Search Events

The Alaska Wildland Fire Coordinating Group (AWFCG) will convene the 2022 Spring Operations meeting online only the week of March 21-25. The complete agenda can be found on the meeting's website. The meeting is open, and registration is not required.

• Mon through Wed morning: planning sessions for the Alaska Incident Management Teams (IMT),
• Wed afternoon through Fri: sessions for Agency Administrators and Fire Management Officers (AA/FMO)

Fire science content organized by the Alaska Fire Science Consortium (AFSC) will be coordinated with related management discussions during the AA/FMO sessions, including:

Wed, March 23: focus on fire weather and climate

• 15:15 - Welcome and Introductions, AFSC news and updates (Alison York, Mitch Burgard, Sarah Trainor, AFSC)
• 15:30 - Fire Weather, Predictive Services, Seasonal Outlooks (Heidi Strader, Eric Stevens, Chris Moore, AICC)
• 16:00 - BUI Forecast for fire season 2022 (Cece Borries-Strigle, UAF)
• 16:20 - Lightning Projects (Uma Bhatt, UAF)
• 16:40 - Fire and Climate: AK CASC post-doctoral fellowships (Chris Waigl, Adam Young, UAF)

Thurs, March 24: science you can use

• 09:45 - News you can use (Randi Jandt, AFSC)
• 10:30 - GIS and Alaska Known Sites Update (Jennifer Jenkins, GIS and Data management committee)
• 11:00 - Shovel Creek Story map (Zav Grabinski, AFSC)

Fri, March 25: focus on fuels

• 13:00 - Fuels, RX, and Prevention (Darren Finley, Casey Boespflug, Beth Ipsen, Dan Govoni, Fuels and Wildland Fire Prev/Educ committee)
• 13:45 - Statewide exposure metric (Jen Schmidt, UAA, Chris Moore, AICC)
• 14:25 - AK Geospatial Council Vegetation Maps (Timm Nawrocki, AGC, Lisa Saperstein, FWS)

Presentations listed above will be recorded and archived on the AFSC website.

The conference has been postponed to 16-20 May 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (This conference was originally scheduled to take place 14-18 September 2020, then 16-21 May 2021, followed by 13-17 September 2021, and now moved to 16-20 May 2022.)

The symposium at the University of Alaska Fairbanks provides 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 cooperation in the circumpolar regions of the world. The organizers look to build on the more than 100 participants and the record 50% attendance by students and early career researchers at the 15th ICRSS.

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

The theme of the 16th ICRSS is Convergence at the Poles – Addressing urgent research questions and management needs through remote sensing in the Arctic and Antarctic.

The 16th ICRSS is being hosted at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Oral presentations will take place in the Wood Center Ballroom and various conference activities will be scattered through the greater University and Fairbanks community.

Important Dates

• Abstract submission (has been extended): 21 March 2022
• Abstract acceptance notification: 01 April 2022
• Registration deadline: 01 April 2022

APECS (Association of Early Career Polar Scientists) International Polar Week 2022 is a celebration for everyone who has an interest in the coldest regions of our planet, a diverse and vibrant international community that includes students, researchers, teachers, artists, and members of Indigenous nations.

The main goal of this event is to engage the global polar studies community to share knowledge, experience, and fun from different perspectives. The organizers continue this great tradition through diverse activities such as photo contests, interviews with polar artists, researchers, and educators, participation in virtual polar games, the APECS podcast, and many more all around the world, thanks to their National Committees.

For the 2022 edition of its International Online Conference, the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) has thus chosen to dedicate a 24-hour online conference, on 18 May 2022, for sharing experiences and knowledge on Polar and Alpine regions from various perspectives.

The idiom “All hands on deck” reflects the efforts that are currently needed to address the major environmental challenges of the current century. Knowledge in all forms and of all natures represent an essential component for designing a desirable and sustainable future both for Mankind and the Earth, along with the means to achieve such horizons. Knowledge inclusiveness, however, has not always been a concern in scientific and academic circles, although this could improve the ways we do research and interact with the rest of the society.

The conference contains five sessions drawing on multiple disciplines from the social to the natural sciences:

• Voices from Alpine and Polar regions
• Bridging knowledge from Polar ocean beneficiaries
• Polar regions in motion
• Methods and ethics in polar research
• Advances in cryospheric sciences

The organizers decided to make natural, humanities and social sciences meet in three of the five sessions (i.e., bridging knowledge from Polar ocean beneficiaries; polar regions in motion; methods and ethics in polar research) and retained transversal, open themes so as to allow a wide array of discussions. They also dedicated sessions to particular realms such as the ocean, the coasts and the cryosphere.

The APECS International Online Conference 2022 is giving room for alternative ways for expressing self through a call for stories and art contributions that, we believe, will considerably enrich the experience of the participants.

Submissions can thus take the form of three different formats:

• Stand-alone presentation
• Oral narrative
• Artwork

All Stand-alone presentation and Oral narrative proposals must be sent to Nicolas Champollion and Sophie Duveau by 20 March 2022 at 10:00 AM (UTC). All artwork proposals must be submitted via Google form by 01 April 2022 at 10:00 AM (UTC).

