Past Events

Eurofleets announces a call for applications to a ship-based course for postgraduate students of marine science. Entitled "Oceanography at Sea: An Introduction to Practical Aspects of Oceanography," the course will be held aboard R/V Dana during a cruise from Tromso, Norway to Hirtshals, Denmark from 20 May to 3 June 2015.

This course offers an introduction to practical aspects of oceanographic research at sea, providing students experience with oceanographic sampling and data analysis. It is composed of a combination of lectures, laboratory work and practical sampling/measurements, and interpretation of oceanographic data. Training will specifically focus on:

• Identify common pitfalls and necessities with organizing oceanographic sampling.
• Use a CTD probe for measuring the physical properties of seawater.
• Conduct sampling for surface sediments using a coring system.
• Investigate the abundance, diversity and biogeographic distribution of plankton
• Conduct measurements of selected chemical properties of seawater.
• Identification, sampling and recording of pelagic and mesopelagic fishes from a midwater trawl.
• Integrate and interpret the oceanographic data collected.
• Relate the data collected during the cruise to regional oceanographic phenomena.

At the end of the course the participants will give a poster presentation based on the data collected and the evaluation of the work will be credited as a 5 ECTS through the Technical University of Denmark, MSc program in Aquatic Science and Technology. A total of 18 positions are available for European graduate students (students of all nationalities enrolled at European universities). All expenses during the course are funded through Eurofleets.

Application deadline: 1 December 2014 at 17:00 CET

For further information or to apply, please go to: http://www.eurofleets.eu/np4/401.html.

For questions, please contact:
Colin Stedmon
Email: cost [at] aqua.dtu.dk

The National Weather Service will hold an Alaska Climate Forecast Briefing on Friday, 22 May 2015 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. AKDT. The briefing will be held in room 407 of the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and will also be available online via the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP) listserve. This will be a monthly series generally taking place the third Friday of each month.

The tools and techniques for making monthly and season scale climate forecasts are rapidly changing with the potential to provide useful forecasts at the month and longer range. Rick Thoman; Climate Science and Services Manager, Environmental and Scientific Services Division, National Weather Service Alaska Region; will review recent climate conditions around Alaska, review forecast tools, and present the Climate Prediction Center's forecast for the upcoming season.

Rick will also present a "Feature-of-the-Month" special addition in which each month he will highlight a topic relevant to the particular month. May's topic will be the warm sea surface temperatures recently experienced.

The public is invited to bring a lunch and join the gathering in-person or join the briefing online.

For more information, and to register for online participation, please go to: https://accap.uaf.edu/NWS_Briefings.

For questions, please contact:
Tina Buxbaum
Phone: 907-474-7812
Email: tmbuxbaum [at] alaska.edu

We invite you to participate in this workshop. It will be held as a joint session with International Summer School “Security and Recourses in the Barents Region” and as a part of International Academic Conference “Calotte Academy”.

Today we witness a gap between theoretical knowledge on human security and its practical applications that influences socio-economic development of a cross-border region. The problem is becoming more complicated due to the lack of communication between experts and potential ultimate target groups - local authorities, business and people.

In some cases the location of the Northern Periphery cross-border regions makes them vulnerable and exposed to various risks. This is why there is a need to establish a risk response system and render assistance in intelligent and innovative territory management based on knowledge. Ability of different actors to prevent and resolve conflicts in various social and economic spheres is crucial for socio-economic development of the Northern territories. Conflict management is considered to be a key to development of sustainable social relations system, which also includes economic activities.

An appropriate legislative regulation of these issues is a key element of complex and sustainable development of socio-economic sphere, system of government and municipal management in subarctic region of Russia.

Objective of the workshop:

The aim of the workshop is to discuss opportunities for development of the northern territories through establishment of system for risk and threat management, inherent in the sphere of human (soft) security of the northern cross-border region, and legislation regulation of above mentioned issues. The workshop is focused on questions of prevention and resolution of conflicts affecting sustainable development of northern communities.

Participants of the workshop:

Representatives of scientific community, universities, federal, regional and local authorities, business community, non-profit organizations and local communities, interested in the solution of security problems and development of their territories.

