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Please join fellow geographers, GIS specialists, environmental scientists, and other leaders for the latest in research and applications in geography, sustainability, and GIScience at the 2014 Annual Meeting of Association of American Geographers (AAG). The meeting will be held from April 8 to April 12, 2014, and will feature over 5,000 presentations, posters, workshops, and field trips by leading scholars, experts, and researchers.

Many sessions will be organized around special, featured themes including:

• Geographies of Climate Change;
• GIScience, GIS and Policy;
• Racism and Violence;
• Scale and Sustainability; and
• The American South.

Further information on registration, call for papers, and the program, please visit the conference website.

The APECS Workshop "Connecting Early Career Researchers and Community-Driven Research in the North" is part of the APECS Nordic Project "Bridging Polar Early Career Researchers and Indigenous Peoples in Nordic Countries" funded in part by the Nordic Council of Ministers (Norden). The workshop will bring together key stakeholders including mentors and experts and Early Career Researchers and Indigenous peoples, youth and local expert representatives among indigenous peoples, senior scientists, key representatives of international organizations and other media. Please visit the workshop website for a draft agenda and more information! Results from the workshop will be summarized and compiled into a report and translated into Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, Sami and Danish and made available on the APESC Nordic webpage. Workshop participants are also encourage to attend parts of the Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 2014 and the Arctic Observing Summit.
Speakers include: Gail Fondahl, PhD from UNBC , Canada, Arja Rautio, MD PhD from uni Oulu, Finland, Heidi Eriksen MD PhD, Utsjoki Health Centre, Finland, Anna Afanasyeva, Indigenous Peoples Adviser, International Barents Secretariat, Norway, and many more to be confirmed over the coming weeks.

We are pleased to announce that on 7th – 11th April 2014 the Centre for Ice and Climate (University of Copenhagen) will be hosting a workshop on subglacial processes, focusing on the role of sediment and water.

The workshop is aimed at PhD students, Masters students and early career scientists. During the week we will cover topics in both observations and modelling through a series of featured talks, hands on exercises and discussion sessions. Confirmed speakers include Doug Benn, (UNIS/St. Andrews) and Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, (Centre for Ice and Climate, University of Copenhagen). A full programme along with further details will be announced within the next few weeks. We hope that the workshop will provide a base for exciting discussions and lots of networking between the participants.

There is no registration fee, but participants are expected to pay for their own travel and accommodation.

All participants are encouraged to present their own work (either as a poster or a short oral presentation) and will be rewarded 2 ECTS points for participation.

The workshop is supported by the Centre for Ice and Climate and the Niels Bohr Institute (University of Copenhagen), Aarhus University and the SVALI project (Stability and Variations of Arctic Land, Nordic Centre of Excellence).

If you are interested in participating or would like more information please contact Alexandra Messerli (messerli [at] nbi.ku.dk) or Nanna B. Karlsson (nbkarlsson [at] nbi.dk). The deadline for signing up for the course is the 15th of March.

The Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) is the annual gathering of international organizations engaged in supporting and facilitating Arctic research. Its purpose is to provide opportunities for international coordination, collaboration and cooperation in all fields of Arctic science and to combine science and management meetings.

The ASSW and AOS meetings are arranged during April 5-8 and April 9-11 in Helsinki. The conferences will be arranged in the facilities of the University of Helsinki and the Finnish Meteorological Institute located on the science campus Kumpula.

The ASSW 2014 will include business meetings of the parti- cipating organizations on 5-8 April and the 2nd Arctic Observing Summit (AOS) on 9-11 April. The Common Day in the middle of the week will be devoted to the opening of the 3rd International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP III).

Overall, the ASSW 2014 will address the common concern regarding the Arctic environ- ment under the pressure of climate change and global economic demands for natural re- sources and seek feasible strategies for advanced Arctic Observing Systems to conduct systematic, reliable and cost-effective monitoring of long-term trends and rapid changes.

