Past Events

2016 ICEO & SI (International Conference on Earth Observations and Societal Impacts conference will cover 10 main themes on Disasters, Health, Energy, Climate, Water/Ocean, Weather, Ecosystems, Agriculture/Forestry/Fishery, Biodiversity and Industry & Policy with the ultimate goal of achieving environmental sustainability by using earth observations and advanced technology.

Call for paper/abstract Deadline extended to April 11th.

There is a special session: Understanding and mitigation of cryosphere hazards.

This session focuses on the identifying, monitoring, modeling, and mitigation of cryosphere hazards. The cryosphere hazards involve any negative impacts on the surrounding environment and social economy from dynamic processes of cryospheric components. It includes glacier hazards, frozen ground hazards, snow hazards, sea ice hazards, ice jam and ice flood, and so on. With the influences of global warming and human activities, the fasten retreat of ice in cryosphere leads to more hazards, even some new hazards. Existing evidences have shown that the extreme events were increased in past several decades. The mitigation of cryosphere hazards has been paid more attention by both of natural and social scientists.

CH2M HILL Polar Services (CPS) announces 2016 Arctic Field Training Course Opportunities. These courses are open to NSF-funded researchers working in the Arctic, including principal investigators, graduate students, research assistants, and undergraduate field assistants. The courses are free of charge for all qualified researchers, and limited travel funds may be available for some courses. CPS can only accept attendees whose schedules allow them to attend all days of the course.

Aviation Land and Water Survival School: April 12-13 – Anchorage, Alaska

Provided by Learn to Return Training Systems. The class provides an intense look at methods and techniques for surviving aviation accidents in Alaska in both small and large aircraft. Students are exposed to land and water crash simulations to duplicate impact conditions.

Interested participants should send their name, affiliation, email, active NSF grant number with the name of the grant's Principal Investigator, and name of course to Matt Irinaga (matt [at] polarfield.com). If the courses fill, CPS will start a waitlist.

For further information, please contact:
Matt Irinaga
Email: matt [at] polarfield.com

This workshop will gather a diverse group of scholars to discuss the state-of-the art in Arctic social sciences and develop visioning scenarios for the future of social science research in the Arctic. The core topics will parallel discussions held at other regional workshops (Portland, OR and Providence, RI), which include: social sciences research and climate change; interdisciplinary research in the Arctic; social sciences and humanities in the Arctic, and applied social sciences research. Although the majority of attendees will be social scientists, we will invite researchers from the natural sciences and humanities to broaden the range of perspectives included in workshop discussions. A particular emphasis of the workshop will be on applied research through integrating social science theories, methods and data to serve the needs of Arctic communities, to meet national U.S. priorities and to address global challenges of the 21st century. A special theme will be the relevance of Arctic social science scholarship for sustainable development at different scales and in different regions (including all Arctic nations and continental U.S.).

Glaciers & Fjords Collaboration Team Meeting with a presentation by Fiamma Straneo on planning for a Greenland Ice Sheet and Oceans Observing System.

To join the online event copy and paste the following link to a browser:
https://arcus.webex.com/arcus/onstage/g.php?MTID=e0d8f718677c51252c17d0…
5b02d4

Or, use these numbers to call in the the meeting:
US TOLL FREE: +1-855-282-6330
Access code: 661 968 118

AGENDA
I. Roll Call
II. Update Greenland Ice sheet and Oceans Observing System (GrIOOS) and the
December workshop (Fiamma Straneo)
III. Report from the Arctic Observing Open Science Meeting session on Ice Sheets &
Glaciers (Leigh Stearns)
IV. Report from the Arctic Science Summit Week and the Arctic Observing
Symposium (Tim Bartholomeus)
V. 5-Year planning process and input (Sara Bowden)
VI. Agency updates (Bill Wiseman)

Dear Colleagues:

I write to invite your participation and leadership in the NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) initiative.

NSF is releasing the first NSF INCLUDES solicitation, which aims to fund approximately 40 Design and Development Launch Pilots at ~$300,000 each. I encourage you to enlist partners (e.g., industry, foundations, states) who can help leverage and expand support beyond the Federal dollars.
More importantly, in FY 2017, all of these Pilot projects will be eligible to apply for full NSF INCLUDES Alliances, proposed in the President's FY 2017 Budget Request at a level of $12.5 million each for five years.

Diversity--of thought, perspective, and experience--is essential to achieving excellence in 21st century science and engineering research and education. And, there is a business case for diversity. A recent McKinsey & Company study found that companies were 15% more likely to gain financial returns above their national industry median if they were in the top quartile of gender diversity; the probability climbed to 35% for companies in the top quartile for racial/ethnic diversity.

