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There is growing realization of the strong interactions between degradation of near-surface permafrost on the dynamics of ecosystems, and that these interactions together influence local and global environmental, economic, and social systems.

Degradation of near-surface permafrost (perennially frozen ground) caused by modern climate change is adversely affecting human infrastructure, altering Arctic ecosystem structure and function, changing the surface energy balance, and has the potential to dramatically impact Arctic hydrological processes and increase greenhouse gas emissions.

The Study of Environmental Change (SEARCH) (https://www.arcus.org/search-program) Permafrost Action Team is developing new knowledge about permafrost change impacts on the ecosystem services critical to local residents of the permafrost zone through research synthesis. This framework of synthesis builds on activities of the Permafrost Carbon Network (PCN) (www.permafrostcarbon.org), an international scientific effort that links biological carbon cycle research with networks in the physical sciences focused on the thermal state of permafrost.

This presentation will discuss the use of synthesis science by both the SEARCH Permafrost Action Team and Permafrost Carbon Network to identify and understand the widespread implications of changing permafrost at both regional and global scales.

For more information and to learn about the speaker, please visit the link above.

This event is a brown-bag lunch. Cookies and beverages will be provided. A live webinar is also available to those unable to attend in person. Instructions for accessing the webinar will be sent to 'Webinar Only' registrants prior to the event.

This event is being conducted in partnership with The Arctic Institute.

Presenter:
David Verbyla, Professor of GIS/Remote Sensing at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Co-PI NASA Above Projects

Description:
Alaska has warmed substantially in the past few decades and vegetation has responded to this warming. In this webinar, Dave will outline how remote sensing scientists have explored the connections between our warming climate and vegetation responses and trends in Alaska arctic and boreal landscapes.

Follow the link above to join the meeting.

Audio Conference Number(s):
Toll-free line: 1-844-467-6272
Passcode is 138924#

We’re asking all participants to join the audio by this toll-free conference line, to avoid difficulties with voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) transmissions.

The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) announces a call for abstracts for an online conference titled "Polar Science: Through New Eyes." The conference will be held online on 18 May 2016.

This conference will encourage scientific dialogues between early career scientists from multiple disciplines and backgrounds, with presentations on new research perspectives from a range of research fields. With increased attention on the changing polar environment and the future challenges this will bring, this conference aims to convey the broad range of new research currently being conducted internationally.

Early career researchers are well placed to present new developments in their own fields through “new eyes,” while the conference provides an opportunity for those in the audience to gain exposure to a range of new techniques, methods, questions and themes. All polar researchers are invited to share their current research findings, but APECS particularly encourages the submission of abstracts by early career scientists, so they can gain invaluable experience presenting their research projects to the public. There will be a $300 prize given for best presentation at this conference which has been donated by APECS.

Sessions will be organized under the following themes:

• Biological – marine/freshwater/terrestrial;
• Geological/Environmental/terrestrial cryospheric environments;
• Atmospherics/Climatology Oceanography/Sea-ice; and
• Cultural/Historical/Policy/Education.

Abstract Submission Deadline: 25 April 2016.

To submit and abstract, go to:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1rp9VegWQvHjfhLu48V4olKL_af19zAKajwUJgN…

For questions, please contact:
Rachel Downey
Email: rachel.v.downey [at] gmail.com

The University of the Arctic Thematic Network on Permafrost and Natural Hazard announce a call for applications for an International Permafrost/Natural Hazard Summer Field School in Yakutia, Russia on 1-20 August 2016. Senior bachelor and graduate students who are interested in obtaining and overall knowledge about permafrost are encouraged to apply.

The course will offer insights into:

• Permafrost history and its distribution globally.
• Permafrost related natural hazards and hydrological problems.
• Permafrost temperatures in various parts of the World climatic and other controls.
• Methods of permafrost observations, focusing on drilling, coring and instrumentation.
• Permafrost databases and their use in permafrost analyses.
• How does permafrost affect local community infrastructure and cultural life?
• Interaction between carbon and water in permafrost landscapes.
• How sensitive are permafrost landforms towards climate change?

Interested students should send a Curriculum Vitae and short motivation letter (less than 1 page) to the field school organizers (uarcticpermafrost [at] gmail.com).

Application Deadline: 25 April 2016.

For questions, please contact:
Kenji Yoshikawa
kyoshikawa [at] alaska.edu

The changing state of the Arctic Ocean is opening up the region to new interests and added stressors, creating new challenges for marine resource management in the Arctic. Building on a January 2015 conference on Arctic governance that was convened in collaboration with the UCI Newkirk Center; representatives from consulates of Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Finland; and U.S. government officials, this roundtable will bring together national and international Arctic experts to discuss existing and emerging issues in Arctic marine governance. Topics include the implementation of the Arctic Council Initiatives, including the recently signed declaration to prevent unregulated fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean, and developing a framework within UNCLOS for promoting ecosystem-based management. Additional topics include an assessment of future needs for a regional seas program or other mechanism, as appropriate, for increased cooperation in Arctic marine areas. Accompanied by an open public lecture on the Arctic and its environmental governance.