This workshop is dedicated to both snow hydrologists and researchers dealing with avalanche formation, as well as scientists from the remote sensing and glaciology communities aiming at retrieving snow water equivalents. The workshop will last 2 full days and is organized by SLF Davos and IUP Heidelberg. We expect the number of attendees to be rather small (30-50 people) so that there will be ample room for exchange and discussions. The goal is to gather specialists from renowned research institutions worldwide. The first day will be dedicated to measuring techniques whereas on the second the focus will be on modeling approaches. We plan to open both workshop days with a keynote lecture.

Furthermore, we plan to organize an optional field trip to our field test site at Weissfluhjoch the day after the workshop with the aim of providing hands-on field experience on the different measurements techniques.

Aims and scope of the workshop include:

• Compare different measurement techniques and their accuracy
• Learn more on current assumptions to model liquid water transport and storage in snow
• Gather ideas to obtain good validation and verification data

If you want to participate, please send an e-mail to: mitterer(at)slf.ch no later than 15 January 2014. In case you want to present your work, please submit an abstract to: mitterer(at)slf.ch no later than 15 January 2014.

The workshop will be organized as informal meeting; conference fees will be kept low (<US $100).

The Sea Ice Prediction Workshop will be held at National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) on 1-2 April 2014 in Boulder, Colorado.

The workshop goal is to plan for the 2014 SEARCH Sea Ice Outlook (SIO) and to advance the science of sea ice prediction by coordinating experiments, defining and developing data sets for initialization and validation, creating new and better metrics for evaluation, and discussing stakeholder needs.

Anticipated participants include SIO contributors, data experts, sea ice experts, experts on prediction from other fields, and U.S. agency program managers.

Workshop space is limited. Organizers ask those interested in attending to send a brief (about 100 words) statement of interest and summary of work related to sea ice prediction to Cecilia Bitz (bitz [at] uw.edu).

The workshop is funded, in part, by the Department of Energy. There will be no registration fee. Participants will be asked for a small donation for refreshments. Limited funding is available for travel support. If attendance is contingent on receiving travel support, please explain travel needs and note if PhD has been received within five years.

For further information, please visit the website.

The Arctic black carbon mitigation initiative grew out of a series of workshops in 2007-8 that were organized by two NGOs, the Clean Air Task Force and the Climate Policy Center, and eventually the international Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP). In 2009 the U.S. Department of State committed $5M toward international cooperation aimed at reducing black carbon emissions in and around the Arctic http://cop15.state.gov/pressroom/133771.html. On the U.S. side, this effort is currently being carried by EPA, DOE and USDA, with a focus on developing emission inventories, mitigation strategies and policies for minimizing black carbon fossil fuel and biomass burning impacts. The U.S. emphasis is on partnerships with the Russian Federation . U.S. mitigation efforts are motivated by concern that the amount of absorbing aerosol deposited on high-latitude snow and ice surfaces is significant, and has measurable impacts on Arctic climate. Russian Federation concerns with black carbon are more centered on human health issues. The mitigation efforts have 3 focus areas : transportation, residential/industrial pollution and biomass burning.

Speakers include:

• Andrew Eil (U.S. State Department): The Arctic Black Carbon Initiative in the Context of International Climate and Arctic Diplomacy

• Elke Hodson, Joe Cresko (U.S. Department of Energy), MD Cheng, John Storey, Vitaly Prikhodko, Mary Eibl (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Joshua Fu, Kan Huang (University of Tennessee, Knoxville): DOE's black carbon initiative in the Arctic - Potential Russian Sources, Russian BC Emissions Inventory, and Assessment of Emissions Reduction Strategies for the Murmansk Region

• Teresa Kuklinski (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), Meredydd Evans (Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratory): EPA's black carbon diesel initiative in the Russian Arctic – overview and focus on the Murmansk Emissions Inventory

• Brad Kinder and Wei Min Hao (U.S. Forest Service): Fires and Arctic Black Carbon in Russia: Emissions Inventory, Transport, and Mitigation Options

For more information on how to join the webinar, please visit the link above.

In the final thematic webinar, issues regarding the interaction between individual observing activities and regional-to-global scientific organizations will be discussed. Questions will revolve around the development and adoption of international standards and best practices for making science relevant to international bodies.The webinar will be available through Webex (details available at www.arctichub.net).

