Past Events

The advent of new, high quality small satellites, and the availability of high-resolution commercial imagery is opening a new era of Arctic science. Every remote corner of the planet now has one foot resolution optical and high quality radar imagery, allowing surface cover and properties relevant to biology, geology, geomorphology, ecology, and cryospheric studies to be seen in ways, rates, and resolutions as never before possible.

To bracket this opportunity, the National Science Foundation has funded a workshop to bring scientists, industry and other experts together to address the following questions with a multi-decadal time horizon:

What new Arctic science would be enabled with commercial imagery and SmallSats over the next 5, 10, and 20 years?
Where and when should collection be concentrated?
What sensors are available, being developed, or need to be developed?
Strategies for best employing a coordinated, public/private, multi-resolution, multi-sensor constellation for Arctic science?
What are the foreseeable road blocks unique to commercial imagery and SmallSats that must be overcome before these resources can be fully utilized? This includes but is not limited to licensing, data quality, data volume, analysis techniques, and cyberinfrastructure.

To apply, please submit a 1-2 page document with your contact information describing the new Arctic science enabled by commercial and SmallSat imagery. In addition, a shapefile or KMZ describing the geographic extent of the requirement and the optimal times for collection can be included.

Send these files as attachments to: arcticimageryworkshop [at] umn.edu

Travel support is available for approximately 20 participants. Graduate students and early-career investigators are encouraged to apply.

APPLICATIONS ARE DUE BY MARCH 30, 2018.

This summer school is aimed at postgraduate students and early career scientists who would like to obtain a solid grounding in polar climate system science, with a particular focus on the atmosphere, ocean and sea ice and their interactions. It will consist of a series of lectures by world-leading experts in polar science, who will deal with the maintenance of the polar climates, their role in the global system, links to lower latitudes, modelling, change over recent decades and how the system my change over the next century. There will also be practical sessions involving analysis of observations and model output.

The organising committee consists of Prof Zhaomin Wang (Hohai University), Prof John Turner (British Antarctic Survey), Prof Kent Moore (University of Toronto), Prof Xiangdong Zhang (University of Alaska Fairbanks), Prof Annette Rinke (Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany).

Funding is available to support the attendance of a number of students.

Background:
A number of recent conferences, workshops and meetings have confirmed that there are many national, regional and local projects and programs that are active in polar data management and stewardship and that also have a mandate or desire to contribute to regional or international coordination of efforts and activities. Many of those initiatives have resources available and are making progress towards an envisioned connected, interoperable polar data system. The international polar data community is eager to improve cooperation and coordination of their efforts.

In the May of 2018, representatives from a wide range of different active programs and projects will come together to focus on work planning and coordination of effort. This meeting will complement past workshops and fora (e.g. IPY, Polar Data Forums etc.) that have been effective in defining important community challenges and technical issues. The focus of the Summit will be to generate detailed plans on how best to mobilise existing and soon-to-be initiated funded activities to develop a particular international data sharing case study or scenario. At the annual meetings of the Arctic Data Committee and the Standing Committee on Antarctic Data Management held in Montreal in September 2017, a focus on the sharing of meteorological observations and linking to existing terrestrial data networks was discussed as one possibility. Discussions on the precise nature of the case study will continue, a decision will be taken during the winter of 2018.

For much more information, please follow the link above.

The Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) Collaborations invites attendance for a webinar titled Science Communication Lightning Talks for Effective Interdisciplinary Arctic Research. This webinar will be held via Zoom Video Conferencing.

Webinar Summary:

To most effectively solve challenging science questions in Arctic research, scientists must team up across traditional disciplinary boundaries. The IARPC Collaborations platform enables these interdisciplinary connections through its open meetings and website. However, communication across disciplines is challenging due to discipline-specific standards and vocabularies. To build the communication capacity and collaborative research potential of the next generation, IARPC Collaborations offers an online training program for early career scientists. During this webinar, early career scientists will present lightning talks on various topics in Arctic research designed to connect and network with scientists from other disciplines and lay the groundwork for forming new interdisciplinary collaborations. Join this webinar to see examples of effective science communication, network outside of your discipline, and learn more about future science communication training and networking opportunities through IARPC Collaborations’ new science communication forum.

