Past Events

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.

The 24th Annual International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference (ISOPE-2014) will be held June 15-20, at BEXCO Convention Center, Haeundae, Busan, Korea. Organized by the International Society of Ocean and Polar Engineers (ISOPE), the ISOPE Conference (Founding conference chairman: Professor Jin S Chung) has been the world's largest technical program of its kind with peer-reviewed papers since 1992. This year, ISOPE Technical Program Committee members from 35 countries has organized 152 technical and keynote sessions of peer-reviewed papers in cooperation with 30 global cooperating organizations. Delegates from over 48 countries will participate. Since 1990, ISOPE has held 54 successful international conferences and symposia, with subjects on:

• Arctic (NSR) Shipping;
• Arctic Materials Development;
• Special Steel Development by POSCO and ExxonMobil;
• Ocean and Offshore Wind Energy;
• Arctic LNG Ship under construction:
• Methane Gas Production Technology in Japan, and more.

The biennial Coastal Zone Canada conference is the leading interdisciplinary forum held for professionals from across Canada and around the world to meet and discuss all aspects of coastal and ocean management. The 2014 conference theme, OUR COASTS: LEGACIES AND FUTURES, recognizes that our past choices and decisions have led us to where we are today, both positive and negative. The theme also recognizes that opportunities abound to influence and shape the future. Our choices today will determine which future path we will tread. We are all accountable to step up and take action for the future we want and need. Dr. Francis Zwiers, a Bureau member of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and currently the Director and CEO of the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium based in Victoria, British Columbia, will be addressing the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC in his talk on Wednesday, June 18th.

The Right Honourable Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada and present Commissioner on the Global Ocean Commission, will be the special guest speaker at the Thursday morning plenary session. Mr. Martin is one of seventeen Commissioners reviewing the present state of the World's oceans to provide politically and technically feasible short-, medium- and long-term recommendations to address four key issues facing the high seas: overfishing, large-scale loss of habitat and biodiversity, the lack of effective management and enforcement, and deficiencies in high seas governance.

Join hundreds of other scientists, policy makers and industry professionals at the 2014 AGU Science Policy Conference. This conference is a great opportunity to share your knowledge and help shape U.S. policy. This year's conference will include discussions of the science, policy, and communication of three tracks: natural hazards, climate change, and natural resource challenges.

The conference will feature a keynote address delivered by United States Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and dozens of other eminent speakers, including two cross-cutting plenary sessions:

• Policy Perspectives: The Future of Science in the U.S. Congress: Panelists include U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.-4th); U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.-8th); and U.S. Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calf.-52nd).
• The Business of Science: Is Public Investment Driving Private Innovation?: Panelists include Kate Gordon, Executive Director, Risky Business; Tom Kimbis, Vice President, External Relations, Solar Energy Industries Association; and Peter Marquez, Vice President for Global Engagement, Planetary Resources and former space advisor for presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Register online by 12 June.

Communicate Your Science More Effectively

Learn how to more effectively communicate your research at this interactive Science and Policy Communications Workshop for scientists, Monday, 16 June, 12:30–5:00 P.M., in conjunction with the Science Policy Conference.

There is no fee, but you must be registered for the Science Policy Conference to be eligible to attend this workshop. Learn more at the conference website at http://spc.agu.org/2014/2014-events/science-policy-communications-works….

The Arctic Council´s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment Working Group will hold a workshop on Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) – Understanding National Approaches and Reviewing Progress on IEA in Arctic LMEs straddling national boundaries: The Beaufort and Barents Seas.

Participants will look at the progress made in measuring the state of the Large Marine Ecosystems of the Beaufort and Barents Sea, help develop a clear understanding of the terminology used for IEA and EA, identify next steps for international cooperation in the region, and establish a common data base of relevant work.

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 a webinar scheduled for 17 June, 2014 at 10am AKDT time. Stephanie A McAfee of the University of Nevada, Reno is speaking on "Precipitation trends in Alaska: Data limitations and complex controls".

Changes in precipitation are important drivers of many observed hydrological and ecological processes, and precipitation is a key component of many studies. However, existing studies of precipitation trends in Alaska simply did not agree about the magnitude or even direction of trends. We revisited the question, analyzing homogeneity and trends in station data and three commonly used gridded precipitation data sets. We identified numerous inhomogeneities in both the station data and the gridded products and discovered that the three gridded products displayed very dissimilar patterns of trend. Finally, we will present some suggests for moving forward despite the imperfect data.
Study authors: Stephanie McAfee (UN - Reno), Galina Guentchev (NCAR) and Jon K. Eischeid (CIRES)

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.