NSF INCLUDES is a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership by seeking and developing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) talent from all sectors and groups in our society through access and engagement. It aims to improve the preparation, increase the participation, and ensure the contributions of individuals from groups that traditionally have been underserved and/or underrepresented in the STEM enterprise. The U.S. science and engineering workforce can thrive if women, blacks, Hispanics, and people with disabilities are represented in percentages comparable to their representation in the U.S. population. According to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, we have a long way to go to reach that goal. We can achieve national STEM diversity and its benefits to our Nation if we commit to national STEM inclusion.

Many people, projects and organizations already have achieved significant successes toward greater STEM inclusion. Yet, according to a National Academies report, many larger challenges still remain: under-preparation and lack of opportunity for members of all demographic groups to become "STEM-capable"; under-resourcing as seen in growing disparities of access to quality learning and technology; and under-production of STEM graduates from the above-mentioned sectors.

The goal of NSF INCLUDES is to achieve significant impact at the national scale within the next ten years in transforming STEM so that it is fully and widely inclusive. That will require strong partnerships and collaborations among many organizations and people in the overall STEM talent development eco-system. You and your organization can play a large role in this initiative.

Collaborative alliances, spanning education levels, public and private sectors, and including new partners, will need to be developed, expanded, organized and built by leveraging state-of-the-art knowledge on scaling of social innovations. For example, "Collective Impact" approaches that incorporate key success determinants such as common agendas, shared measurements, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communications, and backbone support organizations have the potential to yield large-scale progress towards NSF INCLUDES goals. The
latest knowledge from the science of broadening participation provides a strong foundation, and novel systems approaches and designs for achieving scale will be critical. I invite you to read the growing literature on the positive impacts of diversity in teams, and the subtle, but pervasive, biases that can diminish our collective action.

As university and college presidents and chancellors, and heads of organizations funded by the National Science Foundation, I urge you to take a direct and personal role in helping to build these collaborative alliances--with ambitious goals for STEM inclusionat a national scale. There is rich variation across the Nation in terms of local resources, talent and expertise as well as in the specific roadblocks and challenges you may face. We leave the specific nature of each alliance and the ambitious goals it will aim to achieve to you to define. NSF's goal is to achieve impact at scale on STEM inclusion. We need your leadership if we are to succeed.

I invite you to become a leader in the NSF INCLUDES initiative. To learn more about this exciting program, go to
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf16544

Sincerely,

France A. Cordova
Director

The EGU General Assembly 2016 will bring together geoscientists from all over the world to one meeting covering all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences. The EGU aims to provide a forum where scientists, especially early career researchers, can present their work and discuss their ideas with experts in all fields of geoscience. The EGU is looking forward to cordially welcoming you in Vienna.

We are excited to invite you to the first UArctic Congress, held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, from September 12-16, 2016. It will be hosted by Saint Petersburg State University and will feature Science and Meeting sections, including:

• Acclaimed keynote speakers and scientific experts presenting their views and latest research.
• Parallel sessions on an array of Arctic science, policy, and education topics.
• Formal meetings for representatives of the Council of UArctic and UArctic Rectors’ Forum.
• Side-meetings to foster contacts and enhance networking.
• Opportunities for promoting and marketing your organization and activities.
• A UArctic Student Forum with workshops.
• A Cultural and Social program like no other.

The 2016 UArctic Rectors’ Forum and the 19th meeting of the Council of UArctic form an integral part of the congress. Please visit the conference website for updates.

Sue Wotkyns, of ITEP, with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium will offer a 3-day course on climate change planning for tribes in Anchorage, April 19-21, 2016.

The course provides an introduction to planning for climate change impacts, with examples of tribes that have been going through the adaptation planning process. The course is intended for tribal environmental and natural resource professionals.

USAPECS is organizing a webinar series for Spring 2016 (April - June) focused on how to best share your science.

Boiling Down Your Message webinar:
Creating scientific graphics can be difficult, so come learn some simple tips and tricks from a dataviz expert on composition, color, and design to transform your figures into effective, informative, and beautiful scientific visualizations with your own data! Rob will also focus on the importance of using and choosing the right colors in your figures.

Register here for the webinar: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2791889094518697730

Thanks to APECS for the use of the GoToMeeting platform for hosting the webinars.

The National Science Foundation has made a 5-year, $5.9 million award to a national partnership, led by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at the University of California Santa Barbara, to develop and curate the NSF Arctic Data Center, a new archive for Arctic scientific data as well as other related research documents. The Arctic Data Center will be assuming operations for ACADIS, and there is a detailed transition plan in place to ensure that data and metadata move over smoothly, and that community support is seamless.

This webinar will provide you with an opportunity to get more information about the NSF Arctic Data Center and will allow us to get valuable feedback and additional insights into the needs of the Arctic research community.

