Empowering Arctic Indigenous Scholars and Making Connections – Call for Applicants
ARCUS and the Inuit Circumpolar Council Alaska invite applications from and/or nominations of Arctic Indigenous scholars to travel to Washington D.C. and meet with officials at U.S. government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other groups. Four selected scholars will be able to share their interests via a seminar and meetings, learn of available resources, build toward collaborative relationships, and provide on-the-ground perspectives to key decision-makers. For the purposes of this opportunity, scholars are defined as an expert within their own knowledge system. This includes hunters, fishers, and gatherers; those that process and store food; health aides; and others. It includes youth, elders, and adults. Education may come from the land, the water, or a classroom. To apply for the 2019 opportunity, or to nominate a scholar, please visit our webpage for instructions. Applications are due by 5:00pm AKST, Thursday, 10 January 2019. Letters of nomination are due by Friday, 28 December 2018.
ARCUS Annual Meeting & Arctic Research Community Reception
Please join us Wednesday, 12 December from 6:00-7:00pm EST for the 2018 ARCUS Annual Meeting at the Cambria Hotel (899 O St NW, Rooms: Duke Ellington 1 & 2) in Washington, D.C. The meeting will focus on ARCUS member priorities for Arctic research, education, and outreach and is open to anyone interested in Arctic research. All attendees are also invited to join us for a special Arctic Research Community Reception taking place in the same location from 7:00-8:30pm EST. An ARCUS member affiliation is not required to attend and there is no cost to participate. However, advance registration is encouraged for both events.
SEARCH Town Hall at AGU Fall Meeting
The Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) will be hosting a town hall event on Friday, 14 December from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. EST at the Marriott Marquis, Independence D in Washington D.C. in conjunction with the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting.
Recognizing that unprecedented environmental change challenges the pace of research, the SEARCH Town Hall will explore with interested scientists where the program has provided benefit and—more importantly—where it could do so in the future. After a brief overview of SEARCH’s recent efforts (focused on sea ice, land ice, and permafrost), contributing members of SEARCH will lead a discussion considering: How can the Arctic research community best advance actionable and discovery science? What could or should a multi-disciplinary effort accomplish that otherwise would not get done? How might our community use the upcoming (September 2019) Arctic Futures 2050 conference to advance science and serve pressing policy needs?
For questions, contact:
Brendan Kelly
Email: bpkelly [at] alaska.edu
Phone: 907-209-6531
NSF Arctic Sciences Section Town Hall at the AGU Fall Meeting
The Arctic Sciences Section of the Office of Polar Programs (OPP) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) will be hosting a Town Hall during the American Geophysical Union 2018 Fall Meeting. The Town Hall will convene 11:00am - 12:00pm EST on Monday, 10 December 2018 at the Cambria Hotel Washington D.C. Convention Center hotel, Duke Ellington Room 1 in Washington D.C.
During this Town Hall, Program Directors from NSF’s OPP Arctic Sciences Section will provide an overview of recent and upcoming news of interest to the research community.
Topics will likely include:
- Staffing changes in the Arctic Section and introduction of new program officers,
- Recent program activities and updates from Research Support and Logistics
- Upcoming opportunities at NSF of interest to Arctic researchers, and
- An overview of proposal review without deadlines.
Organizers anticipate giving a brief presentation, with the majority of the time devoted to questions and discussion.
For questions, contact:
Cynthia Suchman
Email: csuchman [at] nsf.gov
Witness Community Highlights
The November 2018 issue of Witness Community Highlights is now available online. This issue includes three articles: "A New Season for Sea Ice and Walrus" provides news of the Sea Ice for Walrus program's investigation of how low Arctic ice conditions affect walrus migration; "Co-Production of Knowledge and Multi-Level Governmental Collaboration in A Rapidly Changing Arctic" discusses efforts to address the impact that rapid climate change has on Alaska Native communities; and "Unique Fellowship Program Promotes Community Interaction" illustrates the unique way that Sitka Sound Science Center's Scientist in Residency Fellowship program facilitates community engagement activities for polar scientists.
ARCUS at the AGU Fall Meeting
We are gearing up for a busy week at the upcoming AGU Fall Meeting in Washington, D.C.! ARCUS staff and board members hope to see many of our colleagues and friends—and meet new ones—at the ARCUS-related events at AGU this year, including an Arctic Funders “Meet and Greet”; the ARCUS Annual Meeting; our open Arctic Community Reception; several sessions, talks, and posters; and hosting the Community Meeting Room.
Witness Community Highlights
The October 2018 issue of Witness Community Highlights is now available online. This issue includes two articles: “ICESat-2 Launches to Measure Earth's Ice” provides news from NASA about the satellite launch and its capabilities; and “2018 Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Extent Reached in Late September,” which includes highlights from the 2018 Sea Ice Outlook Interim Post-Season Report, published on 11 October.