For questions, contact:
Jessica Rohde
Email: jrohde [at] arcus.org
Phone: 206-931-0090

The OGGM workshop is an annual, informal meeting for developers, users, and future users of the Open Global Glacier Model (www.oggm.org). For this third edition, we decided to open the event to the wider community.

Agenda:

This workshop has three main objectives:

1) State of OGGM: the first day will be spent with presentations from the participants about recent developments and results.

2) Future developments and visions for OGGM: the second day will be dedicated to general discussions and brainstorming about the future and goals of the OGGM project.

3) Tutorial: the third day is for current and future OGGM users to get to know the model internals, and learn how to set-up and customize a model run. This day will be rather technical and might be skipped if you do not plan to use the model yourself.

Who can participate?

Anyone interested in the model, or in glaciological modeling in general! In particular, we would like to encourage potential users and developers to join us to get to know each other and to gather first-hand information about the model internals. Note that in case of high interest we might have to limit the number of participants.

We encourage you to register if you are interested in using the model!

In recent years with rapid changes of climate and environment in the Arctic region and China’s economic growth, the interaction between China and the Arctic has been increasingly deepened, which calls for a coherent and sustainable development of the Arctic and China.

China-Nordic Arctic research cooperation has been intensified over the past few years and during that period Chinese institutes such as the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC) and Shanghai Institute of International Studies (SIIS) have strengthened their ties with international counterparts.

The 6th China-Nordic Arctic Cooperation Symposium will take place in Tromsø, Norway, under the theme "Integrated Ocean Management in the Arctic” covering the overarching issues of knowledge building, governance challenges and science-governance interplay.

Thematic sessions include: 1) Fisheries Management in Arctic Waters, 2) Marine Pollution, 3) Climate Change, Maritime Governance and Sustainability in the Arctic. The symposium agenda is now available. Please see the link above for more information.

Arctic Indigenous Scholars Seminar
Date/Time: Wednesday, 23 May from 12:00-1:30 p.m. ET
Speakers: Rosemary Ahtuangaruak & Theresa Arevgaq John
Seminar Title: "Empowering Arctic Indigenous Scholars and Making Connections: Perspectives from Rosemary Ahtuangaruak of Nuiqsut, Alaska and Theresa Arevgaq John of Nelson Island, Alaska"

To register for the event, go to: https://www.arcus.org/research-seminar-series

The Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) and Inuit Circumpolar Council Alaska will host a joint seminar by Rosemary Ahtuangaruak and Theresa Arevgaq John as part of the 2018 Arctic Indigenous Scholars program. The event will be held in the ARCUS D.C. office at 1201 New York Avenue, NW Washington D.C. on Wednesday, 23 May 2018 from 12:00-1:30 p.m. ET. This seminar will also be available as a webinar live-stream for those unable to attend in person.

Registration is required for this event. To register, please visit: https://www.arcus.org/research-seminar-series

The Empowering Arctic Indigenous Scholars and Making Connections program creates a space for Indigenous scholars to educate and inform policy- and decision-makers engaged in Arctic Issues while visiting Washington, D.C. and provides a platform for traditional knowledge holders to share their expertise with the wider Arctic research community.

This joint Arctic research seminar & webinar will feature presentations by each of the 2018 Arctic Indigenous Scholars:

Rosemary Ahtuangaruak is an Inupiaq activist. She is a graduate of the University of Washington Medex Northwest Physician Assistant Program. She has fought tirelessly for the health and protection of her people and of the Arctic’s unparalleled wilderness that has sustained her culture for thousands of years. Rosemary is a former mayor of Nuiqsut and currently serves on the board of the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, the regional tribal government for the North Slope, and is an executive council member of the Alaska Inter–Tribal Council. She received the 2009 Voice of the Wild Award from the Alaska Wilderness League. She is a founding board member of REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands).