Webinar Registration: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/298363848712450305

We are pleased to announce that Korea Polar Research Institute will hold the 22nd International Symposium on Polar Sciences in Incheon, the Republic of Korea on May 10-11, 2016 and that registration for the symposium has opened.

The 2016 International Symposium on Polar Sciences is organized in an effort to understand the accelerating changes in the Arctic and to reflect on how to prepare for their anticipated impacts, and thus is entitled “The Future of the Arctic: Science and Governance”. We cordially invite our colleagues to share and discuss the current scientific achievements and law and policy based efforts which will help guide future research and observations of the rapidly changing Arctic.

Abstract Submission:
Please submit the abstract at the symposium website no later than March 25th, 2016.

Registration:
Please register at the symposium website no later than April 22nd, 2016.

FOR POLAR EARLY CAREER SCIENTISTS:
KOPRI wished encourage the participation of early career scientists at this symposium. Awards will be presented to the outstanding contributions by young scientists.

APECS invites you to register for the Science Communication Webinar with Kristin Timm "Meeting your Outreach Goals with Strategic Science Communication".

Kristin Timm is the Science Communications Lead at the Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning (SNAP) at the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and she will share her experience on this key topic with the audience.

The changing state of the Arctic Ocean is opening up the region to new interests and added stressors, creating new challenges for marine resource management in the Arctic. Building on a January 2015 conference on Arctic governance that was convened in collaboration with the UCI Newkirk Center; representatives from consulates of Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Finland; and U.S. government officials, this roundtable will bring together national and international Arctic experts to discuss existing and emerging issues in Arctic marine governance. Topics include the implementation of the Arctic Council Initiatives, including the recently signed declaration to prevent unregulated fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean, and developing a framework within UNCLOS for promoting ecosystem-based management. Additional topics include an assessment of future needs for a regional seas program or other mechanism, as appropriate, for increased cooperation in Arctic marine areas. Accompanied by an open public lecture on the Arctic and its environmental governance.

Public Events:

Lunch Session: Why the Arctic Matters, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. RSVP required. Presented by Honorable Fran Ulmer, Chair, U.S. Arctic Research Commission (USARC)

The Arctic is changing rapidly, more so than many other regions of the Earth. Ms. Ulmer describes what is happening, from climate to cultural changes. She offers a professional perspective and one that benefits from her considerable experience living in and creating policy for Alaska. She looks to the future of this wonderful but vulnerable place. Ms. Ulmer has served on the U.S. Arctic Research Commission since being appointed by President Obama in March 2011. She was Chancellor of Alaska’s largest public university, the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). She is a member of the Global Board of the Nature Conservancy and chair of the Board of the National Parks Conservation Association. Ms. Ulmer served as an elected official for 18 years as the mayor of Juneau, as a state representative and as Lieutenant Governor of Alaska. In June 2010, President Obama appointed her to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. For more than 10 years, she served as one of the U.S. Commissioners on the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, appointed by President Bill Clinton.

Optional Panel Discussion to follow: The Arctic Environment: Climate Change and Much More, 1:00 p.m

Symposium Co-Sponsors and Partners:

• UC Irvine School of Law Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources
• Newkirk Center for Science and Society
• Norwegian Consulate General, San Francisco

To request reasonable accommodations for a disability, please contact Crissandra Flores at events [at] law.uci.edu or (949) 824-0941

Rain on snow (ROS) events are fairly rare in Alaska but have broad impacts ranging from economic losses to hazardous driving conditions to difficult caribou foraging due to ice formation on the snow. While rare, these events have recently increased in frequency in Alaska and may continue to increase under the projected warming climate. Dynamically downscaled data are now available for Alaska based on historical reanalysis for 1979-2013, while CMIP5 historical and future scenario downscaling are in progress. These new data offer a detailed, gridded product of rain and snowfall not previously possible in the spatially and temporally coarser reanalysis and GCM output currently available. Preliminary analysis shows that the dynamical downscaled data can identify extreme ROS events in Interior Alaska. The ROS events in the dynamically downscaled data are analyzed against observations and the ERA-Interim reanalysis data used to force the historical downscaling simulations. Additionally, the synoptic atmospheric circulations conditions that correspond to major ROS events in various regions of Alaska are analyzed. Such analysis is beneficial for operational forecasters with the National Weather Service and for diagnosing the mechanisms of change in future climate projections.

Join us:

• In Anchorage: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Regional Office, 1011 E. Tudor Rd, Office of Subsistence Management Conf Room (2nd floor)​
• In Fairbanks : U.S. Federal Building, rm 110 (Library)
• Online: Join WebEx meeting
  Meeting number: 749 553 334
  Meeting password: AKlcc2016!
• Call-in toll-free: 1-866-730-5871; access code 111 111 (US)

The University of the Arctic Thematic Network on Permafrost and Natural Hazard announce a call for applications for an International Permafrost/Natural Hazard Summer Field School in Yakutia, Russia on 1-20 August 2016. Senior bachelor and graduate students who are interested in obtaining and overall knowledge about permafrost are encouraged to apply.