​​Seven of the eight U.S. Department of the Interior Climate Science Centers (Alaska, North Central, Northeast, Pacific Islands, South Central, Southeast and Southwest) and the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) are seeking Statements of Interest (SOIs) and Proposals for funding in Fiscal Year 2015. Projects are invited that support CSC/NCCWSC science priorities as described in the guidance document below. Deadline for Statements of Interest is June 17, 2014. View the full funding opportunity announcement HERE: https://nccwsc.usgs.gov/ResearchFunds.

WHO:
Only the following may submit proposals in response to this Funding Opportunity:

• Institutions that are either Host Institutions or Consortium Members for the requesting DOI Climate Science Center (exceptions are made for (1) projects spanning multiple CSC regions and (2) NCCWSC-sponsored projects) and
• USGS centers, field stations, laboratories, Cooperative Research Units, etc.

Each proposal must have a Principal Investigator (PI) from an eligible institution. Parties from other organizations (Federal, State, Tribal, or other) can participate and receive funds via sub-award from the Principal Investigator but the proposal submitter and PI must be from an eligible applicant, as described above. Non-eligible applicants are encouraged to establish working partnerships with one of the recognized eligible applicants to seek participation as part of a project lead by a CSC/university consortium member or USGS facility.

WHEN:
Deadline for submission of Statements of Interest……………………….June 17, 2014
Applicants Notified and Full Proposals Requested………………………..August 1, 2014
Deadline for Invited Full Proposals………………………………………….October 10, 2014
Applicants Notified of Intent to Award………….………….…………………December 15, 2014

For full details about the submission and evaluation process, and CSC/NCCWSC-specific science priorities, please refer to the FY 15 NCCWSC & CSC Funding Opportunity Guidance Document (above).

Each CSC and the NCCWSC will hold a question and answer session pertaining to this funding opportunity. Please refer to the guidance document for dates/times and information about these sessions.

The 4th European Conference on Permafrost – IPA Regional Conference (EUCOP4), will be held in Évora, Portugal from 18 to 21 June 2014. The conference will cover all aspects of permafrost research, engineering and outreach and will have a Global scope, including planetary permafrost.

Sessions at EUCOP4 will be driven by the scientific community and we hereby open the call for session proposals, which should be submitted on-line until 30 March 2013.

Each session should have two conveners, which will be responsible for the final selection of abstracts and for their organization into oral or poster presentations. By 30 April 2013, a decision will be presented on acceptance of submitted sessions. The decision will be made based on the scientific interest and quality of the session, potential to attract participants, thematic overlap and number of available slots at the conference. Invitation of one key-note speaker for each session is expected.

If key fields are not represented in the submitted list of session proposals, EUCOP4 National and International Scientific Committees will organize special session proposals to guarantee a wide scope for the conference.

The call for abstracts for the accepted sessions will be open until 15 December 2013. After that date, depending on number of abstracts being submitted to each session, EUCOP4 Scientific Committees may propose session joining or cancelling. The selection of abstracts will be made by session conveners until 30 January 2014 and decisions will be communicated to authors by then. The final program will be ready in March 2014.

The online form for submitting session proposals is available below and will remain open until 31 March 2013. If you intend to submit a session proposal, the following items will be requested in the online form:

• Title of session;
• Convenors (name, affiliation, and e-mail);
• Session description (max. 300 words);
• Name and affiliation of one confirmed keynote speakers who has agreed to contribute a presentation to this session.

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 University of the Arctic Thematic Network on Permafrost offers an International Bachelor Permafrost Summer Field School in Svalbard, 19 June to 11 July 2014. We welcome senior bachelor students, who are interested in obtaining an overall knowledge about permafrost. The course will offer insights into:

• Permafrost history and its distribution globally.
• Permafrost temperatures in various parts of the World – climatic and other controls.
• Methods of permafrost observations, focusing on drilling, coring and instrumentation.
• Permafrost databases and their use in permafrost analyses.
• How does permafrost affect local community infrastructure and cultural life?
• Interaction between carbon and water in permafrost landscapes.
• How sensitive are permafrost landforms towards climate change?

Application deadline: 15 April 2014, using the UNIS online application system (http://www.unis.no/10_STUDIES/1030_Admission/how_to_apply.htm)

The period of global cooling commonly referred to as the 'Little Ice Age' (LIA) covered the period ca AD 1200-1900 and had a significant impact on landscapes in terms of glacial/periglacial processes, land use change, the redistribution of blown sand, etc. In the North Atlantic/European region, asynchronous glacial advances in the Alps, Scandinavia and Iceland suggest that local climate was sensitive, but responded differently, to changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation dynamics during this period, with implications for landscape response.

