Past Events

The Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP) will host a National Weather Service Alaska Climate Briefing webinar for November 2016 entitled, "Dynamical Downscaling for Alaska: What is it and How to Use it?" The webinar will be presented by Rick Thoman of the National Weather Service.

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 conclude with the Climate Prediction Center's forecast for the upcoming season.

Rick will also present a "Feature-of-the-Month" special addition in which he will highlight a topic relevant to the particular month. This will be a monthly series generally taking place the third Friday of each month.

For more information or to register online, go to the link above.

Participation in person is also available at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Akasofu Building, Room 407.

For questions, contact:
Tina Buxbaum
Email: tmbuxbaum [at] alaska.edu

The Seventh Symposium on Polar Science will be held at the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), Tokyo, Japan. The NIPR is organizing this annual symposium to present and promote a wide variety of polar scientific research and interdisciplinary studies.

More details are available at the symposium web site (see link above).

Time: 12:00pm to 1:00pm (EST)

The ARCUS Arctic Research Seminar Series brings some of the leading Arctic researchers to Washington, D.C. to share in person and via webinar the latest findings and what they mean for decision-making. The seminars are open, and will be of interest to Federal agency officials, Congressional staff, NGOs, associations, researchers, and the public.

Presentation Title:
Observations and Predictions for Arctic Sea-Ice Use: Perspectives from Coastal Alaska

Presentation Abstract:
The Arctic sea-ice cover is in the midst of a major transformation, with the Pacific Arctic sector and Alaska experiencing some of the most profound changes in ice cover anywhere in the Arctic. With impacts on Arctic coastal communities and increases in maritime activities, both observations of changes underway and predictions at the scale of less than a week to several months out are of importance to the research community and those living and operating in ice-covered seas. The presentation will explore key benefits or hazards deriving from sea ice, and explore the types of information and predictions most relevant to sea ice users, with a focus on Alaska coastal environments. Specifically, use of coastal land fast ice by Indigenous communities and industry serves to illustrate the importance of stakeholder input and guidance in defining the research problem and types of observations and predictions needed. The presentation will explore how the combination of surface-based observations, Indigenous and local knowledge and remote sensing is particularly effective in addressing a hierarchy of issues of deriving from rapid changes in coastal ice environments.

Speaker Details
Dr. Hajo Eicken is Professor of Geophysics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and Director of the International Arctic Research Center at UAF. His research focuses on sea ice geophysics and the importance of sea ice in Arctic social-environmental systems. He has helped build an integrated sea-ice observatory in northern Alaska as an interface between geophysical and local knowledge of ice conditions and hazards. He heads an effort at UAF to enhance use of scientific data by stakeholders, drawing on a number of different approaches, including scenarios development and analysis. As immediate-past Chair of the Science Steering Committee of the US Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH), he has worked towards the establishment of an observing network to improve understanding and responses to rapid Arctic change.

Registration
To register please visit: https://www.arcus.org/research-seminar-series
Registration is required for the live seminar as well as the webinar. We will be using the Adobe Connect platform for the webinar. Once you register for the webinar, you will receive a confirmation email giving you the link and directions on how to join.

The Alaska Ocean Acidification Network is hosting a 2-day workshop in Anchorage, inviting a broad audience across the state interested in ocean acidification issues.

The aim of this workshop is to educate the broader Alaska community on the processes and consequences of OA, create connections between researchers and stakeholders, and develop new ideas and partnerships to enhance monitoring and community engagement. A report on the state of the science in Alaska will be produced after the workshop, as well as a set of recommendations to help guide the Alaska OA Network.

Day 1 will be conducted in plenary format and is intended to engage a broad audience including fishermen, shellfish growers, resource managers, researchers, coastal residents and anyone interested in ocean acidification. This first day will provide the basics on OA and an overview of research, monitoring, trends, forecasts and strategies for adaptation. Day 2 will be more discussion-oriented and include breakout groups, a session for OA researchers, and a meeting of the Alaska OA Network steering committee.

This workshop is free and open to the public. Please register by Nov 14.

This will be a joint conference with IASC (International Arctic Science Committee), hosted by the Swiss Committee on Polar and High Altitude Research from 19-23 June 2018 in Davos, Switzerland. The Conference will include SCAR, IASC and other business and satellite meetings, an Open Science Conference and the SCAR Delegates' Meeting.

Organizers of the Open Science Conference are accepting proposals for sessions that cover a broad range of topics across the spectrum of Polar and high altitude research, such as, but not limited to, climate, glaciology, social and human sciences, ice sheets, atmospheric sciences, oceanography, biology, astronomy, geology, economic aspects, sustainable development, technology, and education. Session topics that encapsulate research conducted in both the Arctic and Antarctic are encouraged.

