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The Melnikov Permafrost Institute announces that the Third Forum for Young Permafrost Scientists will be held 24 June - 13 July 2013 in Yakutsk, Russia.

The forum will include the Geocryological Conference held in Yakutsk from 24-27 June 2013 and the Field Workshop in the southern Verkhoyansk Mountains from 29 June to 13 July 2013. Young researchers--including undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows--are invited to attend. Forum themes include:

• Regional and historical geocryology
• Thermal regime of cryolythozone
• Periglacial processes and forms
• Landscape dynamics in permafrost regions
• Permafrost geochemistry
• Permafrost hydrology and hydrogeology
• Climate change and permafrost evolution
• Greenhouse gases and gas hydrates
• Permafrost microbiology
• Remote sensing of permafrost
• Stability of engineering structures on permafrost

The conference registration page is now available online (http://mpi.ysn.ru/index.php/en/registration.html), and abstracts are being accepted (http://mpi.ysn.ru/index.php/en/call-for-abstracts.html).

Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) was established in 2003 to promote geosciences and its application for the benefit of humanity, specifically in Asia and Oceania and with an overarching approach to global issues.

Asia- Oceania region is particularly vulnerable to natural hazards, accounting for almost 80% human lives lost globally. AOGS is deeply involved in addressing hazard related issues through improving our understanding of the genesis of hazards through scientific, social and technical approaches.

AOGS holds annual conventions providing a unique opportunity of exchanging scientific knowledge and discussion to address important geo-scientific issues among academia, research institution and public.

Recognizing the need of global collaboration, AOGS has developed good co-operation with other international geo-science societies and unions such as the European Geosciences Union (EGU), American Geophysical Union (AGU), International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), Japan Geo-science Union (JpGU), and Science Council of Asia (SCA).

The 10th Annual Meeting (AOGS 2013) is an excellent platform for the interaction of the conference delegates with exhibitors wishing to take advantage of the meeting to raise their profile with the Geosciences community. The exhibition will be located in the same room as the conference posters to maximize its value both to delegates and to exhibitors.

This is your opportunity to reach out to more than 1500 researchers, consultants, students to:

• Gain exposure to the rapidly growing geosciences community and delegates from around the world
• Be amongst the market leaders and key players in the Asia and Oceania regions
• Share and publicize innovative ideas and research tracks, new methods and concepts relating to the study of geosciences
• Acquire new clients and connect with geoscientists from the regions
• Be up and close with authors and business counterparts in the global geosciences community

The inaugural Transantarctic Mountains Science Meeting will be held at the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis, MN. The purpose of the meeting is to allow for annual interaction amongst and within the varied group of established and young scientists of any background with interests in Transantarctic Mountains (TAM). The meeting is structured to facilitate:

• high profile invited synthesis talks,
• short three minute descriptions of recent results,
• determination of grand scientific challenges,
• only one concurrent oral session to facilitate interdisciplinary exchange,
• ample time for exchange of ideas and planning for future research and collaborations,
• planning of future campaigns and shared field sites.

The Polar Geospatial Center, located on campus of University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, is providing the local organizational support. The scientific program and overall lead will be provided by the planning committee: Chair - Jaakko Putkonen (University of North Dakota); members - Nick Golledge (University of Wellington, NZ), Erik Gulbranson (University of Wisconsin Milwaukee), Audrey Huerta (Central Washington University), Chui Lau (Princeton University), Melissa Nigro (University of Colorado, Boulder), and Eric Sokol (Virginia Polytechnic Institute).

Please register on the website. We can accommodate and support approximately 80 attendees. If you plan on attending and need support please sign up right away as the meeting may fill up quickly and the support will run out. All information including: FAQ, Shackleton campsite information, last year’s workshop summary, this year’s meeting agenda, etc. can be found at the following website http://tamcamp.org/.

For More Information Contact:
Jaakko Putkonen, Ph.D., Transantarctic Mountains Science Meeting Chair
Assistant Professor, Harold Hamm School of Geology and Geological Engineering
University of North Dakota
Grand Forks, ND 58202
Email: tamscience [at] und.edu
Tel: (701) -777- 3213
Fax: (701) -777- 4449

Graduate and undergraduate students and high aptitude high school seniors are invited to participate in the Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP) 2013 summer programs and expedition training in interdisciplinary arctic and mountain earth system science, which will be conducted 21 June to 16 August on the Juneau ice field located in Alaska and British Columbia and Yukon Territory, Canada.

The program offers earth system sciences education and field training to students and scientists through field research and classroom training including lectures on natural sciences such as glaciology, geology, climatology, meteorology, biology, and ecology. Students will participate in JIRP's long-running mass balance and surface elevation surveys. The program provides training in backcountry skiing, glacier travel, and crevasse rescue.

Participating students may earn academic credits through the University of Alaska Southeast.

Application deadline: 15 April 2013.

Contact: Jeffery Kavanaough
Email: jeff.kavanaugh [at] ualberta.ca
Phone: 780-492-1740

Airborne lidar measurements are in widespread use for mapping changes of ice sheets and glaciers. With developments in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and terrestrial lidar, and novel photon counting techniques for both airborne and satellite applications, lidar measurements will continue to be a key tool for ice sheet and glacier monitoring, and measurement of sea ice properties. The 2-day workshop is aimed to bring together specialists from major airborne lidar campaigns, such as NASA-IceBridge and the ESA-Cryosat validation programs, regional or national glacier mapping teams using research or commercial systems, and scientists and engineers developing novel laser technologies for airborne and space use, to exchange experience and presenting novel trends in lidar developments.

Scientists and engineers with interest in present and future application for mapping snow and ice are encouraged to come to the workshop and present their current research and development.

