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The 16th Conference on Polar Meteorology and Oceanography, sponsored by the American Meteorological Society and organized by the AMS Polar Meteorology and Oceanography Committee, will be held 1-4 June, 2021. Due to continued uncertainty and restrictions on travel associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, this conference will take place entirely virtually.

Papers are solicited on all aspects of polar meteorology and oceanography, including but not limited to:
- Climate variability and change in the polar regions
- Rapid environmental change in the polar regions
- Interactions among polar atmosphere-ocean-land-ice components
- Atmospheric, ocean, land ice, or sea ice physical processes
- High latitude atmospheric and oceanic dynamics
- Weather and climate modelling in the polar regions
- Connections of the polar regions with the tropics and mid-latitudes

Please submit your abstract electronically via the AMS conference website by March 5th 2021 (see the website for instructions). Authors of accepted presentations will be notified via email by mid April 2021.

The conference program will be optimized for a virtual platform. Sessions will take place during the same set of standard work hours for the contiguous United States (e.g., 12pm-5pm Eastern time / 11am-4pm Central time / 10am-3pm Mountain time / 9am-2pm Pacific time). Live oral and poster sessions will not overlap.

Submissions by students, early-career scientists, and underrepresented groups will be prioritized, and limited funds in the form of registration fee waivers are available to support participation. Application instructions will be provided when abstract acceptance notifications are sent.

In a 30-minute presentation followed by a Q & A and discussion, Abigail Steffen and Stephen Arturo Greenlaw (Research Assistants, CAPS, UAF) with Dr. Amy Lauren Lovecraft (CAPS Director) and Maureen Biermann (CAPS Program Coordinator) will discuss the development of climate change policy in the State of Alaska and their forthcoming jointly-authored CAPS report on the topic, as well as range of local climate policy actions that have emerged within Alaska in recent years.

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

We are pleased to announce a virtual hosting of the 2020 meeting that had been scheduled to take place in September 2020 at the University of Edinburgh.

We welcome contributions from ALL areas of Antarctic and Antarctic-related research, and contributions are not limited to UK researchers!

The meeting will take place from Monday 22 - Thursday 25 March, 13:00-17:00 GMT each afternoon. We anticipate sessions of 3-4x 15-minute talks interspersed with regular breakout sessions to get everyone mixing. We will also host a virtual poster session or two in cyberspace.

As part of the meeting, we will also host a scoping session for future Antarctic science priorities hosted by the UK National Committee for Antarctic Research, and there will be some activities organised through the UK Polar Network. These will hopefully include an informal panel event where ECRs have the opportunity to socialise with and get career advice from experienced Antarctic researchers, as well as some short talks/workshops.

The deadline for abstract submission is Friday 5 March, 2021 and the deadline for registration is Monday 15 March, 2021.

Registration is free, but for setting up a secure list for the meeting you MUST register by the deadline.

In 2016, the National Science Foundation (NSF) unveiled a set of “Big Ideas,” 10 bold, long-term research and process ideas that identify areas for future investment at the frontiers of science and engineering. The Big Ideas represent unique opportunities to position our Nation at the cutting edge of global science and engineering leadership by bringing together diverse disciplinary perspectives to support convergence research. As such, even though proposals must be submitted to the Directorate for Geosciences when responding to this solicitation, once received, the proposals will be managed by a cross-Directorate team of NSF Program Directors.

Arctic temperatures are warming faster than nearly everywhere else on Earth, with some models projecting that continued warming could produce an ice-free Arctic Ocean in a few decades. The rapid and wide-scale changes occurring in response to this warming portend new opportunities and unprecedented risks to natural environments; social and cultural systems; economic, political and legal systems; and built environments of the Arctic and across the globe. Gaps in scientific observations and the prevalence of interdependent social, natural, and built systems in the Arctic make it challenging to predict the region's future. Understanding and adapting to a changing Arctic requires creative new directions for Arctic-related research, education, workforce development, and leveraging of science, engineering, and technology advances from outside the Arctic.

Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) embodies an important forward-looking response by the Foundation to these profound challenges. NNA seeks innovations in fundamental convergence research across the social, natural, environmental, computing and information sciences, and engineering that address the interactions or connections among natural and built environments and social systems, and how these connections inform our understanding of Arctic change and its local and global effects.

This solicitation requests proposals that fall within one of three tracks: NNA Planning Grants, dedicated to developing convergence research questions and teams to tackle projects of larger scope in the future; NNA Research Grants, aimed to support creative projects on fundamental research that address convergent scientific and engineering challenges related to the rapidly changing Arctic; and NNA Collaboratory Grants, designed to support collaborative teams undertaking research and training initiatives on critical themes of a broad scope related to the New Arctic. This solicitation is the third of what is envisioned to be at least a five-year agency-wide program to support the research and dissemination of new knowledge needed to inform the economy, security, and resilience of the Nation, the larger Arctic region, and the globe with respect to Arctic change.