Themes of seminar and discussion questions:

• Security of the northern regions in the framework of international relations – assessment of global international politics influence on socio-economic development of the region
• Legal regulations of security aspects of the European North and Arctic.
• Legal regulations of socio-economic sphere, government and municipal system in the subarctic region of Russia • Economic security – analysis of economic risks, assessment of business development in cross-border regions. Provision of safety and legitimate usage of natural resources
• Issues of conflict prevention and resolution for sustainable development of the Northern Periphery regions
• Development and implementation of programs of higher education devoted to legal regulations of security aspects of the northern regions. Cooperation of universities and Russian Academy of Sciences

Please inform the Organizing Committee of your intention to participate, and submit the following information before April 20, 2015:

• Names (last, first, middle);
• Place of employment and position;
• Scientific degree and title;
• Subject of the presentation (if it is planned)

Registered participants shall receive the conference programm at the beginning of May, 2015.

Melting of ice sheets and glaciers adds to the mass of water that fills the ocean basins and results in solid Earth deformation over a large range of spatial and temporal scales. Both ice-ocean load and surface deformation changes (vertical and horizontal) are far from completely observed and where they are observed they are typically not fully understood. Observations of ice extent and paleo sea level are increasing in number, but provide less spatial or temporal coverage than desired and reconstructions benefit from further indirect constraints associated with the deformation of the solid Earth. Time series of relative sea level are particularly powerful additional constraints, with modern geodetic measurements often providing more complete spatial coverage but with the limitation that the observations only cover a few decades at most. This workshop will bring together those working on ice load reconstructions, modeling of (visco-) elastic processes and comparison to relative sea level and geodetic observations (e.g. GRACE, GPS, ICESat, CRYOSAT II) in order to further refine our understanding of past to present ice/ocean load changes, and the characteristics of the solid Earth under time-varying loads, in order to advance our understanding of past ice sheet and sea level changes, of the structure and rheology of Earth, and of exactly what geodetic measurements are measuring.

Final Day Workshop on Elastic Modelling
The final day of the meeting will provide an opportunity to gain hands on experience and tutoring on tools for computation of the high-resolution elastic response of Earth to surface load changes. The session will explore the theory and practical application of two tools - REAR and SPOTL – as well as a summary of sources for obtaining observed or modeled ice loading changes and their treatments. The 1-day workshop will focus on learning through undertaking computer exercises with the software. A familiarity with Linux will be essential. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

Further information, including registration and abstract submission will be available soon on the symposium website.

The workshop is sponsored by IAG sub-commission 3.2 “Cryospheric Deformation” and SCAR SERCE.

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.

For further program and registration information, please visit the conference website.

The conference goals are to:

• Discuss the current capabilities and necessary areas for development among the Arctic nations to effectively carry out patrol and reconnaissance operations
• Learn about the development of new satellite surveillance systems helping to create a more complete real air picture
• Explore technological and cooperative data exchange solutions to close the information capability gap when operating in the Arctic
• Hear about lessons learned from the multilateral joint exercises that have taken place over the past year
• Consult with the Arctic and Observer nations on their onward strategy in the region

This conference will bring together academics and practitioners from relevant disciplines such as international law, international relations, political science and marine biology, NGOs, representatives from EU institutions and international organisations to discuss the EU's potential contribution to enhance Arctic governance. A roadmap for increasing the effectiveness of the EU’s action in the Arctic will be drawn at the end of the conference.

In order to ensure a high quality discussion, the conference tends to limit total participants to 100 maximum. The deadline for registration is 1 May 2015 (first come first serve). Further details can be found in the registration form. For more information and to register, please use the link above.

Organizers of the combined 49th Congress of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS) and 13th American Meteorological Society Conference on Polar Meteorology and Oceanography (AMS) announce calls for registration and session proposals to their joint conference entitled "Tropics to Poles - Advancing Science in High Latitudes." The conference will convene 31 May - 4 June 2015 in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada.

Organizers invite CMOS and AMS members to propose and take the lead in organizing special sessions or workshops that interest them. Topics related to the atmosphere, climate, cryosphere, oceans, biogeochemistry, and interdisciplinary studies are particularly welcome.

Session organizers are expected to recruit participants and to chair their own sessions. Sessions will be organized into 90-minute blocks of six 15-minute presentations. Multiple 90-minute sessions are welcome if warranted by the number of abstracts submitted.

For further information, and to download instructions for session proposals, please visit the conference website.