The workshop will be held at Reykholt, W-Iceland, June 20–21 (1½ day, Thursday, Friday, arrival in the afternoon on Wednesday 19 June will be most suitable for foreign participants). An optional excursion on snow scooters onto the nearby Langjökull ice cap is planned for the afternoon of June 21.

Deadline: April 15 – abstract, registration and lodging. To register, please send an e-mail to lidar2013 [at] vedur.is indicating whether you plan to give oral or poster presentation, whether you intend to participate in the excursion, and whether you arrive on June 19 or 20. A block booking of rooms has been made at the Reykholt hotel. Potential participants are encouraged to register early due to limited number of hotel rooms.

The workshop is sponsored by SVALI – Nordic Center of Excellence (Stability and Variability of Arctic Land Ice, www.ncoe-svali.org).

As always, we welcome presentations on all aspects of ice shelf research, including, but not limited to:

• Formation, flow and disintegration of ice shelves
• Response of ice shelves and tidewater glaciers to past, present and future climate variability
• Surface and basal mass balance of ice shelves
• Ice‐ocean interaction at the calving front of ice shelves and tidewater glaciers
• Mass transport across the grounding line
• Ocean circulation and water mass transformation beneath ice shelves and within pro‐glacial fjords
• Impact of ice shelves on the global ocean
• Processes controlling the delivery of ocean heat to glaciated coastlines
• Climate records from on or near current or former ice shelves

The deadline for registration is 20th May 2013. Although we would appreciate an early indication of your intentions to present work, you can submit abstracts up to 10th June 2013.

We look forward to welcoming you to mid-Wales in June. In the meantime, if there are any questions please email me (ajen [at] bas.ac.uk) or Penny Goodearl (peod [at] bas.ac.uk) or (preferably) both of us.

On May 10, 2013, the President signed the National Strategy for the Arctic Region. At that time - recognizing that successful implementation of the National Strategy will depend upon productive collegial engagement with Alaska Natives, the State of Alaska, Members of Alaska's congressional delegation, and other key stakeholders - the White House announced that it would host initial meetings in Alaska in June to discuss how best to move forward. Please join us for a roundtable moderated by Fran Ulmer, Chair of the US Arctic Research Commission.

Participants include:

• Nancy Sutley (Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality)
• Kathy Sullivan (Acting Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
• David Hayes (Deputy Secretary of the Interior)
• Tommy P. Beaudreau (Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)
• Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo (U.S. Coast Guard)
• Ambassador David Balton (Department of State)
• Tony Ceraolo (Director, Maritime Security & Director, Arctic Region Policy, National Security Staff)
• Brendan P. Kelly (Assist. Director, Polar Science, Office of Science & Technology Policy, EOP)

For further information, please contact: Brendan P. Kelly (bkelly [at] ostp.eop.gov, 202-456-6056) or Fran Ulmer (fran.ulmer [at] arctic.gov).

Organizers for the North Atlantic Forum 2013, entitled "Rural Tourism - Challenges in Changing Times: Community, Experience, Economy, and Environment," announce a call for papers. The conference will be held 13-15 June 2013 in Holar in Hjaltadalur, Iceland.

This conference will explore the challenges, practices of and the opportunities in smart and sustainable rural tourism. The program will address the rural tourism development challenges through four themes:

• Community
• Experience
• Economy
• The Environment

The conference will feature discussions, presentations, workshops, and tours, as well as plenty of informal and networking opportunities. Organizers invite papers from community practitioners, academics, consultants, government policy advisors, and others.

Abstract submission deadline: Tuesday, 15 January 2015.

The Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy (ACCAP) will host a webinar entitled "Responses of Marine Mammals to Environmental Changes in the Arctic" on Tuesday, 11 June 2013 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. AKDT. The webinar will be presented by Kathy Huntington, Alaska Veterinary Pathology Services (AVPS).

Climate variability and change pose several threats to marine mammals across the Arctic. Potential impacts include alterations in pathogen pathways, effects on body condition due to shifts in the food web, and changes in toxicant exposures. The lack of integrated long-term data on health, diseases, and toxicant effects in arctic marine mammals severely limits our ability to predict the effects of climate change on marine mammal health. During this presentation, the observed and anticipated impacts to marine mammals to environmental changes will be discussed, including the unusual mortality event that occurred in seals and walrus in northern Alaska in 2011. Data and information for understanding marine mammal health in the Arctic will also be discussed.

To register for the webinar, please fill out the form available at: http://ine.uaf.edu/accap//teleconference.htm#register.

For questions, please contact:
Tina Buxbaum
Phone: 907-474-7812
Email: tmbuxbaum [at] alaska.edu

There will be three Arctic Council workshops from 10th and 14th of June:

10-11 June (2 days) – 3rd Ecosystem Approach to Management workshop. The overall aim of this workshop is to discuss data management, availability, integration, and communications as essential to implement the ecosystem approach to management, taking into account outcomes of the Ministerial meeting and EA.

12-13 June (1 ½ day, ending at noon on the 13 June) – AMSA II(C)/AMSA II(D)-PSSA bridging workshop with the aim to assist in the scope of the AMSA II(D) project, The purpose of this workshop is to explore the sensitivity and ecological importance in more detail and with more resolution, in relation to potential threats and measures with regard to shipping.

13-14 June (1 ½ day starting at noon on the 13 June) – 1st Scoping workshop for the revision of the 2004 Arctic Marine Strategic Plan with the aim to get input from other Arctic Council working groups and stakeholders as relevant and based on the main outcomes and relevant documents deliverd to the 2013 Kiruna Ministerial meeting.