Despite this, interpretations of landscape evolution are rarely considered alongside our understanding of large scale climatic controls on the regional patterns of temperature, precipitation, storminess etc. For this reason, our workshop aims to bring together researchers with interests in climatic modelling, palaeoclimatic reconstruction and geomorphology to discuss various interpretations of LIA landscape change in the context of oceanic/atmospheric circulation dynamics.

This one day event will include sessions focusing on 'Little Ice Age landscape change', 'Empirical evidence for the Climate of the Past Millennium' and 'Palaeoclimatic modelling of the Little Ice Age'. During the workshop there will also be an opportunity for postgraduate students to display their research activities during a poster session.

The workshop is co-convened by Craig Frew (University of Aberdeen) and Rob Wilson (University of St Andrews) and we invite the submission of abstracts for student poster presentations. Some limited funds are available for supporting the travel costs of postgraduate students. If you would like to attend, please contact Craig Frew (R02CF12 [at] ABDN.AC.UK).

Confirmed Guest Speakers include:

• Martin Kirkbride (University of Dundee)
• Rob Wilson/Milos Rydval (University of St Andrews)
• Andrew Schurer (University of Edinburgh)
• Alaistair Dawson (University of Aberdeen)
• Craig Frew (University of Aberdeen)

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.

Join assistant curator Dawn Biddison for a curator’s tour of the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center. Gain a better understanding of Alaska’s nine Indigenous cultures through 600 Alaska Native artifacts. Learn about traditional lifeways in Alaska’s diverse regions through clothing, tools, ceremonial objects and more. Curator tours are offered the third Friday of every month. Included with admission.

Further details of the meeting, venue and accommodation, including instructions for on-line registration will follow in due course.

As always, we welcome presentations on all aspects of ice shelf research, including, but not limited to:

• formation, flow and disintegration of ice shelves and tidewater glaciers;
• response of ice shelves and tidewater glaciers to past, present and future climate variability;
• surface and basal mass balance of ice shelves;
• ice-ocean interaction at the calving front of ice shelves and tidewater glaciers;
• mass transport across the grounding line;
• ocean circulation and water mass transformation beneath ice shelves and within pro-glacial fjords;
• impact of ice shelves on the global ocean;
• processes controlling the delivery of ocean heat to glaciated coastlines;
• climate records from on or near current or former ice shelves;
• iceberg calving, drift, melting, and decay.

Further information about FRISP, including reports from previous workshops can be found on the conference website.

We are pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the 2014 Juneau Icefield Research Program.

JIRP is an experience-based educational and research program that takes senior high school, undergraduate, and graduate-level students on an 8-week, self-powered expedition from Juneau, AK, to Atlin, BC, over the Juneau Icefield. During this expedition, students receive training and experience in backcountry skiing, glacier travel, and crevasse rescue; participate in JIRP’s long-running mass balance and surface elevation surveys; receive lectures from top scientists in a range of natural sciences (including glaciology, geology, climatology, meteorology, biology, and ecology); and perform individual research projects, the results of which they present at public symposia in Atlin and Juneau. Eligible students receive academic credits for participation in the program from the University of Alaska Southeast.

This year’s program will run from June 22 through August 17. The cost for the program is $4950; this includes all transportation, food, lodging, and instruction following arrival in Juneau, Alaska (but does not include transportation to and from Juneau). Some scholarships are available. Application materials and additional information are available at http://JuneauIcefield.com/apply/. To ensure full consideration for acceptance and scholarships, completed applications should be submitted by April 15.

Please pass this information along to interested students, colleagues, and friends. You can also visit our blog at http://JuneauIcefield.com/blog/ and follow us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Juneau-Icefield-Research-Program-JIRP/185…) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/JuneauIcefield).

For further information about JIRP, please contact Director Jeff Kavanaugh at the address below.

Jeff Kavanaugh
Director, Juneau Icefield Research Program
Associate Professor
University of Alberta
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
1-26 Earth Sciences Building
Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E3
Canada
jeff.kavanaugh [at] ualberta.ca

The Integrated Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER) Project will convene an Open Science Conference from 23-27 June 2014 in Bergen, Norway, with the aims:

• to highlight IMBER research results;
• to promote integrated syntheses of IMBER-relevant research;
• to develop a new global research agenda on marine biogeochemistry and ecosystems in the Anthropocene.