Rick Thoman will review recent and current climate conditions around Alaska, review some forecast tools and finish up the Climate Prediction Center’s forecast for April 2022 and the early spring season. Join the gathering online to learn what’s happened and what may be in store with Alaska’s seasonal climate.

Please register to attend.

The International Glaciological Society (IGS) and the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) are glad to announce the ‘International Symposium on Ice in a Sustainable Society’ (ISS). The ISS Symposium will be held at the Bizkaia Aretoa Convention Centre in Bilbao (Spain). This venue is located on one of the most emblematic sites of Bilbao, which opens out onto the estuary and the Guggenheim Museum. The Symposium will take place from Monday morning, 6 June, until the afternoon of Friday 10 June. On World Environment Day, Sunday 5 June, there will be several celebration activities and a pre-symposium icebreaker event at Bizkaia Aretoa. Different Social Events are scheduled thorough the Symposium.

During the ISS Symposium we will celebrate the 85th anniversary of IGS. The first official meeting of the ‘Association for the Study of Snow and Ice’ was held in April 1937. The Association would go through a few name changes through the years until it acquired its current name, ‘The International Glaciological Society’ in 1962. We will be celebrating the anniversary throughout the year, and of course during the ISS Symposium in Bilbao.

Important dates

• Opening of online abstract submission: 15 January 2022
• Opening of online registration: 21 February 2022
• Extended abstract submission deadline: 18 March 2022
• Early-bird registration deadline: 25 March 2022
• Deadline for full refund: 22 April 2022
• Late registration: 8 May 2022

The next Landscapes Live online seminar of the Spring 2022 block will be by Ann Rowan. This seminar will be live on Zoom and open to anyone interested (with a limit of 300 participants). Register in advance for this meeting.

Abstract

Mountain glaciers respond rapidly to climate change and build ice-marginal (terminal and lateral) moraines that form a potentially valuable record of terrestrial climate across a wide range of latitudes and elevations. However, interpreting this palaeoclimate record relies on reconstructing past glacier volume, and so making assumptions about how glacier mass, erosion and sediment flux varied as climate changed. A different approach is to use forward modelling of the feedbacks between ice flow, sediment transport and deposition to interpret glacial landforms. From field observations of moraine sequences in the Everest region of Nepal, we demonstrate that careful interpretation of moraines can elucidate past glacier dynamics and Holocene palaeoclimate change.

Gaute Eiterjord, formerly of Greenpeace Norway and Young Friends of the Earth, will speak on climate change litigation in Norway.

Gaute Eiterjord is a Norwegian climate activist. He has previously been the chair of Young Friends of the Earth Norway (Natur og Ungdom) and for several years worked with the climate lawsuit against the Norwegian state for allowing oil exploration in the Arctic. The case was the first of its kind in the Norwegian legal system, and brought widespread attention to the Norwegian paradox of wanting to be a climate leader but also being one of the largest exporters of greenhouse gas emissions. Although dismissed by the Norwegian Supreme court, the case is now filed to the European Court of Human Rights.

The 2022 Arctic Beaver Observation Network (A-BON) meeting will be the first ever gathering of scientists, Indigenous groups, land managers, and local observers to discuss the arrival of beavers in the Arctic and implications for the natural resources of the affected Arctic regions.

The meeting was planned to be in person March 15-18 in Fairbanks, Alaska, but due to COVID-19 regulations the meeting has been shifted to a virtual platform.

The keynote speaker will be acclaimed Alaskan author Seth Kantner (Ordinary Wolves, Shopping for Porcupine, new book! A Thousand Trails Home), who will share his 60 years of observations related to climate change and beavers.

The meeting agenda will include presentations on the observed impacts of beavers in the tundra, on research methods for monitoring beaver population expansion, and on approaches to co-producing knowledge with academic researchers and Indigenous groups. Presentations will be followed by break-out groups to align priorities, share ideas, and collaborate more effectively on projects.

The meeting is supported by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs and the International Arctic Science Committee.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already opened a Pandora’s box of consequences across the globe. With the invasion still in its beginning stages, its effects on Arctic governance, research, and economic activity will only multiply in the coming days and beyond. The seven remaining Arctic states denouncing Russia and temporarily suspending all Arctic Council-related activities is one such immediate consequence and indicates a rapidly changing and challenging baseline for Arctic governance.

Please join the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) for a discussion about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will affect Arctic affairs. Speakers from across the Arctic will cover topics such as multilateral cooperation and diplomatic relations, military security (national level and NATO policies), economic consequences (including energy politics), and bilateral relations with Russia.

Additional speakers will be announced as they are confirmed.

Moderator

Michael Sfraga
Chair & Distinguished Fellow, Polar Institute / Chair, US Arctic Research Commission

Introduction

James P. DeHart
U.S. Coordinator for the Arctic Region, U.S. Department of State

Ulf Sverdrup
Director, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)

Speakers

Marisol Maddox
Senior Arctic Analyst, Polar Institute

Elana Wilson Rowe
Research Professor, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)