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For the 7th time, the Students in Polar and Alpine Research Conference will be held at the Department of Geography, Masaryk University, in Brno, Czechia.

We are aware of the current COVID-19 situation complicating the international travels, therefore the entire conference will be virtually streamed for those who cannot attend in person. We encourage you thus to register and prepare your contributions!

Whether you are an undergraduate/PhD student or early-career researcher (less than 5 years after the PhD defence) working in the fields of geosciences or biosciences in the Polar and alpine environments, you are most welcome to attend our conference.

Deadline for registration and abstract submission: 22 April 2021.

Unfortunately the Polar Microbes Symposium has been postponed once again due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and rescheduled for May 9-12, 2022. We hope that you and your families stay safe during this uncertain time and we look forward seeing you next year!

The 2nd Symposium on Polar Microbes and Viruses will take place at Tvärminne Zoological Station, 120km southwest of Helsinki, Finland.

This symposium will bring together molecular microbial ecologists specializing in different organism groups to share our latest results and discuss methodological problems, as well as future prospects in the field, including practical international collaborations. The environmental focus will be on cryospheric environments including sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets, and permafrost, but excellent research in other polar environments is also invited. The methods to be discussed will focus on ‘omics’ techniques, ranging from single cells to metagenomes, but exciting research using additional methods is encouraged as well.

Organizers: Dr. Eeva Eronen-Rasimus (University of Helsinki) and Dr. Eric Collins (University of Manitoba & University of Alaska Fairbanks).

Deadline for Abstract Submission: March 14, 2022.

Registration Deadline: April 10, 2022.

Ice cores provide information about past climate and environmental conditions as well as direct records of the composition of the atmosphere on timescales from decades to hundreds of millennia. With the pioneering work of Hans Oeschger of University of Bern on carbon dioxide in polar ice cores, a long tradition of ice core research in Switzerland began. Less known is that Hans Oeschger also initiated a high-alpine drilling project on Colle Gnifetti in Switzerland in the 1970s. To acknowledge Hans Oeschger’s important contribution to these two ice core fields and to foster the link between the corresponding communities the theme of the conference is Ice Core Science at the Three Poles.

Important Dates:

• January 1, 2021: Submission for abstracts opens, Registration opens
• April 30, 2021: Deadline for abstract submission, Deadline for travel grant application
• June 1, 2021: Abstract confirmation, Travel award confirmation
• July 1, 2021: Early bird registration closes
• September 1, 2021: Online registration closes
• October 10, 2021: Ice Core Young Scientists (ICYS) Workshop
• October 11 - 15, 2021: IPCIS Third Open Science Conference
• October 16, 2021: Post-Conference Excursion

Polar Day is the annual public outreach event for the Polar Forum. We strive to engage our community, the general public, faculty, students and staff in a unique event where we highlight the natural, societal, and cultural features of the polar regions. We welcome you to attend both events or a select presentation aligning with your time and interest.

Friday April 16th, 11:00 am - 12:30 pm PDT
plus
Friday April 30th, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm PDT

Friday April 16th

The Worst Journey In the World Revisited
by Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer. He is the author of about twenty books, including the internationally bestselling Mars trilogy, and more recently Shaman, Green Earth, and 2312. He was sent to the Antarctic by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers’ Program in 1995, and returned in their Antarctic media program in 2016. In 2008 he was named a “Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine. He works with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute and the Clarion Writers’ Workshop. His work has been translated into 25 languages, and won a dozen awards in five countries, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. In 2016 asteroid 72432 was named “Kimrobinson.” His most recent novel is The Ministry for the Future.

Friday April 30th

11:05am PDT
Conservation With Your Eyes Closed: Using Sound to Understand Our Changing Polar Oceans
by Michelle Fournet, Ph.D

Michelle Fournet is a postdoctoral researcher with the Cornell Bioacoustics Research Program (BRP) and recently completed her doctorate in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University (OSU). She is the director of the Sound Science Research Collective (SoS), a small conservation non-profit. Michelle's research is based in acoustic ecology, which mean using sound to investigate questions of ecological importance. This includes investigating how marine organisms use acoustic space (vocalizations, percussive sounds, variable sound production) as well as investigating the potential impact of noise on marine species, and how sound can be used as an indicator of ecosystem health. Michelle is particularly interested in using bioacoustics as a tool to further conservation and to assess species resilience to a rapidly changing ocean.

11:55am PDT
The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame A Life of Louise Arner Boyd
by Joanna Kafarowski, Ph.D

After inheriting a staggering family fortune in her thirties, California-born Louise Arner Boyd (1887-1972) achieved international notoriety as a rugged and audacious polar explorer while maintaining her flamboyant lifestyle as a leading philanthropist and society woman. Yet, despite organizing, financing and directing seven daring Arctic expeditions to Greenland, Franz Josef Land, Jan Mayen Land and Svalbard between 1926 and 1955, she is virtually unknown today.