SIMS and laser techniques provide a new level of climate resolution through analysis of isotope ratio and trace element compositions at micron-scale. In situ analysis permits correlation of imaging with geochemistry and selection of features that could not otherwise be interrogated. These recent advances yield improved temporal resolution and promise an important new level of understanding for many paleoclimate proxies. The workshop will be conducted in parallel with tutorial demonstrations of the IMS-1280 Ion Microprobe in the WiscSIMS Lab. The goals of the meeting are to explore new capabilities and new applications of in situ analysis to paleoclimate and to acquaint participants with SIMS techniques.

Keynote Speakers include:

• Richard Alley (Penn. State): Abrupt climate change: Looking forward by looking back
• Ron Amundson (Univ. California-Berkeley): High resolution paleoclimate data from laminated carbonates in soils
• Kim Cobb (Georgia Inst. of Technology): The Toba super-eruption: Micro-scale traces of a global-scale climate event?
• Alex Gagnon (Univ. of Washington): The impact of small-scale heterogeneity on proxies in biomineral archives
• Clay Kelly (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison): Forams Forever
• Reinhard Kozdon (Rutgers): Getting the big picture from a small spot: Stable isotope analysis by SIMS in foraminifera and other small or zoned samples
• Margaret Schoeninger (Univ. California-San Diego): Paleoclimate and tooth enamel. Where do we go from here
• Howie Spero (Univ. of California-Davis): Quantifying Isotopic Variations in Cultured Planktic Foraminifera at the Micron Scale

For more information and to register, please click on the link above.

The international pteropod workshop will take place at the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge between 1st and 3rd of June 2015, prior to the open meeting "Ocean acidification: what's it all about?" that will be held at the Royal Society, London on 4 and 5 June, providing outcomes of the UKOA and BIOACID research programmes.

Confirmed Plenary speakers:

• Steve Comeau, Post-doctoral position, Department of Biology, California State University
• Nina Bednarsek, NRC Post-doctoral Fellow, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory

Provisional goals:

Objectives

• To identify "tipping points" of severe impact on pteropod populations.
• To establish a network of high-quality pteropod data.
• To generate an international agreement on methods for using pteropods in OA monitoring
• To draw-up future strategy for the pteropod research

Major outputs

• A methods article on best-practice in pteropod research
• A horizon-scanning article considering future research on OA sentinel taxa
• An open-access database with a dedicated web-page and data-visualization interfaces

A limited number of travelling fellowship will be offered to support the participation of PhD students and junior researchers who otherwise in raising funds (deadline for application 15 April 2015).

Deadline for contribution: 30 April 2015

For information/registration/funding opportunity visit the workshop link above.

Organizers of the 7th International Conference on Arctic Margins (ICAM VII 2015) announce a call for abstracts. The meeting will be held 2-5 June 2015 in Trondheim, Norway.

Abstracts are accepted for both oral and poster presentations. Presentations will be selected to cover the conference scientific themes:

• New data on seafloor geology and deep structure of the Arctic Basin and adjacent areas (their implementation in international projects, with sub-session on planned field activities)
• Circum-Arctic onshore-offshore structural relations
• Stratigraphy, paleo-environments and geological history of the Arctic basin and adjacent areas
• Arctic Large Igneous Provinces and their geodynamic significance
• Plate reconstructions and lithosphere evolution of the Arctic region
• Glacial events and their geological consequences (with sub-session on origin of bottom sediments)
• Arctic Gas Hydrates

Submission deadline: 15 April 2015.

Send abstract submissions to:
Morten Smelror
Email: Morten.Smelror [at] ngu.no

Questions or suggestions regarding ICAM VII can be sent to:
Tove Aune
Email: tove.aune [at] ngu.no

Morten Smelror
Email: morten.smelror [at] ngu.no

Oleg V. Petrov
Email: vsgdir [at] vsegei.ru

Organizers announce that a workshop of current and future changes of the Greenland and Arctic cryosphere will be held in Ilulissat, Greenland on 2-5 June 2015. Abstract submissions from the Arctic community are invited.

The workshop will highlight overviews of current changes, as measured from space, airborne, and in-situ methods, and future projections of changes. The meeting is a follow up on the similar event 'Nuuk Climate Days 2009' and will involve both scientists and stakeholders in discussions on cryosphere changes, and their effects on the Greenland environment and society.

Ilulissat Climate Days is timed with air connections from Denmark and Iceland, and is arranged by a committee from Danish, Greenlandic, and Icelandic organizations. The activities will also include the final conference for the Nordic Centre of Excellence SVALI (Stability and Variations of Arctic Land Ice) as well as meetings related to the ESA Climate Change Initiative.