The conference will include oral and poster sessions, as well as e-poster sessions with a mini-oral session.

Tasks of the conveners include:

• Soliciting submissions for their session
• Reviewing abstracts submitted for their session
• Working with the International Scientific Organizing Committee to arrange the program of their session, including oral and poster presentations
• Chairing the session

Organizers welcome early career scientists and indigenous peoples as conveners and encourage diversity regarding conveners' nationalities and gender.

A template for submitting session proposals is available online.

Session proposal deadline: Wednesday, 30 November 2016.

For more information about session proposals, go to:
http://www.polar2018.org/call-for-sessions.html

For a proposal template or to submit a session proposal, go to:
http://www.polar2018.org/session-proposals.html

For questions, contact organizers at:
Email: polar2018 [at] slf.ch

After almost fifty-five years, the Antarctic Treaty continues to shine as a rare beacon of international cooperation. To celebrate this milestone of peace in our civilization with hope and inspiration for future generations – ANTARCTICA DAY is recognized to be December 1st -the day when the Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959. As an annual event, Antarctica Day encourages participation from around the world.

Organizers announce a call for abstracts for a conference entitled "International Conference on Arctic Science: Bringing Knowledge to Action," organized by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP). The conference will be held from 24-27 April 2017 in Reston, Virginia.

This conference builds on a previous conference from 2011 entitled "Arctic Messenger of Change Conference." The 2017 conference will provide updated scientific, decision-making, and policy-relevant information across a broad array of different Arctic issues and related scientific disciplines.

The topics that will be addressed are:

• The Arctic Cryosphere
• Pollution in the Arctic
• Human Health Aspects of Pollution and Climate Change
• Global and Arctic Systems Feedback Mechanisms
• Resilience within Arctic Ecosystems
• Science and Plicy Making
• Socio-Economic Drivers and Impacts of Arctic Change

Interested participants are invited to submit abstracts on research and findings relevant to the topics identified above including reports from observational, process-based research, and experimental and modeling studies or past, present, and future change in the Arctic.

To submit an abstract for either an oral or poster presentation (550 word maximum), send the abstract by email to:
2017Conference [at] amap.no

Abstract Submission Deadline: 1 December 2016.

For more information click on the "first announcement" pdf, follow the link above.

The 4th Winter Field Course for Snow Measurement is a course for serious students of snow, whether engaged in modeling, measuring, or teaching about snow. The course will introduce students to standard and specialized quantitative and qualitative measurements of snowpack characteristics, as well as how to conduct safe and efficient snow field campaigns. Over three full days we will provide fundamental training to students in performing and analyzing snow measurements, including depth, density, snow water equivalence, grain size and shape, stratigraphy, temperature and hardness. Students completing this course will be able to perform high-quality fieldwork as well as design studies requiring snowpack measurements, including those required during snow remote sensing calibration and validation campaigns. Class credit will be offered through the University of Saskatchewan.

It will take place at Barrier Lake Field Station, Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada (about 45 minutes west of Calgary) with field work at Fortress Mountain in the Canadian Rockies. See:

http://bgs.ucalgary.ca/facilities

The course is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students, post-docs, professionals and senior scientists, modelers and those who do snow remote sensing that will either need to make snow measurements as part of their research, or use snowpack data in their research. There are no prerequisites, but students will be selected from the pool of applicants based on applicability to their studies. Successful applicants will be notified by December 15, 2016. Students from any nation may apply.

Applications are due by December 1, 2016.

Instructors:

• Dr. Kelly Elder: US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station
• Dr. Matthew Sturm: Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
• Dr. John Pomeroy, Director, Centre for Hydrology, University of Saskatchewan
• Dr. Jessica Lundquist, Mountain Hydrology Research, University of Washington
• Dr. Alexandre Langlois, Centre d’applications et de recherches en télédétection, Université de Sherbrooke
• Dr. Nicholas Kinar, Centre for Hydrology, University of Saskatchewan

Join us for a special Antarctica Day event being held from McMurdo, Antarctica with PolarTREC teacher Tim Dwyer and the research team looking at Polar Gigantism in Antarctica.

Learn about the importance of the Antarctica Treaty and how it impacts research being conducted in Antarctica. This event is in celebration and coordination with ARCUS, APECS, and Our Spaces.

For additional Antarctica Day activities, check out this website:

http://www.ourspaces.org.uk/antarctica-day.html

The 2016 ARCUS Annual Meeting will be held in conjunction with the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California. Scheduled at 6:00-7:00 p.m. PST, the meeting will be convened in Foothill E, inside the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.