The course will offer insights into:

• Permafrost history and its distribution globally.
• Permafrost related natural hazards and hydrological problems.
• 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?

Interested students should send a Curriculum Vitae and short motivation letter (less than 1 page) to the field school organizers (uarcticpermafrost [at] gmail.com).

Application Deadline: 25 April 2016.

For questions, please contact:
Kenji Yoshikawa
kyoshikawa [at] alaska.edu

The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) announces a call for abstracts for an online conference titled "Polar Science: Through New Eyes." The conference will be held online on 18 May 2016.

This conference will encourage scientific dialogues between early career scientists from multiple disciplines and backgrounds, with presentations on new research perspectives from a range of research fields. With increased attention on the changing polar environment and the future challenges this will bring, this conference aims to convey the broad range of new research currently being conducted internationally.

Early career researchers are well placed to present new developments in their own fields through “new eyes,” while the conference provides an opportunity for those in the audience to gain exposure to a range of new techniques, methods, questions and themes. All polar researchers are invited to share their current research findings, but APECS particularly encourages the submission of abstracts by early career scientists, so they can gain invaluable experience presenting their research projects to the public. There will be a $300 prize given for best presentation at this conference which has been donated by APECS.

Sessions will be organized under the following themes:

• Biological – marine/freshwater/terrestrial;
• Geological/Environmental/terrestrial cryospheric environments;
• Atmospherics/Climatology Oceanography/Sea-ice; and
• Cultural/Historical/Policy/Education.

Abstract Submission Deadline: 25 April 2016.

To submit and abstract, go to:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1rp9VegWQvHjfhLu48V4olKL_af19zAKajwUJgN…

For questions, please contact:
Rachel Downey
Email: rachel.v.downey [at] gmail.com

Presenter:
David Verbyla, Professor of GIS/Remote Sensing at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Co-PI NASA Above Projects

Description:
Alaska has warmed substantially in the past few decades and vegetation has responded to this warming. In this webinar, Dave will outline how remote sensing scientists have explored the connections between our warming climate and vegetation responses and trends in Alaska arctic and boreal landscapes.

Follow the link above to join the meeting.

Audio Conference Number(s):
Toll-free line: 1-844-467-6272
Passcode is 138924#

We’re asking all participants to join the audio by this toll-free conference line, to avoid difficulties with voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) transmissions.

Join this free seminar to discuss the consequences of the 2015 UNFCC Paris climate summit, in which 196 countries pledged individual Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to meet global mean temperature targets by 2100. In contrast to past international climate efforts, INDC pledges were completely voluntary and represent a new, bottom-up approach to climate agreements.

The seminar will explore the benefits and risks of this voluntary bottom-up approach, as well as how behavioral and societal responses have or have not been included in the modeling of temperature targets, with an emphasize on potential insights from the behavioral and social sciences, including how multiple levels of organization-institutions, communities, and individual households-might differentially contribute to the successful implementation of INDC’s.

The event will be held from 10:00 AM till 3:00 PM at 500 5th Street, NW, Washington, DC.

Register today to join by webcast or in person: http://sgiz.mobi/s3/bc1ae51021f5

There is growing realization of the strong interactions between degradation of near-surface permafrost on the dynamics of ecosystems, and that these interactions together influence local and global environmental, economic, and social systems.

Degradation of near-surface permafrost (perennially frozen ground) caused by modern climate change is adversely affecting human infrastructure, altering Arctic ecosystem structure and function, changing the surface energy balance, and has the potential to dramatically impact Arctic hydrological processes and increase greenhouse gas emissions.

The Study of Environmental Change (SEARCH) (https://www.arcus.org/search-program) Permafrost Action Team is developing new knowledge about permafrost change impacts on the ecosystem services critical to local residents of the permafrost zone through research synthesis. This framework of synthesis builds on activities of the Permafrost Carbon Network (PCN) (www.permafrostcarbon.org), an international scientific effort that links biological carbon cycle research with networks in the physical sciences focused on the thermal state of permafrost.

This presentation will discuss the use of synthesis science by both the SEARCH Permafrost Action Team and Permafrost Carbon Network to identify and understand the widespread implications of changing permafrost at both regional and global scales.

For more information and to learn about the speaker, please visit the link above.

This event is a brown-bag lunch. Cookies and beverages will be provided. A live webinar is also available to those unable to attend in person. Instructions for accessing the webinar will be sent to 'Webinar Only' registrants prior to the event.

This event is being conducted in partnership with The Arctic Institute.