Public Events:

Lunch Session: Why the Arctic Matters, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. RSVP required. Presented by Honorable Fran Ulmer, Chair, U.S. Arctic Research Commission (USARC)

The Arctic is changing rapidly, more so than many other regions of the Earth. Ms. Ulmer describes what is happening, from climate to cultural changes. She offers a professional perspective and one that benefits from her considerable experience living in and creating policy for Alaska. She looks to the future of this wonderful but vulnerable place. Ms. Ulmer has served on the U.S. Arctic Research Commission since being appointed by President Obama in March 2011. She was Chancellor of Alaska’s largest public university, the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). She is a member of the Global Board of the Nature Conservancy and chair of the Board of the National Parks Conservation Association. Ms. Ulmer served as an elected official for 18 years as the mayor of Juneau, as a state representative and as Lieutenant Governor of Alaska. In June 2010, President Obama appointed her to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. For more than 10 years, she served as one of the U.S. Commissioners on the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission, appointed by President Bill Clinton.

Optional Panel Discussion to follow: The Arctic Environment: Climate Change and Much More, 1:00 p.m

Symposium Co-Sponsors and Partners:

• UC Irvine School of Law Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources
• Newkirk Center for Science and Society
• Norwegian Consulate General, San Francisco

To request reasonable accommodations for a disability, please contact Crissandra Flores at events [at] law.uci.edu or (949) 824-0941

Rain on snow (ROS) events are fairly rare in Alaska but have broad impacts ranging from economic losses to hazardous driving conditions to difficult caribou foraging due to ice formation on the snow. While rare, these events have recently increased in frequency in Alaska and may continue to increase under the projected warming climate. Dynamically downscaled data are now available for Alaska based on historical reanalysis for 1979-2013, while CMIP5 historical and future scenario downscaling are in progress. These new data offer a detailed, gridded product of rain and snowfall not previously possible in the spatially and temporally coarser reanalysis and GCM output currently available. Preliminary analysis shows that the dynamical downscaled data can identify extreme ROS events in Interior Alaska. The ROS events in the dynamically downscaled data are analyzed against observations and the ERA-Interim reanalysis data used to force the historical downscaling simulations. Additionally, the synoptic atmospheric circulations conditions that correspond to major ROS events in various regions of Alaska are analyzed. Such analysis is beneficial for operational forecasters with the National Weather Service and for diagnosing the mechanisms of change in future climate projections.

Join us:

• In Anchorage: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Regional Office, 1011 E. Tudor Rd, Office of Subsistence Management Conf Room (2nd floor)​
• In Fairbanks : U.S. Federal Building, rm 110 (Library)
• Online: Join WebEx meeting
  Meeting number: 749 553 334
  Meeting password: AKlcc2016!
• Call-in toll-free: 1-866-730-5871; access code 111 111 (US)

We are pleased to announce that Korea Polar Research Institute will hold the 22nd International Symposium on Polar Sciences in Incheon, the Republic of Korea on May 10-11, 2016 and that registration for the symposium has opened.

The 2016 International Symposium on Polar Sciences is organized in an effort to understand the accelerating changes in the Arctic and to reflect on how to prepare for their anticipated impacts, and thus is entitled “The Future of the Arctic: Science and Governance”. We cordially invite our colleagues to share and discuss the current scientific achievements and law and policy based efforts which will help guide future research and observations of the rapidly changing Arctic.

Abstract Submission:
Please submit the abstract at the symposium website no later than March 25th, 2016.

Registration:
Please register at the symposium website no later than April 22nd, 2016.

FOR POLAR EARLY CAREER SCIENTISTS:
KOPRI wished encourage the participation of early career scientists at this symposium. Awards will be presented to the outstanding contributions by young scientists.

APECS invites you to register for the Science Communication Webinar with Kristin Timm "Meeting your Outreach Goals with Strategic Science Communication".

Kristin Timm is the Science Communications Lead at the Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning (SNAP) at the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and she will share her experience on this key topic with the audience.

The National Science Foundation has made a 5-year, $5.9 million award to a national partnership, led by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at the University of California Santa Barbara, to develop and curate the NSF Arctic Data Center, a new archive for Arctic scientific data as well as other related research documents. The Arctic Data Center will be assuming operations for ACADIS, and there is a detailed transition plan in place to ensure that data and metadata move over smoothly, and that community support is seamless.

This webinar will provide you with an opportunity to get more information about the NSF Arctic Data Center and will allow us to get valuable feedback and additional insights into the needs of the Arctic research community.

Webinar Registration: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/298363848712450305

Sue Wotkyns, of ITEP, with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium will offer a 3-day course on climate change planning for tribes in Anchorage, April 19-21, 2016.

The course provides an introduction to planning for climate change impacts, with examples of tribes that have been going through the adaptation planning process. The course is intended for tribal environmental and natural resource professionals.