Theresa Arevgaq John is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cross-cultural Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She has authored numerous academic articles and a co-author of a book Yupiit Yuraryarait: Yup’ik Ways of Dancing and has presented her work at dozens of local, national, and international professional conferences. Dr. John currently serves on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education and the International Indigenous Women’s Forum. She is a former member of the Alaskan State Council Arts and the former Chair of the Traditional Native Arts Panel. She is also the recipient of the Governor's Distinguished Humanities Educator Award and Alaska State Library Award. Dr. John received her B.S., M.Ed., and Ph.D. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

This 1.5 hour event is a brown-bag lunch that will be held in the ARCUS D.C. office (1201 New York Avenue, NW Washington D.C. Fourth Floor). Cookies and beverages will be provided.

A live webinar is also available to those unable to attend in person. Instructions for accessing the event online will be sent to “Webinar Only” registrants.

For those of you on Twitter, we also invite you to join us in live-tweeting the event using the hashtag #ARCUSwebinar.

To register for the event, go to:
https://www.arcus.org/research-seminar-series.

For more information about the Arctic Indigenous Scholars program, go to:
https://www.arcus.org/indigenous-scholars

For questions about the Arctic Indigenous Scholars Program, contact:
Lisa Sheffield Guy: lisa [at] arcus.org

For questions about the Arctic Research Seminar Series, contact:
Brit Myers: brit [at] arcus.org

The aim of the workshop is to continue strengthening the links between MOSAiC science objectives and the specific plans for observing, modeling, and synthesis activities. The MOSAiC team invites participation from MOSAiC participants, partners, and stakeholders. The registration contains a short request about your involvement in MOSAiC to ensure that all participants are strongly linked with, and contributing to, core MOSAiC goals.

Please follow the link above for more information.

The Italian Association for the Study of Clays (AISA) and the Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (IMAA) are pleased to invite you to DUST 2018, the International Conference on Atmospheric Dust. The meeting provides an unique opportunity for mineralogists, physicists, geochemists, engineers, volcanologists, chemists and for many other specialists to share ideas and knowledge on the boundless world of the atmospheric particles.

Please see the link above for more information.

We are pleased to announce the second field school as a part of the International Partnerships for Excellence in Education and Research (INTPART) project “Arctic Field Summer Schools: Norway-Canada-USA collaboration”. The second field school is organized by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The “Arctic Field Summer School” is primarily funded by the Research Council of Norway (NFR) and the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SIU), under grant agreement number 261786/H30. The project supports research and education collaboration among UiT-the Arctic University of Norway, the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), USA, and the University of Calgary (UC), Canada. Through a series of summer schools, the project engages graduate students in exploring science questions related to Arctic challenges.

During this second field school, students will participate and learn about remote sensing and ground-based field observations in Utqiaġvik, Alaska (formerly Barrow). The overall theme of the school is the study of processes of the Arctic coastal environment at the intersection between the marine, terrestrial, atmospheric and cryospheric environments using ground-based and remote sensing observations. The course will be primarily based in and near the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and will be conducted in close collaboration with UIC Science (Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation), where the participating students will receive introductory lectures and collect in-situ and remote sensing data to be analyzed in collaboration with their instructors. Students will formulate a project jointly with instructors and work on their project for the duration of the field school. The participating students will make an oral presentation and submit an individual or group report at the end of the school, and will be able to earn credits for participation based on an assessment of the work. The class will be offered as a two-credit UAF summer course and students willing to earn credits need to enroll for the class in advance.

Travel grants (amounts will be determined later) will be issued by IARC to help offset or fully cover travel costs to Utqiaġvik (Barrow), Alaska, as well as local costs and accommodation.

Important: This opportunity is open only for US-based graduate students enrolled at US universities and the international partners will advertise separately.

For further information or to apply, please contact Mr. Tohru Saito (tsaito at alaska.edu).

Please send your 1-page motivation letter that outlines how this course fits into your graduate study and career plans, CV, and a recommendation letter from your supervisor.

Application deadline is February 28, 2018.

