Past Events

The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (AAPC) has more important work to do in 2014. Together we will strive to gather public input and engage with Alaskan communities, state agencies, federal partners, and the international organizations working in the Arctic.

In order to meet our goals AAPC will convene three in-person meetings over the course of the year where we will focus on implementation and final recommendations.

Tentative meeting dates and locations for 2014:
May 6-7 Anchorage
August 26-27 Kotzebue-Nome (Public testimony reviewed, revisions begun for final report)
November 13-14 Anchorage (Final recommendations reviewed and report finalized)

Polar Educators International (PEI), a vibrant network promoting polar education and research to a global community, is pleased to announce the development of a new Master Class series targeting a dual audience: educators seeking cutting-edge professional development on the latest polar science discoveries and researchers interested in learning proven tactics for communicating scientific concepts in a clear and meaningful way.

We welcome your support in getting the word out to your member networks to participate in the first Master Class: “Slip Sliding Away: Ice Sheets and Sea Level Rise”, held 7-23 May 2014.

Featuring leading researcher Dr. Richard Alley and polar educator, Ms. Nell Herrmann, the class is being offered free to all participants. Membership in PEI is required for participation in Master Class activities. Registration is due by 2 May 2014, with the initial web seminar taking place Wednesday, 7 May 2014 @ 8PM EDT/Thursday, 8 May 2014 @ 0000 GMT.

More information on the Master Class: http://www.polareducator.org/activities/master-class/may-mc
Visit the full site here: http://www.polareducator.org/

IARPC Collaboration Teams meet on a regular basis to implement the Arctic Research Plan: FY 2013-2017. Most meetings are open to the Arctic research community. Collaboration teams facilitate communication and collaboration between Federal agencies, the academic community, industry, non-governmental organizations, and State, local and tribal groups.

Contact Sara Bowden, bowden [at] arcus.org, if you would like to join this meeting.

IARPC Collaboration Teams meet on a regular basis to implement the Arctic Research Plan: FY 2013-2017. Most meetings are open to the Arctic research community. Collaboration teams facilitate communication and collaboration between Federal agencies, the academic community, industry, non-governmental organizations, and State, local and tribal groups.

Contact Sara Bowden, bowden [at] arcus.org, if you would like to join this meeting.

When science questions are complex and large-scale, it requires a supercomputer to crunch the copious amounts of data. Discover how you and your department might take advantage of Arctic Region Supercomputing Center capabilities.

This symposium is designed to highlight various ways supercomputing can aid research through high performance computing, access to ARSC’s virtualized hosting environment, its user support and large data storage.

For more information, please email consult [at] arsc.edu or call: 907-450-8602.

​This webinar will provide a briefing on the new NRC report Responding to Oil Spills in the U.S. Arctic Marine Environment (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18625). Martha Grabowski from Le Moyne College / Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and chair of the study committee, will discuss the report’s main points regarding key oil spill research priorities, critical data and monitoring needs, mitigation strategies, and important operational and logistical issues. There will be an opportunity for questions at the conclusion of the briefing.

Register for the webinar here: https://nasevents.webex.com/mw0401l/mywebex/default.do?nomenu=true&site….

Organizers of the 29th Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium, entitled "Fisheries Bycatch: Global Issues and Creative Solutions" announce a call for early registration. The symposium will convene 13-16 May 2014 in Anchorage, Alaska.

The symposium will bring together fishery and social scientists, managers, fishermen, and other stakeholders from around the world to report on creative approaches to solving fishery bycatch issues. Keynotes, invited talks, and oral and poster contributions will be presented on new technologies, advancements toward full accounting of fishing mortality into harvest control rules, approaches to industry-derived solutions, incentive programs, new regulatory solutions, and studies on social and economic implications related to bycatch issues.

Early registration deadline: Sunday, 13 April 2014.

For questions, contact:
Symposium coordinator
Email: seagrant.meetings [at] alaska.edu

IARPC Collaboration Teams meet on a regular basis to implement the Arctic Research Plan: FY 2013-2017. Most meetings are open to the Arctic research community. Collaboration teams facilitate communication and collaboration between Federal agencies, the academic community, industry, non-governmental organizations, and State, local and tribal groups.

Contact Sara Bowden, bowden [at] arcus.org, if you would like to join this meeting.

The Fourteenth International Scientific Student Conference "Problems of the Arctic Region" is devoted to scientific, environmental, technical, economic, and social aspects of the development of the Arctic. The conference will be divided into sections:

• Biology and Medicine;
• Chemistry and Technology;
• Ecology of the North;
• Economical problems of Arctic Development;
• Geology and Geophysics of the Arctic Region;
• Information Technologies and Mathematical Methods;
• Marine biology;
• Physical studies; and
• Humanitarian and Social problems.

Suggestions on new topics are welcome. The conference will be introduced by a plenary report on one of burning issues of modern science. At each section conveners will present reports to the participants devoted to important issues of the section topic.