A Call to Action: Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks
SEARCH partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Alaska Fairbanks' International Arctic Research Center and the Department of Theatre and Film to produce a video call for action featured at the Second Arctic Science Ministerial held in Berlin in October 2018. The video featured hunters and community leaders from St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea and SEARCH scientists making the case for Arctic nations to "Coordinate and Sustain Observations." The video highlighted the urgent need for sustained, long-term observations that include indigenous knowledge, community-based observations, and citizen science.
The increasing rate of Arctic change: how should the research community keep up? - Session II
The Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) is engaging past, present, and future members of its community in a broad conversation about how SEARCH might advance synthesis and engagement in the coming decades? What coordination of research and communication is needed?
Date: 15 November 2018
Time: 10:00 am (AK) / 11:00 am (PT) / 12:00 pm (MT) / 1:00 pm (CT) / 2:00 pm (ET)
Format: video conference (Zoom)
Interested in participating? Register here
SEARCH Background:
Recent Activities and Questions
Vision and Mission
Organization
Products:
Arctic Answers - science for policy briefs
Arctic Futures 2050 conference
Other products
For more information: Brendan Kelly, SEARCH Executive Director (bpkelly [at] alaska.edu)
ARCUS Board of Directors
The Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) announces a call for nominations for our 2018 Board of Directors election. There are a possible four seats up for election in a vote of the ARCUS membership expected to take place in December 2018.
We seek nominations of candidates with enthusiasm and time to dedicate to ARCUS, who are willing and able to help ARCUS fulfill its vision and mission and achieve its strategic goals. We particularly invite nominations of individuals with experience in and connections to industry, foundations, or Arctic Indigenous groups. Nominations are due Monday, 12 November 2018.
Arctic Research Seminar Series with Karin Buhmann
ARCUS invites registration for our next Arctic Research Seminar featuring Karin Buhmann (Copenhagen Business School). This seminar, titled Responsible Investments in Arctic Mining: Implications of Chinese Policies, will be held Tuesday, 30 October 2018 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. EDT in the ARCUS D.C. office at 1201 New York Avenue, NW Washington D.C. A live webinar is also available to those unable to attend in person.
SEARCH at AGU Fall Meeting
The Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) program will be active at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, to be held 10-14 December 2018 in Washington, D.C.. Please join us for the SEARCH Town Hall "Where Does Arctic Research and SEARCH Go Next?" on Friday, 14 December 12:30-1:30pm. We also invite you to connect with SEARCH affiliates at one or more of the many sessions, presentations, and side-events we have planned.
Sea Ice Outlook Interim Report
The Interim Post-Season Report for 2018 Sea Ice Outlook (SIO) is now available online. The goal of the SIO is to improve sea ice prediction on seasonal time-scales. This interim report is intended as a quick post-season update that summarizes how the outlooks did in comparison to the observed minimum extent. The September monthly averaged sea ice extent was 4.71 million square kilometers, based on the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) Sea Ice Index. The median extent of the 39 Outlook contributions for June, July, and August were 4.60, 4.70, and 4.57 million square kilometers, respectively. A full post-season report in January 2019 will include an in-depth analysis of factors impacting sea ice this season; further discussion about the outlooks; comments on regional observations, predicted spatial fields, Antarctic contributions; and a summary from the Sea Ice Drift Forecast Experiment. This report is the product of the Sea Ice Prediction Network–Phase 2 (SIPN2) effort.
2018 Projected Freeze-up of Chukchi Sea Released
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, has released a 2018 projected onset of sea ice freeze-up on the Chukchi Sea continental shelf. Projection: Freeze onset on the Chukchi Sea continental shelf northwest of Icy Cape will begin the second week of December 2018. This is approximately 47 days later than the long-term mean (1981-2016).
Witness Community Highlights
The September 2018 issue of Witness Community Highlights is now available online. This issue includes two articles: Highlights of the Arctic Data Center’s recently established Data Highlights page, which provides insights directly from the researchers, including how their data might be applied to other questions in support of Arctic research; and NSF announcements of new Program Directors in the Arctic Sciences Section and new measures to protect the research community from harassment.
Call for Researcher Applications to Host a PolarTREC Teacher
PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) is currently accepting applications from researchers for teacher research experiences. Researchers are invited to submit an application to host a PolarTREC teacher in the 2019 Arctic and/or the 2019-2020 Antarctic field seasons. Funding is pending for PolarTREC during the 2019-20 field seasons. ARCUS will keep researcher applicants informed of our funding status. If funding is secured, final matches should be made by January 2019. PolarTREC researchers must be at U.S. institutions. Applications from researchers on National Science Foundation (NSF) funded projects will receive priority in the selection process. Researchers should have secured funding for their research project prior to applying.
The increasing second derivative of Arctic change: how should the research community keep up?
The Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) seeks a broad conversation with past, present, and future members of its community on how SEARCH might serve to advance synthesis and engagement in the coming decades? What coordination of research and communication is needed?