We are pleased to announce that Korea Polar Research Institute will hold the 24th International Symposium on Polar Sciences.

The King Sejong Station was established and inaugurated on King George Island in February 1988, after the Republic of Korea acceded to the Antarctic Treaty in November 1986. Since then KOPRI has continued to expand its research as well as to strengthen logistic capacities to support world class science, for example a research icebreaker, Araon and the second Antarctic Station, Jang Bogo in Terra Nova Bay as a platform for conducting continental Antarctic research. KOPRI has devoted its passion and commitment to explore the uncharted field of Antarctic research for over three decades. In commemoration of the scientific dedication over the years and celebrating the 30 year anniversary of King Sejong Station, the theme of the 24th International Symposium on Polar Science will be “30 years of Footsteps in Antarctica: Looking Back and Looking Forward”.

We would like to cordially invite you to share your knowledge and understanding as well as your perspective of future outlook on Antarctic research.

Please follow the link above for more information.

We would like to invite you to a PolarConnect Event (webinar) with teacher Keith Smith and the team studying Chemical Ecology of Shallow Water Marine Communities. Keith will share his experiences working with the researchers at Palmer Station, Antarctica.

You can read more about his experiences here:
https://www.polartrec.com/expeditions/chemical-ecology-of-shallow-water…

The event will be 1 hour long with Q&A at the end for teachers, students, friends and family.

This event is hosted through the PolarTREC PolarConnect program. Participants will have a chance to learn about research from the scientists while on-site, ask questions, and chat with the teacher and researchers during the presentation.

Questions? Contact us at info [at] polartrec.com

Organizers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) invite registration for Alaska National Lab Day.

During this event, research scientists and lab directors from the 17 U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories will co-lead conversations about cutting-edge research important to Alaska and the world. Discussions will focus on the following themes:

• Addressing the energy field of the future
• Defense energy systems in the North
• Natural hazards and aerospace/defense
• Empowering Alaska's entrepreneurs
• Navigating the changing Arctic
• Developing local and global energy solutions

Participants that arrive early may participant in events occurring on Tuesday, 29 May, including touring UAF’s Arctic research facilities, an evening of TED-style talks, and learning how Alaska is leading the way in microgrid technology that can provide global energy solutions.

Organizers invite participation in a half-day program on EarthScope Transportable Array observations in the Alaskan Arctic.

For those unable to attend in person, this meeting will be available remotely through GoToMeeting (https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/810978277) or
via telephone at +1 571-317-3122, Access Code 810-978-277.

Those planning to call into the meeting will also need to RSVP.

The EarthScope Transportable Array (TA) is a dense network of state-of-the-art seismic stations that, from 2004-2015, migrated across the contiguous 48 states recording the high-quality data needed to map the structure of the earth beneath North America.

This meeting will bring together Transportable Array stakeholders and interested parties to provide information on the following:

• Capabilities of the new network
• Existing partnerships (federal, state, private) that have been created to complete and use the Transportable Array
• Present and future observing opportunities for this new network of autonomous “micro-observatories.”

Organizers are especially interested in exploring inter-agency/multi-agency interests and opportunities for how the Transportable Array observing capability can be used, particularly with respect to the compatibility of different observing interests.

The 15th International Circumpolar Remote Sensing Symposium (ICRSS) will take place September 10-14, 2018 in Potsdam, Germany.

Earth's Polar Regions feature cold-climate environments characterized by unique landscapes, biota, and processes. Many of these features and dynamics are Cryosphere-driven and either are already subject to or have the potential for fundamental and rapid changes in a warming world. Earth observation technologies provide crucial tools to understand and quantify these changes.

This symposium deals specifically with remote sensing applications in the polar environments, both Arctic and Antarctic.

The theme of the 15th ICRSS is Polar Regions in Transformation - Climatic Change and Anthropogenic Pressures.

This symposium will be of interest to scientists, scholars, and industry and government professionals involved in studying and quantifying Arctic and Antarctic Change, renewable and non-renewable resource management, and development of new technologies and methods targeting remote sensing observations of polar environments. The symposium will provide a platform for the exchange of current applied research and best practices, the presentation of new technology and further innovation, and the advancement of international co-operation in the circumpolar regions of the world.