Background: On October 31, 2013, a kick-off webinar was held by the National Science Foundation to introduce 35 questions grouped in 8 thematic areas which address best practices for long-term observing management and governance. Over the next 20 weeks, 9 webinars will be held to further delve into each of the 8 themes: (1) Definition, (2) Life cycle and horizons, (3) Review: frequency, criteria, and process, (4) Network relevance, (5) Funding models, (6) Award structure and management, (7) Information sharing and communication, and (8) National and global connectivity. The ninth webinar will be a wrap-up discussion and assessment of current exchanges on these 8 themes. For a list of the 35 questions within these 8 thematic areas, please visit www.arctichub.net and click on the "Long Term Observing Management Discussion Group" link on the home page and then click Discussion on the left-hand side of the group page.

The webinars will introduce the themes and questions in detail, but the discussion continues beyond the webinar timeframe. Interested persons who would like to lead discussions on one or more of the 35 questions are encouraged to apply for discussion funding support through an online application at: http://www.arcus.org/search/aon/discussion-funding-form. Funding details and eligibility are on the form webpage. The discussion content provided through this activity will inform best practices and lessons learned in long-term observing from the viewpoint of the wide range of actors involved in natural and social observing, its management, support, and development.

Last week, APECS Canada launched their Science & Policy webinar series in honour of Polar Week. The bridge between science and policy is a growing focus in our society. Early career researchers are often asked to frame their science in a policy-relevant format but are not equipped with the knowledge or tools they need to effectively accomplish this. This webinar series aims to ignite conversation about this important subject.

Our second webinar will focus on defining the science/ policy interface and outline the role of science in developing ecosystem-based Arctic policies. Northern communities are in a state of flux facing multiple political and environmental pressures that lead to a complex policy landscape. Historically science has played a key role in Arctic policy and decision making. Trans-boundary scientific research and collaborations have been on the main agenda of the Arctic Council, an international ‘soft- power’ governance body. International science has had a decision-shaping influence at the Arctic Council, which uses its scientific knowledge to inform its policy-frameworks. These international policy frameworks set the stage for decision-making at national and regional levels. However, policies in northern Canada face added regional pressures from development, climate change, devolution, and land claims agreements. It is important to recognize that Canada’s northern communities demand new perspectives in policy that take a community-centered approach based on science that is relevant and accessible. In this webinar our speakers will outline some important science policy documents that will help young scientists understand how to conceptualize the relevance of their science to regional, national, and international policy priorities.

Speakers:

• Marc-André Dubois coordinates the WWF Global Arctic Programme’s engagement with the Arctic Council and other international organisations. He has a background in political science with degrees from Université de Montréal and the Institut d`Études Politiques de Lille. His current research interests lie in the field of circumpolar international governance and the interface of science and policy.

• Bob Van Dijken has lived in Canada’s north for the last 33 years and is currently working for the Council of Yukon First Nations as Director of Circumpolar Relations. Bob has a BSc in Physical Geography and has spent many years working in environmental consulting, science communication and bridging the science and policy divide.

Following the end of easy oil and gas, operators are now looking to many of the world’s frontier regions for exploration and production. As a result, the Arctic region has seen rapidly intensifying levels of petroleum resource development over the past few decades. Exploration and production now dominates the Arctic agenda. It is clear that the Arctic is a place characterised by extreme operating conditions, where remoteness, ice presence, prolonged darkness and political regulation pose just some of the threats to efficient operation. Arctic participants are keen to hear critical insights in how to overcome these challenges in such territories and what is necessary in order to drive value creation in the region. This exclusive marcus evans forum will look beyond simply identifying the challenges facing exploration and production in the region, instead offering an insight into what market players are doing to overcome these issues. We will be discussing how to benchmark practices that are crucial in boosting geological understanding, winning licensing rounds, optimising operations and driving collaborative practice. The focus will be on equipping industry leaders with practical insights on how to effectively tap into the proven resources that exist within this region.