The workshop is being developed by an International Science Committee, and will consist of both invited science/stakeholder talks as well as submitted presentations.

Abstract submission deadline: 30 January 2015.

The Polar Research Board is a part of the Division on Earth and Life Studies of the National Academies. The Polar Research Board will host its spring meeting at the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, D.C. Please visit the webpage for the agenda and further information.

The Economist Events' third World Ocean Summit ambitiously aims to set a new global agenda for the ocean economy.

BLUE ECONOMY; BLUE GROWTH
The ‘blue economy’ is nascent and not yet clearly defined, but it offers a vision of the ocean and coasts as a new source of economic growth, job creation and investment. Viewed narrowly, this could simply mean the beginning of a new and intensified phase of conventional economic activity. Yet a more expansive interpretation sees a blue economy in which economic opportunity is balanced by responsible investment in a sustainable ocean economy— a ‘win-win’ scenario where the private sector, acting through enlightened self-interest, is a catalyst for both economic development and environmental protection. In this vision, the blue economy is in itself a source of opportunity, investment and growth.

World Ocean Summit will convene more than 250 global leaders from various sectors with direct interests in the oceans and igniting a constructive dialogue on solution.

The courses are designed to provide students with the tools to effectively work with northern communities within their research and also gain a greater understanding of current issues in the north. Ideas will be exchanged from the different perspectives of advanced Masters students, PhD students and post-doc or early-career researchers from the various Arctic countries. Students from multi-disciplines (Health Science, Public Health, Political Science, and Social Science) are invited to take part in two summer courses which will be offered prior to the ICCH16, the courses may be taken together or separately.

The first course, Community Based Participatory Research Principles and Practices in the North, uses case studies and individual and group work as teaching methods. The second course: Healthy populations in the Arctic, utilizes lectures and breakout sessions/group work led by senior researchers as mentors. The key focus of both courses is the direct contact with senior researchers and graduate students.

Note: Deadline for Summer School applications has been extended to 31st March, 2015.

The InternationaI Congress on Circumpolar Health (ICCH) series are arranged every three years in Arctic countries or countries related to Arctic issues. First congress of the series was arranged in 1967, and it was previously hosted by Oulu in 1971.

The congress will focus on human health and well-being in the Arctic and northern areas. It is open for everyone interested in Arctic issues, especially scientists, researchers, health care professionals, policy analysts, government agency representatives and community leaders.

The congress is organised by the Thule Institute, University of Oulu in collaboration with the International Union of Circumpolar Health (IUCH), the Nordic Society for Circumpolar Health, the Society of Arctic Health and Biology, and the Rokua Health & Spa.

The 52nd Annual Conference of the Animal Behavior Society will be held in Anchorage, Alaska from Wednesday, June 10th through Sunday, June 14th, 2015.

The Animal Behavior Society was founded in 1964 to promote the study of animal behavior in the broadest sense, including studies using descriptive and experimental methods under natural and controlled conditions. Current members' research activities span the invertebrates and vertebrates, both in the field and in the laboratory, and include experimental psychology, behavioral ecology, neuroscience, zoology, biology, applied ethology, and human ethology as well as many other specialized areas.

Online Abstract Submission and Registration is open. For more information and to register, please use the link above.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) announces a 21-day summer course entitled "Arctic Alaska Environmental Change." Open to undergraduate and graduate students interested in Arctic environmental change, the course will be held 10-30 June 2015.

The class includes three days of classroom instruction and local field trips in the Fairbanks area, a 15-day field excursion to Alaska's North Slope, and 3 days for student presentations and local field trips at the end. The field excursion will have a strong emphasis on Arctic environments, local people, and field sampling. Students will learn about Arctic vegetation, soils, landforms, permafrost, geology, wildlife, and land-use. The class will travel along the latitudinal transect from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay, which traverses boreal forest, alpine, and Arctic biomes. Students will undertake an independent research project of their choosing.

Twelve days will be spent camping at different locations along the route. We will also stay at Toolik Field Station, a world-renowned Arctic research station. Guest instructors will discuss Arctic ecology, permafrost, life in Arctic communities, and environmental issues related to oilfield development and other aspects of Arctic social-ecological systems.

The cost of meals, lodging, and travel between the field sites is included in the course fee. Students will need to bring all-weather clothing including winter jackets and rubber boots, and a warm sleeping bag. Expedition tents will be provided. To register, please pay close attention to the specific registration instructions at: http://www.uaf.edu/summer/arcticveg.