Students interested in participating in the Conference are welcome to e-mail their registration forms and papers to the Steering Committee until 26 April 2014. The registration form must contain the title of the report, names of the authors, scientific advisor, full name of the organization, address, e-mail of the contact person, dates of arrival and departure. The volume of the paper should not exceed 1 page. Participants should also indicate if they need assistance with the hotel booking. The paper is to be arranged in the following way:

1. Title of the Report (14 pt type Times New Roman Bold, center);
2. Names and surnames of the authors (12 pt, Bold, center);
3. Organization name; e-mail of the contact person (12 pt, center);
4. Empty line;
5. Text of the report.

The paper is to be printed with single-spaced text and 12 pt type Times New Roman in MS Word. All margins are to be 2 cm.

When the Conference is over, the Steering Committee is planning to publish the proceedings of the Conference. Participants interested in publishing their papers should submit electronic and hard copies of their papers to the Steering Committee until 15 July 2014. The paper should contain till 6 pages and is to be printed with single-spaced text and 12 pt type Times New Roman in MS Word. All margins are to be 2.0 cm. Electronic version of the paper can be submitted via e-mail.

Languages of the Conference – English and Russian

Working in an Arctic climate with logistical challenges often means necessary equipment can't be ordered off the shelf.

Say you need an infrasound-sensing unit that has a reliable off-the-grid power supply, but also can communicate its data from a remote location to your home office. You can find the unit at Instrument Development Services, a facility within the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The machinists and electronics experts within IDS can design, manufacture and test a variety of devices for use among researchers within the University of Alaska and the public.

From 10 a.m. to noon on Thursday, May 15, IDS staff will provide a symposium on their diverse capabilities and services. The presentation will take place in the Globe Room of the Elvey Building on the UAF campus. A tour of the IDS machine and electronics shops will follow the presentations.

Instrument Development Services projects are varied and can be tailored to individual research needs. Recently, IDS created a prototype rocket that was built and launched from Poker Flat Research Range. The work was used to test instrumentation for partners at Dartmouth College. Additionally, IDS staff has created data loggers, magnetometers, pinbone removal devices and specialized drills that can bore through colossal glacial ice.

The IDS shops have reliable, sophisticated manufacturing equipment, including a new 3-D printer.

The presentation and tour are free.

CONTACT: Debbie Coxon, Geophysical Institute Operations manager, 907-474-7411 or dcoxon [at] gi.alaska.edu.

IARPC Collaboration Teams meet on a regular basis to implement the Arctic Research Plan: FY 2013-2017. Most meetings are open to the Arctic research community. Collaboration teams facilitate communication and collaboration between Federal agencies, the academic community, industry, non-governmental organizations, and State, local and tribal groups.

Contact Sara Bowden, bowden [at] arcus.org, if you would like to join this meeting.

The 2014 US-IALE Annual Symposium will be held Sunday, May 18 through Thursday, May 22 in Anchorage, Alaska! This will be the first time Alaska has been the host of a US-IALE Symposium and we hope you’ll join us and experience our diverse landscape. Alaska is the land of extremes and has a unique cultural component to their landscapes.

US-IALE fosters landscape ecology in the United States, providing a link among practitioners in landscape ecology in the U.S. and the international community, and promoting interdisciplinary research and communication among scientists, planners, and other professionals concerned with landscape ecology.

Registration is open. Information on cost to attend and what's included can be found on the symposium website. Register by April 14th to take advantage of early-bird registration pricing!

The ‘PAST Gateways’ (Palaeo-Arctic Spatial and Temporal Gateways) Second International Conference and Workshop will take place in Trieste, Italy, May 19-23, 2014. The abstract submission deadline is 10 February 2014.

'PAST Gateways' (Palaeo-Arctic Spatial and Temporal Gateways) is an IASC endorsed network research programme, the scientific goal of which is to understand Arctic environmental change during the period preceding instrumental records and across decadal to millennial timescales. The focus of the six year programme is on the nature and significance of Arctic gateways, both spatial and temporal, with an emphasis on the transitions between major Late Cenozoic climate events such as interglacials to full glacials and full glacial to deglacial states, as well as more recent Holocene fluctuations. There are three major themes to the programme: (1) Growth and decay of Arctic Ice Sheets; (2) Arctic sea-ice and ocean changes, and (3) Non-glaciated Arctic environments. PAST Gateways follows on from the previous network programmes of 'PONAM' (Polar North Atlantic Margins), 'QUEEN' (Quaternary Environment of the Eurasian North) and, most recently, 'APEX' (Arctic Palaeoclimate and its EXtremes). It is interdisciplinary in nature and seeks to bring together field scientists and numerical modellers to advance understanding about Arctic climate change. The network involves scientists from across Europe, Russia, Canada and the USA.

Defence IQ is delighted to announce the 2nd Annual Arctic Patrol and Reconnaissance event at the Royal Danish Defence College, Copenhagen on the 19th-20th May.