The meeting will serve to gather members, the Board of Directors, and the staff of ARCUS together with other members of the Arctic research community and key agency personnel and policy makers. An option to join remotely is also available.

Reception:
You are invited to join ARCUS and the other Arctic researchers at AGU in conversation, networking, and socializing. This reception will be at 7:00-8:30 p.m. PST, immediately following the annual meeting. No ticket or reservations are required. A cash bar and light appetizers will be provided. The event will be held in the Arctic Community Meeting Room sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The reception is also sponsored by ARCUS members.

For questions about the meeting, reception, and remote attendance,
contact:
Jennifer Zolkos
Email: jennifer [at] arcus.org

ESA will hold the first Cryosat North American Science Meeting next spring in Banff, Alberta, Canada on 20-24 March 2017.

Co-sponsored by a number of international institutions, the meeting is open to all worldwide interested CryoSat stakeholders and data users. There will be no conference fee but the participants are required to finance their own travel and accommodation.

The meeting will provide a unique and timely forum for scientists and end-users of CryoSat data to share the state-of-the-art in research and applications, review mission achievements and prepare for the continued use of the CryoSat mission in the future.

The Cryosat North American Science meeting is organised approximately seven years after launch of CryoSat and will highlight areas where the mission has made significant contribution including cryosphere, oceanography, geodesy, hydrology, topography, meteorology and climate change.

Presentations on the use of CryoSat data for operational applications and demonstrations of novel scientific applications are also encouraged. The meeting will be also instrumental to outline the international collaboration in the exploitation of data, to propose new scientific requirements, to identify new scientific challenges in view of the extension beyond 2019 and, in general, for its possible successor.

Abstract deadline is 4 December 2016

More details can be found at the website above.

ArcticNet will host its 12th Annual Scientific Meeting from 5 to 9 December 2016 at the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The ASM2016 will welcome researchers, students, Northerners, policy makers and stakeholders to address the numerous environmental, social, economical and political challenges and opportunities that are emerging from climate change and modernization in the Arctic.

As the largest annual Arctic research gathering held in Canada, ArcticNet’s ASM is the ideal venue to showcase results from all fields of Arctic research and stimulate discussion and foster collaborations among people with a vested interest in the Arctic and its peoples.

ArcticNet is proud to host the 2016 Arctic Inspiration Prize Awards Ceremony in conjunction with its annual meeting. The ceremony will be held on the evening of Thursday 8 December and will feature a performance by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Nunavut Sivuniksavut.

We look forward to welcoming you to Winnipeg for another successful ArcticNet Annual Scientific Meeting.

This meeting will take place in Bethel, Maine.

The purpose of the meeting is:

• To present and discuss new results on observations and modeling of the dynamics and mass budget of Arctic glaciers, including the Greenland ice sheet
• To plan and coordinate field work on Arctic glaciers with the aim of using the available infrastructure and logistics in the most efficient way
• To develop ideas for future projects and collaboration

The meeting is open to everyone interested in Arctic glaciology. We particularly welcome contributions to our special sessions. Special session on atmosphere-glacier interactions include:

• Regional patterns of atmospheric warming and links to changes in atmospheric circulation over the Arctic
• Firn processes and implications on glacier-mass balance / mass-balance assessments

Special session on glacier–ocean interactions include:

• Process studies on glacier calving/frontal ablation
• Frontal-ablation results for selected glaciers or regions
• The importance of subaqueous melt for frontal ablation and link to ocean temperatures
• Glacial freshwater runoff and effects on fjord/ocean circulation and the marine ecosystem

The latter special session will feature a workshop session led by Luke Copland, University of Ottawa,on the importance of calving (frontal ablation) for the mass budget of Arctic glaciers. This session follows up activities initiated at the IASC workshop in Poland, Sopot, 15-17 October 2016, with the aim to derive a consistent pan-Arctic frontal-ablation estimate for the period 2000-2015.

Registration deadline is December 05, 2016.

For more information about the workshop please visit our website.

In addition to the annual October Assemblies in Iceland, the Arctic Circle convenes smaller and more specialized forums in other countries. Together with the Government of Québec, the Arctic Circle will convene its next forum in Québec City.

The Forum will be opened by Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland, and Philippe Couillard, Premier of Québec. Discussions will focus on the sustainable development of northern regions, including Alaska, Greenland as well as northern areas of Norway and Sweden. Québec will present its own approach as implemented in the Plan Nord, and will ask other key players to share their experience and expertise in this area.

The event will apply a comparative and interactive approach, and will give speakers and participants an opportunity to help disseminate knowledge and good practices while promoting the sustainable development of the Arctic and northern regions in general.