The course is limited to 15 undergraduate and/or graduate students. International students must apply by 15 March 2015 and meet University of Alaska Fairbanks Summer Sessions' guidelines for attending school in the United States. A scholarship is available for an Alaska Native student with an interest in biology.

Registration begins: 23 February 2015.

On April 24, 2015 the United States began its chairmanship of the Arctic Council for a period of two years. The US agenda has three focus areas: economic and living conditions for Arctic communities; Arctic Ocean safety, security and stewardship; and addressing the impacts of climate change. To discuss these issues and other Arctic geopolitics themes with scholars, students and various stakeholders from the general public, US Special Representative for the Arctic, Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr., USCG (Ret.). will be a keynote speaker. This event is hosted by CIRRICQ.

The University of the Arctic, Thematic Network on Permafrost offers an international bachelor permafrost summer field school in Svalbard 12 June to 3 July 2015 to be taught be a group of international permafrost researchers. We welcome senior bachelor students, who are interested in obtaining an overall knowledge about permafrost. The course will offer insights into:

• Permafrost basics 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?

You can take this course either as a 5 ECTS point course, finishing with an oral presentation in the summer school. Or you can do an individual science project based on the course knowledge, to be submitted by the end of the autumn/fall semester following the summer field school and then graded, and you will obtain 10 ECTS. Students doing 10 ECTS will be given preference to the course.

Application deadline: 15 February 2015, using the UNIS online application system (http://www.unis.no/10_STUDIES/1020_Courses/Arctic_Geology/ag_218.htm). There is no tuition fee for this course. Accommodation for students during the course in student housing in Longyearbyen, and it will cost 3900-4600 NOK, corresponding to app. 490-575 Euro, depending on the type of room chosen.

Related Link:

Contact for further questions:
Hanne H. Christiansen (hanne.christiansen [at] unis.no) and
Kenji Yoshikawa (kyoshikawa [at] alaska.edu)

The Catchment Science: Interactions of Hydrology, Biology & Geochemistry Gordon Research Conference will be held in conjunction with the Catchment Science: Interactions of Hydrology, Biology & Geochemistry Gordon Research Seminar. Those interested in attending both meetings must submit an application for the GRS in addition to an application for the GRC. Please refer to the Catchment Science: Interactions of Hydrology, Biology & Geochemistry GRS web page for more information.

Observing, predicting, and understanding the consequences and feedbacks of environmental thresholds are crucial for predicting future changes in catchment systems across interacting hydrological, biological and geochemical processes. This GRC will focus on new research, including thresholds, early warning indicators, and resilience using long-term data, experimental studies, theory, and modeling approaches to study the behavior of catchments systems under changing conditions such as climate variability or land use/cover changes.

The topics and speakers for the conference sessions are displayed below (italics denote discussion leaders). The Conference Chair is currently developing their detailed program, which will include the complete meeting schedule, as well as the talk titles for all speakers. The detailed program will be available by February 14, 2015. Please check back for updates.

• Thresholds in Time and Space: Exploring at the Big Picture (Erika Marin-Spiotta, John Stoddard / Irena Creed)
• Conceptual Frameworks: Are Thresholds and Resilience Useful Frameworks for Understanding Catchment Behavior? (Vazken Andreassian, Patricia Soranno / Kathryn Cottingham / Brian McGlynn / Tim Peterson / Richard Pouyat)
• Dynamical Thresholds in Water Quality (Vazken Andreassian, Patricia Soranno / James Kirchner)
• Observations: What's To Be Learned from Catchment Experiments and Models? (Gary Lovett, Ilja van Meerveld / Christine Alewell / Louise Bracken)
• Where Observations Fall Short (Gary Lovett, Ilja van Meerveld / Emily Stanley)
• Predicting Thresholds Under the Wings of Change (Stacey Archfield, Daniele Penna / Jill Baron / Markus Hrachowitz / Hilary McMillan / Stefan Gerber)
• Is It Possible to Predict Surprises? (Stacey Archfield, Daniele Penna / Michael Pace)
• From Vertical to Horizontal Frontiers: Exploring Resilience and Elasticity in Catchments (Diane McKnight, Tom Harmon / Jan Fleckenstein / Alberto Montanari / Stephen Sebestyen / Beverley Wemple)
• Frontiers in Time and Space: Practical Applications of Thresholds (Diane McKnight, Tom Harmon / Jennifer Tank)