You can find the registration link.

Abstracts must be submitted no later than 5:00 pm PDT on 11 August 2023.

The Arctic Frontiers 2024: Actions and Reactions conference will take place in Tromsø, Norway, and digitally from January 29th- February 1st, 2024.

The Arctic Frontiers annual conference aims to connect different expertise and perspectives from areas such as policy, science and business. It is an arena for networking and knowledge exchange.

Big Picture sessions are the conference's largest sessions, and an arena for discussing the most pressing issues in the Arctic region. Recurring topics are geopolitics, climate change mitigation and adaptation, energy transition and business and policy related to the ocean.

The science program showcases the most recent research on the Arctic, to enhance collaboration and provide knowledge-based solutions.

Side events provide a deep dive into selected topics. A side event can have different formats, such as a panel discussion, workshop or meeting.

The conference's Open events invite the city of Tromsø to engage in discussions on the future of the Arctic. Open events take place in venues across the city and are in both Norwegian and English languages.

Abstract submission deadline: 25 September 2023.

How can we make Arctic social and environmental science open science? Join the Navigating the New Arctic Community Office for this one-hour virtual event to discuss approaches to open science in the context of collaborative and convergent research in the Arctic, while upholding Indigenous data sovereignty.

Registration is required.

A changing climate is altering northern landscapes and there is a need for communities to be able to understand what they may expect in the future. During this webinar, presenters will unveil the interactive Northern Climate Reports tool created by UAF’s Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning (SNAP) team and review how the tool uses climate data to construct a variety of possible futures for a warming North.

Please register to attend.

The Wilson Center, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US Coast Guard, US Department of State, Battelle, Lindblad Expeditions, and Hurtigruten Expeditions, is hosting the first-ever conference on Antarctic policy in Washington, DC, with the aim of elevating dialogue on Antarctica’s connection to key U.S. national interests.

Speakers and panels will explore the future of Antarctica and its treaty system in the face of global competition and attempts to undermine the rules-based order. The crucial role of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in global climate will be emphasized, as well as key policy issues relating to fisheries, tourism, conservation, and scientific research. The conference will raise awareness of core U.S. national interests in Antarctica, and highlight urgent priorities for the U.S. to retain its leadership and build key relationships to meet urgent challenges.

Please register, and contact polar [at] wilsoncenter.org with any questions.

Speaker: Bob Busey, NWS Alaska Pacific River Forecast Center.

The spring break up of 2023 was among the worst of the last thirty years for flooding across the state of Alaska. The cool April slowed the melting and weakening of the river ice across many of the major rivers in the state. This resulted in a series of ice jams as the break up front moved down the Kuskokwim and Yukon towards the Bering Sea. This talk will be a bit of a summary of the spring as well as a walkthrough of some of the remote sensing products the River Forecast Center uses during the breakup season.

The ACORN series is a monthly online seminar series by PerCS-Net members on topics related to Arctic coastal research. Talks are scheduled for the last Wednesday of the month (September to May) at 1 pm Eastern Time.

Abstract

Arctic marine ecosystems have witnessed an increase in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) due to Arctic amplification, potentially affecting biogeochemical cycling and marine life. This study examines satellite-derived SSTs in the lagoon and adjoining waters of the Beaufort Sea Coast in northern Alaska. We compare observed changes with those occurring in other Arctic marine ecosystems. Results spanning 1982 to 2022 reveal a consistent warming trend across all lagoon environments during the ice-free season. Barrier islands emerge as crucial agents in safeguarding warmer waters from mixing with colder oceanic waters. Lagoons influenced by river deltas display prominent warming earlier in spring, while all lagoons exhibit a delayed freeze-up during the fall. We also investigate spatial variations in the rate and scope of warming sea surface temperatures within the lagoon and its adjacent waters. This study offers valuable insights into the potential repercussions of warming SSTs on nearshore lagoon ecosystems. The uniformity of these changes with those in open oceanic regions points toward shared underlying drivers of these trends.