Nine workshops and 24 contributed sessions have been accepted (see http://www.imber.info/index.php/Meetings/IMBER-OSC-2014/Sessions-Worksh…). Several sessions in the IMBER Open Science Conference 2014 are especially relevant to the Arctic and polar research communities:

• Session A4 - End-to-end modelling for research and management – conveners: Stuart Corney; Jessica Melbourne-Thomas; Andrew Constable, http://www.imber.info/index.php/Meetings/IMBER-OSC-2014/Sessions-Worksh…
• Session B4 - Ocean biogeochemical dynamics under changing climate: feedbacks and impacts – conveners: Christoph Heinze, Are Olsen; Jerry Tjiputra; http://www.imber.info/index.php/Meetings/IMBER-OSC-2014/Sessions-Worksh…
• Session E1 - Changing ecosystems in Subarctic and Arctic regions – conveners: Franz Mueter; Sei-ichi Saitoh; Ken Drinkwater, http://www.imber.info/index.php/Meetings/IMBER-OSC-2014/Sessions-Worksh…
• Session E2 - Detecting, projecting and managing the impacts of change in Southern Ocean ecosystems – conveners: Rachel Cavanagh; Keith Reid; Nadine Johnston; Andrew Constable; Eileen Hofmann; Eugene Murphy, http://www.imber.info/index.php/Meetings/IMBER-OSC-2014/Sessions-Worksh…

Plenary Speakers include:

• Eileen Hofmann (Old Dominican University, USA);
• Nicholas Gruber (ETH Zurich, Switzerland);
• Jean-Pierre Gattuso (Lab. d'Océanographie de Villefranche, France);
• Coleen Moloney (University of Cape Town, South Africa):
• Alistair Hobday (CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research, Australia);
• Kon-Kee Liu (National Central University, Taiwan);
• Alida Bundy (Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Canada);
• Corinne Le Quéré (University of East Anglia, UK);
• Claudio Campagna (Wildlife Conservation Society, Argentina);
• Carol Robinson (University of East Anglia, UK).

The Call for Abstracts is open! Deadline for abstract submission: 31 January 2014. Contributions are welcome from all marine research communities!

We encourage you to submit an abstract, and we look forward to meeting you in Bergen.

Under the overarching theme “Arctic in the Anthropocene” (http://potsdam-summer-school.org/), this two-week (10 working days) interdisciplinary and interactive event running from 23 June to 4 July 2014 will be the first in a series of Potsdam Summer Schools to be held annually. The goal is to bring together early-career scientists and young professionals from research departments, governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations, as well as the private sector from all around the world. The summer school will provide a unique opportunity for students and speakers to foster and enhance international cooperation and exchange of ideas.

Participants will deal with global challenges and address urgent questions on how to shape sustainable futures in the Arctic and beyond from a scientific and socio-economic point of view.

In partnership with the City of Potsdam, the 2014 Potsdam Summer School will be jointly conducted by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and the University of Potsdam. Experts, stakeholders, and guest lecturers from national and international institutes and organizations will contribute high-level knowledge to the Summer School programme.

Applications are due on April 15th, 2014.
The Potsdam Summer School will be conducted in English therefore all submitted documents have to be in English.

Understanding the challenges to food security in the rapidly changing Arctic and ensuring safe and consistent availability, access, and usage of food resources for indigenous communities is critical for sustaining livelihoods, promoting health and well-being, and helping to preserve cultures, traditional knowledge, and socio-linguistic heritage. Given projected climatic and environmental changes, with expected concomitant development activities and opportunities for increased natural resource exploitation, reliance on community-based monitoring programs to track changes in the distribution and relative abundance of food resources, along with impacts on biodiversity, cultural identity, health, language, livelihoods, and traditional knowledge, will be crucial for safeguarding sustainable communities in the Arctic.

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

Organizers of the Energy Law Conference announce a call for papers. The theme of the meeting is "The legal issues associated with the development and use of energy resources in the Arctic." It will be held 25-26 September 2014 in Tromso, Norway.

Papers addressing the conference theme, broadly construed, are welcome. Without intending to be prescriptive, examples of topics that would fall within the scope of the conference include legal issues (domestic and international law) related to any of the following in an Arctic context: the role of strategic and project-specific environmental assessments; energy markets; energy security in an Arctic context; energy relations between the EU and Russia; the energy relations of Nordic States; energy relations between the EU and Arctic states; the role of renewables in the Arctic including wind, geothermal, tidal; non-conventional energy resources such as gas hydrates; regional governance issues (e.g. the role of the Arctic Council, OSPAR etc); and many more.

Proposals will be considered by the conference conveners on the basis of academic merit, policy significance, and fit with the conference theme. Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be submitted via email (maria.m.neves [at] uit.no) by 30 April 2014. Organizers anticipate (depending on numbers) being able to cover the costs of hotel accommodation and meals for those selected to present papers.

Abstract submission deadline: 30 April 2014.

For more information on the conference, please go to the conference website.

For questions, please email: christin.skjervold [at] uit.no.