Joanna Kafarowski is an independent scholar and geographer. She is the author of “The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame” (Dundurn Press, 2017) as well as the upcoming “Antarctic Pioneer A Life of Jackie Ronne.” She received her doctorate in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies focusing on gender and natural resources in the Arctic. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Member of the Society of Woman Geographers Sciences Association.

Frozen Pasts 5 was originally scheduled for 15-18 September 2020, but was postponed to 7-10 September 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Frozen Pasts 5 will be held 7-10 September 2021 in Chico Hot Springs Resort in Pray, Montana.

These are unsettled times, but we are holding out hope for convening the 5th International Frozen Pasts Conference (FP5) on the human dimensions of glacial and ice patch environments at all latitudes and on all continents.

FP5 represents the continuing tradition of the conferences themed around glacial and ice patch archaeology begun in Bern in 2008. The schedule for the conference is described on the website.

Most events will be held at the Chico Hot Springs Resort (Pray, Montana), starting with a Tuesday evening Icebreaker. Exceptions include afternoon field trips on Wednesday and Thursday. At the end of the Thursday trip, a poster session will be held at the Mammoth Hotel, Wyoming. Poster presenters should bring their posters with them on the Thursday afternoon trip.

Important dates:

30 April 2021 - Abstracts due
30 June 2021 - Registration due

We are pleased to announce that the 77th Eastern Snow Conference will be held as a virtual meeting hosted by the University of Saskatchewan, on 9 June 2021. A revised meeting format will be used in support of the ongoing public health and safety efforts around the world. The single-day virtual meeting will focus on student-led research.

The scientific program is open to session on theoretical, experimental, remote sensing, modeling, and operational studies of snow, ice, and winter hydrology. We anticipate including sessions on a wide variety of snow and ice themes, including in situ observations of snow, remote sensing of snow and ice, and high latitude snow processes. The ESC has only plenary oral presentation sessions, allowing time to discuss the research of each participant. You are invited to submit an abstract for an oral presentation.

An abstract of ~300 words should be submitted by 30 April 2021 to the program chair, Dr. Krystopher Chutko.

Presented by CIPS, the Observatoire de la politique et la sécurité de l’Arctique (OPSA), and the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN).

The Arctic Council is the primary multilateral forum regrouping Arctic states and people and cooperating on social and environmental issues. Iceland is about to pass the chairmanship to Russia for a 2-year mandate. Russia has already announced major investments and possesses ambitious objective to develop its part of the Arctic. The chairmanship is presented as an excellent opportunity to play an active role in the region.

The objective of this conference is to shed light on the strategy and intentions of Russia in relation to its upcoming chairmanship of the Arctic Council. Additionally, panelists will analyse what other Arctic states (Canada, Nordic countries, United States) and people (Indigenous groups) have to expect from the Russian chairmanship and what are the policy debates that these states are likely to face in the next two years.

Please follow the link above for more information and to register.

Join a virtual panel of experts to discuss and share timely information regarding COVID-19 related protocols, guidance, and restrictions at local and regional levels across the Arctic. The panel discussion will be followed by break-out groups organized by region to discuss regional contexts, resources, and evolving situations.

Purpose of Meeting: To provide advice and recommendations to the National Science Foundation concerning support for polar research, education, infrastructure and logistics, and related activities.

Please follow the link above for more information and to learn how to register.

Agenda

April 29, 2021:

• Office of Polar Programs Updates
• COVID 19 Impacts
  Meeting with the NSF Director & Chief Operating Officer
• Updates on NSF GEO Activities

April 30, 2021:

• Advisory Committee Liaison Updates
• NSF Response to the Antarctic
• NSF Response to Arctic Sciences Committee of Visitors Report
• Discussion regarding the Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion

Organizers invite registration for their upcoming virtual forum, A Call for Bold Regional and Global Actions to Reduce Black Carbon Emissions Impacting the Arctic.

This virtual forum will present:

• Recent advances in knowledge on current and future scenarios,
• Black carbon emissions reduction strategies and identify areas where regional and global collaboration can be enhanced, and
• International discussion on where and to what degree bold actions can be undertaken to curb black carbon emissions impacting the Arctic region and other parts of the world.

Led by a group of expert organizations, the EU-funded Action on Black Carbon in the Arctic is contributing to the development of collective responses that reduce black carbon emissions affecting the Arctic by engaging with a broad group of regional and global stakeholders and countries to identify feasible ways of taking joint actions. This initiative has contributed to increased knowledge and guided the development of a roadmap on enhanced international cooperation for actions that can reduce emissions of black carbon.