The Permafrost Carbon Feedback (PCF) Intervention Roadmap Dialogues, hosted by the PCF Action Group, is a four-part Series, and we very much look forward to having you participate.

• March 4: Opening Dialogue: Why Permafrost Carbon Matters
• March 11: Dialogue 2: Avoiding Permafrost Thaw: Managing Temperature
• March 18: Dialogue 3: Managing Emissions from Permafrost Thaw
• March 25: Dialogue 4: Permafrost Carbon Feedback: Priorities for Research, Policy and Investment

Please register for as many sessions as you’d like to attend, using the link above.

International Glaciological Society Global Seminar:

Speaking:

Lavanya Ashokkumar, University of Arizona, "Modelled Estimates of Mass Loss Rates From Arctic Glaciers"

Jullian Williams, U Texas, San Antonio, "Sea Ice Lead Detection in the Arctic"

Anna Bergstrom, Boise State University, "'The Role of Sediment in Hydrological and Biogeochemical Connectivity Between Glaciers and Downstream Ecosystems of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica"

Please register in advance for the seminars. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the seminar.

The seminar will also be available afterwards on the Friends of the International Glaciological Society Facebook page so that you can watch it there if technology fails or you can't make it.

Join a listening session to share your story, experiences or data and hear from others in the region. These two-hour listening sessions will start with four short presentations from people who live and work in the region with time for questions. Then small group discussions to hear from participants on what they have or are experiencing in terms of unusual dryness in the region and how they have prepared for future drought.

Please follow the link above to register.

The UAF Geophysical Institute presents the virtual 2021 Science for Alaska Lecture Series. Tune in at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays to learn about exciting science from measuring the aurora, monitoring whale populations with unmanned aircraft, and participating in the largest Arctic expedition in history. RSVP to watch on Zoom or watch live from the UAF or GI Facebook pages.

The North Atlantic right whale is a critically endangered species with only some 400 individuals left in the wild. A dwindling food supply has forced these whales further north, where collisions with cargo vessels in busy shipping lanes has been a major cause of mortality. In this talk, members of the ACUASI team will discuss how unmanned aircraft normally deployed for geophysical studies are being used to monitor whales in the North Atlantic and how that information is used to protect their populations. Three seasons of this mission has taught many lessons and helped to mature the state of unmanned aviation in North America. Plans are underway for a fourth season of flying to “save the whales.”

Talks are free and for the public. All ages are encouraged to attend. This is the fifth in a series of six free, public lectures for the virtual 2021 Science for Alaska Lecture Series.

*The International Symposium on Plastics in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region (originally scheduled to be held 28-30 September) has been rescheduled to take place online on 2-4 March and 8-9 March 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The Government of Iceland in collaboration with the Nordic Council of Ministers is hosting an International Symposium on Plastics in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region in April 2020 in connection with the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Arctic Council.

Iceland holds the Chairmanship of the Arctic Council from May 2019 to May 2021 and intends during this period to promote discussion on ways and means that may reduce the impact of plastics in the Arctic Marine Environment.

The International Symposium will focus on scientific knowledge of the problem and the best practices to deal with the huge challenge. In this way the symposium is expected to build a foundation of science and deliver information and advice for decision makers.

Main Themes:

• Sources and transport of plastics in the Arctic and sub-Arctic: Shipping, tourism, fishing, and terrestrial sources
• Arctic challenges in waste management strategies
• Methodology for studies on macro-, micro- and nano-plastics
• Monitoring of the Arctic: Setting a baseline for Arctic plastics
• Impact of plastic pollution in the Arctic. Ecotoxicology, toxicology, and socioeconomics
• NordMar Plastic project on international standardization: NordMar Plastic is one of the projects run by the Icelandic chairmanship program in the Nordic Council of Ministers
• Solving the plastic challenge: Best mitigation practices from around the world (ocean-based and land-based)
• Developing a regional action plan for the Arctic. Better strategies in monitoring for the future. Taking
  coordinated actions and developing joint initiatives for different industries

The next Polar readings (2021) will be devoted to the issues of artistic and philosophical understanding of the Arctic and Antarctic, identifying and forming the meanings that characterize and shape our understanding of the Polar regions.

Specialists, researchers of the Arctic and Antarctic from research institutes, archives, museums, libraries, representatives of state and public organizations are invited to participate in the conference.

In this regard, on May 18-19, 2021 on the eve of Russian Polar Explorer’s Day (May 21) in St. Petersburg on the basis of the Arctic and Antarctic research Institute will be held the next “Polar readings”.

The deadline for submitting applications for participation and abstracts (up to 500 words) is until March 1, 2021.