The Arctic is undergoing major environmental change and subsequently, the security and economic landscape is changing with it. The melting of the ice-caps is opening up new waterways and opportunities for natural resource extraction, bringing with it increased human, commercial and state involvement in the region. However, these new opportunities also bring risks with militaries and coastguards now faced with the huge responsibility of performing patrol, surveillance and emergency response tasks.

This year’s Arctic Patrol and Reconnaissance event will bring the Arctic and Observer nations together to discuss the latest operational challenges and developments in the region. Cooperation will be a major theme of the conference, both across operations and joint exercises and also on a technical level with the need to explore data share opportunities. With the Arctic Council’s introduction of the Search and Rescue and Oil Spill Response Agreements, this will form a new area of debate, deliberating the strategies and technology needed to meet these new duties.

IARPC Collaboration Teams meet on a regular basis to implement the Arctic Research Plan: FY 2013-2017. Most meetings are open to the Arctic research community. Collaboration teams facilitate communication and collaboration between Federal agencies, the academic community, industry, non-governmental organizations, and State, local and tribal groups.

Contact Sara Bowden, bowden [at] arcus.org, if you would like to join this meeting.

ACCAP Climate Webinars promote dialogue and a forum for discussion and information exchange between all stakeholders in Alaska. Accessible statewide, the webinars identify existing information gaps and how best to fill them. Each webinar starts with 20–30 minutes of presentation followed by discussion and questions from participants.

ACCAP has another exciting webinar scheduled for May 20, 2014 at 10am AK time. Kris Hundertmark of the University of Alaska Fairbanks will present a webinar titled:
Moose and caribou in the face of climate change: winners or losers?

Climate change will have impacts on animals living in northern environments that go far beyond shifting habitats, and some species may fare better than others. This presentation looks at factors involved in evaluating the impact of future climate change on moose and also presents the results of a recent study that predicts changes in the genetic diversity of caribou relative to changing climate.

Pre-registration for webinars is strongly encouraged. The audio portion of the call is through a toll-free phone line and the slide presentation is streamed via computer. For instructions on participating through your home office or at a satellite viewing location with others in your community, please see our webinar information page. General webinar information including podcast subscription information and instructions on how to join a webinar can be found at the link above.

Discover how you can maximize the use of film and basic video editing, with a focus on GoPro technology, to better communicate and document your fieldwork in a two-part workshop on Tuesday, May 20 hosted by Frontier Scientists.

David Selle, UAF videography instructor known for his work with the Discovery Channel, specifically the Alaskan-based series Ice Road Truckers, will facilitate the morning session. Selle will assist researchers, students and instructors in the creation of their own video recordings and encourages attendees to bring samples of their footage and their own camera gear to experiment with at the workshop. This morning session, will be held in the Murie Building, room 107, from 9 a.m. to noon.

In the afternoon participants will get the chance to import and edit their footage using Adobe Premier Pro, with Azara Mohammadi, University of Alaska Publication Staff at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center. Learn how to quickly chop up and rearrange your footage with a focus on individualized attention with Mohammadi from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the West Ridge Research Building, room 009.

Both workshop sessions are free and open to all UAF affiliates but space is limited. To register, or for more information contact Liz O'Connell at liz [at] frontierscientists.com or 907-550-8413. Or you may contact Azara Mohammadi at apmohammati [at] alaska.edu or 907-450-8635.

The deadline to register is Friday, May 16.

In a continuing effort for the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory to stay abreast of recent observations concerning trace gases, aerosols, radiation, ozone, and climate forcing, and to provide a forum in which these observations can be relayed and discussed, we will be presenting the Global Monitoring Annual Conference (GMAC) to highlight research results of the past year. The meeting is not limited to NOAA reports and includes observations related to these themes by both independent and cooperative investigators, other national and international programs, and our colleagues across Arctic and Antarctic research disciples. We welcome your active participation at this annual conference held in Boulder, CO.

IARPC Collaboration Teams meet on a regular basis to implement the Arctic Research Plan: FY 2013-2017. Most meetings are open to the Arctic research community. Collaboration teams facilitate communication and collaboration between Federal agencies, the academic community, industry, non-governmental organizations, and State, local and tribal groups.

Contact Sara Bowden, bowden [at] arcus.org, if you would like to join this meeting.

The International Arctic Social Sciences Association (IASSA) announces the 8th International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences (ICASS VIII). It will be held 22-26 May 2014, at the main campus of the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada.

ICASS VIII's theme is 'Northern Sustainabilities'. The plural is used to underscore that 'sustainability' has social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental dimensions; and that definitions of the concept vary. Nonetheless, while debating specific definitions, most would agree that working toward sustainable ways of living in the North and on approaches to sustainable engagement with the North, are critical both to the North's and to the world's future. Community sustainability in the North, whether for small settlements or large urban conglomerations, requires new models of food and energy security, and access to employment, health care, and social and cultural services for residents. The North is faced with demographic challenges to sustainability. Appropriate governance regimes for renewable and non-renewable resources underpin sustainable development.

Additional information, including a call for sessions and then a call for abstracts, will be posted when available.