Abstracts are being requested that directly address the following topics:

• Past, present and future changes in the Arctic and Antarctic
• Inventory and dynamics of glaciers and ice sheets
• Floating Ice: sea, river, and lake ice
• Seasonal snow cover
• Changing permafrost
• Polar coastlines
• Oceanography of polar seas
• Hydrology of inland waters
• Polar land cover and land use change
• Arctic vegetation
• Environmental monitoring
• Wildlife management and habitat protection
• Land and water management
• Archaeology
• Geology, mineral, and oil and gas exploration
• Microwave remote sensing applications
• Optical and thermal remote sensing applications
• LiDAR imaging
• Hyperspectral remote sensing
• All remote sensing platforms from satellite to terrestrial-based
• Data Integration and Data Mining
• Modeling using remote sensing-based parameterization
• Geographic Information System and Web-based portals
• Calibration and validation of geometric, radiometric and spectral properties
• Mapping and Scaling

Abstracts due date has been extended to 31 May 2018.

The 2018 symposium is hosted by the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in the beautiful city of Potsdam, Germany.

PhD School on Ice Core Techniques (ICAT) 2.0 ECTS is to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark from September 24-29, 2018.

The PhD course is aimed at PhD students and junior postdocs who conduct ice core analysis or are users of ice core data (glaciological, oceanographic, climate modelers, earth scientists). ICAT aims to educate a new generation of ice core researchers and foster a collaborative environment for future glaciological projects.

This course will educate young scientists regarding new methods developed for the analysis of ice cores with regard to climate research, with dedicated theoretical and laboratory exercise sessions.

LECTURES INCLUDE:
Margit Schwikowski, Carlo Barbante, Johannes Freitag, Thomas Blunier, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Christine Hvidberg, Paul Vallelonga, Mai Winstrup, Sune Olander Rasmussen, Bo Vinther, Helle Astrid Kjær, and more…

APPLICATION:
Submit your application by June 1st 2018. You will be notified of the decision of the Selection Committee by July 1st, 2018.

Follow the link above for more information.

Graduate students associated with University of Washington’s Program on Climate Change are pleased to announce the 12th Annual Graduate Climate Conference (GCC), which will be held November 2-4, 2018 at the University of Washington Pack Forest Conference Center.

The GCC is an interdisciplinary conference run by graduate students, for graduate students. The organizers of GCC strive to feature a diverse representation of students and research topics to create a broader, more inclusive community for emerging leaders in climate-related fields.

We encourage students from all backgrounds and stages of their graduate careers to apply. GCC highlights climate research from a variety of disciplines from the physical, natural, and social sciences and humanities, including anthropology, atmospheric sciences, biology, communication, environmental sciences, economics, engineering, ethics, geography, geology, law, oceanography, public policy, resource management, and more.

We highly encourage abstracts from students with traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.

Applications for GCC 2018 are now open. The deadline for abstract submission is June 1. Lodging and meals are covered for all participants. Limited travel funding will also be awarded on an as-needed basis to as many participants as possible.

For more information and access to the application, please see the website above.

Please contact the organizing committee with any questions at gradclimateconference [at] gmail.com

The International Glaciological Society will hold an International Symposium on ‘Timescales, Processes and Glacier Dynamics’ in 2018. The symposium will be held at the Lafayette Hotel in downtown Buffalo, New York.