Date: 5 October 2018
Time: 9:30 am (AK) / 10:30 am (Pac) / 11:30 am (Mntn) / 12:30 pm (Cntrl) / 1:30 pm (Eastern)
Format: video conference (Zoom)
Interested in participating? Register at: https://bit.ly/2NtXiEL
SEARCH Background:
Vision and Mission
Organization
Products:
Arctic Answers - science for policy briefs
Arctic Futures 2050 conference
Other products
For more information: Brendan Kelly, SEARCH Executive Director (bpkelly [at] alaska.edu)
Arctic Research Seminar Series with Jacqueline M. Grebmeier
ARCUS invites registration for our next Arctic Research Seminar featuring Jacqueline M. Grebmeier (Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science). This seminar, titled “The Pacific Arctic: An Ecosystem in Transition,” will be held Friday, 21 September 2018 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. ET in the ARCUS D.C. office at 1201 New York Avenue, NW Washington D.C. A live webinar is also available to those unable to attend in person.
Help Build a Database of Carbon Flux Measurements
As part of the Permafrost Carbon Network's larger effort on 'Reconciling historical and contemporary trends in terrestrial carbon exchange of the northern permafrost-zone', we are initiating a community-effort to develop a comprehensive and annually updated database of high-latitude permafrost zone carbon flux measurements. This database, which builds on a breakout activity from the annual Permafrost Carbon Network meeting in 2017 and previous flux syntheses, could help to track temporal trends in Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) and benchmark ecosystem models. We invite you to be a part of this activity.
We seek initial data contributions by September 30th. If you are interested in contributing or have additional questions, please contact marguerite.mauritz [at] nau.edu (Marguerite Mauritz) or ted.schuur [at] nau.edu (Ted Schuur).
Arctic Answers Briefs
Browse SEARCH's Arctic Answers resources, where policy-relevant questions are answered in 1-2 page briefs written by experts, peer-reviewed, and posted in Arctic Answers. Each brief is the top of a "knowledge pyramid" supported by scientific literature organized in underlying tiers of increasing detail. Questions that are addressed include "Can extreme Arctic climate change be avoided with cost effective mitigation?", "How fast is sea level rising?", "How is climate change affecting subsistence (or traditional) fisheries in the high Arctic?" and many more.
Sea Ice Prediction Network
Phase 2 (SIPN2) announces registration for an open webinar on Tuesday, 11 September 9:00 am AK for “An Overview of MOSAiC - The Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate” with presenter Don Perovich, Dartmouth College. The presentation will provide an overview of MOSAiC, with special attention on the sea ice program.
2019-2020 PolarTREC Application Period Open!
We are happy to announce that the 2019-2020 PolarTREC applications for teachers, informal educators, and researchers to apply to the program is open! Applications are due Monday, 24 September 2018 by 5PM ADT. An informational webinar will be hosted on Wednesday, 29 August 2018. More information about the program and how to apply can be found here.
Witness the Arctic
The Summer 2018 issue of Witness the Arctic is now published online. This issue includes a call for public comment on the Revised Principles for Conducting Research in the Arctic; news from a recent study indicating an increase in amplified Arctic temperatures; news of the recently developed use of remote sensing to study beaver encroachment in Arctic tundra; news about the EarthScope Transportable Array; updates from the SEARCH program, USARC, the Sea Ice Prediction Network–Phase 2, the women in polar research panel discussion during POLAR2018, and the 2018 Anchorage Arctic Research Day; comments from ARCUS board members, Board President Audrey Taylor, and Executive Director Bob Rich; and a highlight of ARCUS member institution, the Woods Hole Research Center.
2018 August Sea Ice Outlook Report Available
The August report for the 2018 Sea Ice Outlook (SIO) is now available online. The goal of the SIO is to improve sea ice prediction on seasonal time-scales. For the August report, 39 contributions were received that include pan-Arctic predictions. Of those contributions, 10 also included pan-Antarctic predictions and 11 included predictions for Alaskan waters. For the Arctic, the median August Outlook value for a September 2018 sea ice extent projection is 4.6 million square kilometers.
The August report includes an overview of projections of total September Arctic ice extent; a section about predicted spatial fields with discussion on sea ice probability (SIP) and the first ice-free day (IFD) from a number of dynamical models; a section on current conditions and atmospheric conditions; a section discussing regional sea ice conditions; and a section discussing Antarctic sea ice extent forecasts.
This report is the product of the Sea Ice Prediction Network–Phase 2 (SIPN2) effort.
Upcoming PolarConnect Live Events
Please join us for two live events in August about research in the Arctic and in the mountains of Switzerland!
Monday, 13 August 2018 at 9:30am AKDT – PolarTREC teacher Svea Anderson and University of Alaska researcher Donie Bret-Harte will discuss their research live from Toolik Field Station in Alaska looking at Shrubs, Snow and Nitrogen in the Arctic.
Thursday, 23 August 2018 at 7:00am AKDT – PolarTREC teacher Lauren Neitzke Adamo along with researchers Dr. Neal Iverson and Dr. Luke Zoet will be live from the mountains of Switzerland discussing their work on Sliding Glaciers.