Session topics will include regional planning and governance, investment and socio-economic development.

Also, a special session dealing with the impacts of climate change in the Nordic and Arctic regions will be held.

Among the speakers and participants will be ministers and lawmakers, indigenous leaders, and representatives from economic development organizations, investment funds and scientific institutes.

The 6th Annual Meeting of the Permafrost Carbon Network will take place before the AGU Fall Meeting, in San Francisco, California.

In the morning of December 11th, we will provide updates on previous, ongoing, and new synthesis activities. The afternoon is dedicated to break out discussions on ongoing and new synthesis activities. Lunch will be provided for registered participants and a preliminary agenda is attached to this email and can also be found online at the link above.

If you would like to participate in the meeting or parts of the meeting, please register online using this link:
https://www.arcus.org/search-program/meetings/2016/agu/pcn

For questions, please email Christina Schädel
christina.schaedel at nau.edu

or

Ted Schuur
ted.schuur at nau.edu

Registration deadline is November 14, 2016.

With approximately 24,000 attendees in 2015, AGU’s Fall Meeting is the largest Earth and space science meeting in the world. 2016 will mark Fall Meeting’s 49th year as the premiere place to present your research; hear about the latest discoveries, trends, and challenges in the field; and network with colleagues that can enhance your career.

Fall Meeting brings together the entire Earth and space science community from across the globe for discussions of emerging trends and the latest research. The technical program includes presentations on new and cutting-edge science, much of which has not yet been published, meaning you’ll return to work with knowledge you can’t get anywhere else.

With more than 1,700 sessions in 2015, Fall Meeting’s scientific program spans the Earth and space sciences, offering something for everyone no matter their scientific discipline. The meeting offers a unique mix of more than 20,000 oral and poster presentations, a broad range of general sessions, various types of formal and informal networking and career advancement opportunities, and an exhibit hall packed with hundreds of exhibitors showcasing new and relevant research tools and services that meet the professional needs of our attendees year after year. Join us in 2016 for another dynamic experience.

The Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) will hold an open Town Hall in conjunction with the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco, California. An online webinar stream will be available for those not attending the AGU meeting.

To join as an online participant, please register at the link above.

For more information on all SEARCH events at AGU, please see:
https://www.arcus.org/search-program/meetings/2016/agu

For more information, contact:
Brit Myers, ARCUS
Email: brit [at] arcus.org

The Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) will hold a Town Hall meeting on Monday, 12 December, from 12:30 p.m until 1:30 p.m. PT during the AGU Fall Meeting in the Foothill E room of the San Francisco Marriott Marquis hotel. The event will also be live-streamed for online participation.

At this open Town Hall, SEARCH leadership will discuss how researchers, agencies, and stakeholders can contribute to and participate in SEARCH’s “Permafrost”, “Sea Ice”, and “Land Ice” activities; help steer the work of new cross-disciplinary working groups on coastal resilience and Arctic scenarios; and introduce SEARCH’s new “Knowledge Pyramids.” SEARCH is constructing Knowledge Pyramids to make scientific knowledge available on-line to decision makers, journalists, students, and scientists in diverse fields. Each knowledge pyramid answers a specific question about environmental change in the Arctic through tiers of increasing detail. The top of the pyramid provides—in accessible language—a succinct synopsis of what we know about the question in the form of a 1–2 page brief suitable for policymakers. Published reports back up the brief in lower tiers. The second tier down contains summaries more detailed than the brief; below that are published conceptual and technical syntheses; and, finally, the base of the pyramid is made of detailed technical reports focused on specific details—the scientific building blocks.

Broad participation enhances SEARCH’s success and we invite everyone interested in the Arctic to learn more about becoming part of our community at this event. Light refreshments will be provided. Students and early career investigators are encouraged to participate.

In addition to the in-person event, an online webinar stream will be available for those not attending AGU. To join via an online participant, please register at:
https://www.arcus.org/search-program/meetings/2016/agu/townhall

This is a closed internal SEARCH meeting of the Science Steering Committee and Action Team leads.

Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN) announces an open meeting during the 2016 American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meetings.

This meeting will provide a forum to:

• Re-cap and discuss the 2016 Arctic sea ice/Sea Ice Outlook season (a post-season report is forthcoming)
• Discuss the next phase of SIPN and how best it can meet the needs of network participants
• Share information on relevant efforts and potential collaborations

A boxed lunch will be provided for meeting participants who RSVP by end-of-day Tuesday, 6 December 2016. Please RSVP to Betsy Turner-Bogren, ARCUS, at: betsy [at] arcus.org. We hope to see you there!

More information about SIPN and the Sea Ice Outlook is available at the link above.