Theme:

The physical processes controlling glacier dynamics form the basis of modern glaciology. In spite of the rapid growth in observational data, the ultimate scientific challenge continues to be relating observations to processes. Time-series observational data are essential to understanding processes; however, their analysis often reveals processes operating on timescales ranging from diurnal to millennial. Individual processes may underpin long-term glacier stability, promote instability or drive natural variability in the glacier state. For example, gravitationally driven flow is among the most fundamental processes in glaciology and is controlled by ice-surface slope and thickness. The evolution of the ice surface, in turn, reveals processes related to the mechanical controls on ice flow, firn compaction, development of supraglacial meltwater flow networks, basal melt, isostasy and surface mass balance. Each of these processes alters the surface elevation and is characterized by a different timescale. Assessment of the processes producing changes over a particular time interval poses a major challenge. Hence, even routinely acquired data are difficult to reason about. Interpretation of other data, such as surface velocity, climatological data, radar stratigraphy, glacier history, ice core records, paleoclimate proxies and in situ observations, are also confounded by relations between processes and timescales.

Topics:

We seek papers and presentations that advance the understanding of ice sheets and glaciers and glacier dynamics on different timescales. Key focus areas include (but are not limited to):

1. Processes that control glacier dynamics and ice flow
2. Processes that reflect natural variability versus trends critical to glacier and ice-sheet stability
3. Processes that link climate and ocean changes with ice sheet and glacier evolution
4. Time-series data analysis of glacier and ice-sheet data
5. Process models for ice–ocean–atmosphere interactions, glacier–bedrock interactions, meltwater impacts, etc.
6. Processes and timescales associated with ice-sheet and glaciological hazards
7. Paleoclimate indicators of key-processes and changes in glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets and linking paleoclimatology to contemporary glacier studies.

Abstracts:

Participants who wish to present a paper (oral or poster) at the Symposium will be required to submit an abstract by 3 April 2018.

For more information, please follow the link above.

Carleton University’s Institute on the Ethics of Research with Indigenous People (CUIERIP) will hold its 5th annual week-long summer program. It is a six-day immersive experience devoted to learning about good practices in ethical research with First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities.

CUIERIP’s mission is to provide a collaborative and safe learning environment for faculty, students, community members, and professionals working on Indigenous issues and research ethics.

CUIERIP is led by Carleton Faculty, research ethics professionals and community leaders. Presiding Elders guide all participants.

CUIERIP’s 2018 theme: “Story keeping and the story bundle”. Story bundles, a concept that pertains to Western and Indigenous ethical considerations around being a story-keeper, or more specifically, the person who brings the experiences and stories of others forward. During the week-long institute, we will consider the distinctions between different types of stories, the protocols/ethical considerations around who can carry/disseminate stories, historic and contemporary examples of story-keepers, examples of how carriers adapt to the evolution of ever-changing stories, what researchers need in their story bundles, and how a story bundle is developed, maintained and utilized.

Registration for the 2018 Institute is now open.

For more information about CUIERIP 2018, please visit our website at the link above.

The conference which will be held under the auspices of the International Geographical Union (IGU) is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Institute of Geography of Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) - the largest world-renowned geographical research organization in Russia. This occasion provides an opportunity to make an overview of the domestic and international trends in geography’s development to analyze the growing impact of scientific research internationalization, the aggravation of global problems, changing theoretical paradigms, radical renewal of research methods and predictions’ validity, as well as to strengthen the integration between social and environmental branches of geography.

In addition to fundamental research, Institute of Geography has been closely associated with practical demands aimed at solving urgent national issues related to its research agenda. Its stuff actively participated in the development and examination of territorial concepts, laws and norms regulating environmental protection and large-scale economic programs. Therefore, the main task of the conference is to sum up Russian and international experience in practically oriented research in the fields of social and environmental geography meeting the diverse and critical challenges of the XXI century.

Being the leading geographical scientific institution in Russia, the Institute of Geography RAS has always played a significant role in scientific cooperation between Russian (Soviet) geographers and foreign scholars. Institute of Geography staff have regularly participated in major international programs and projects, while the Russian National Committee of IGU functions in the framework of the Institute. Renowned geographers from the Institute have been repeatedly elected as IGU Commissions’ Chairs and members and Vice-Presidents of IGU. One of the most well-known was the untimely deceased corresponding member of RAS, IGU Vice-President (2000-2005) Nikita F. Glazovsky. The present conference is also dedicated to him and his scientific legacy.

Deadline for abstract submission is 01 March.