News Archive

The SEARCH research community has been hard at work preparing white papers, short statements, and poster presentations for the 2016 Arctic Observing Summit to be held March 15-18 in Fairbanks, AK. The aim of the biennial Arctic Observing Summit is to provide community-driven, science-based guidance for the design, implementation, coordination and sustained long-term operation of an international network of Arctic observing systems.

Entry fee will support Polar Educators International, a vibrant network that promotes polar education and research to a global community, in spirit with the purpose of Arctic Science Week 2016. Join the fun on 19 March 2016 at 10am.

Not going to ASSW? Join the Virtual 5K: 2016 Polar Educators International 5K Run/Walk on the Equinox

A member of SEARCH's Science Steering Committee, Dr. George Kling (University of Michigan), will host STEM teacher Dieuwertje Kast's PolarTREC field research expedition at the Toolik Field Research Station this summer in Alaska. The goal of their research project will be to measure and understand the changes taking place in Arctic microbial ecology and the role these microbes play in the production of greenhouse gases. PolarTREC is a program of the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. in which K-12 teachers spend 3-6 weeks participating in hands-on field research experiences in the polar regions.

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) released a report last month highlighting SEARCH's Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN) as a key accomplishment in the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee's efforts to enhance interagency cooperation. With diverse support from the Department of Energy, NASA, NOAA, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research, SIPN was celebrated for its collaborative interagency approach to improving the predictive skill of Arctic sea ice models.

Organizers announce that registration is now available for the 2016 Polar Predictability Workshop and call for abstracts. The workshop will be held 4-6 May 2016 at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York. This workshop will focus on sources of polar predictability on sub-seasonal to inter-annual timescales, sea ice prediction, and operational and research efforts. Registration and abstract submission are now available.

The second speaker for the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) D.C. Seminar Series will be SEARCH's Sea Ice Action Team Lead, Dr. Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University. You are invited to attend her presentation on “Crazy Weather and the Arctic Meltdown: Are They Connected?”, which will take place at the ARCUS D.C. office and via live webinar on Thursday, 18 February, 2016 from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Please join ARCUS at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage, Alaska, 25-29 January. ARCUS will have an open “Drop-in” event with light lunch on Wednesday, 27 January and a poster presentation on “Collaboration in Arctic Marine Ecosystems" on Monday, 25 January.

PolarTREC alumni teacher John Wood organized a Polar Day at his school in Southern California and it was a great success. This event is part of his ongoing commitment to sharing polar science with his students, many years after his PolarTREC expedition. ARCUS’ on-going commitment to education and outreach creates polar science ambassadors, like John, across the country.

The Arctic in the Classroom program is currently accepting applications from teachers and researchers for participation in the Make an Impact workshop, the program's kickoff event. Travel, accommodations, and ASSW registration are covered for the workshop. Participants are also awarded the opportunity for continued support within The Arctic in the Classroom program. Teachers and researchers can register for approximately 15 openings available. Registration period is from 11 January - 1 February 2016. Further information about The Arctic in the Classroom Program can be found at: https://www.arcus.org/tac.

SEARCH's Sea Ice Action Team co-lead, Jennifer Francis (Rutgers University), discussed the weather implications of a changing Arctic at the Arctic Matters Day Symposium on 14 January, 2016 in Washington, D.C. This free public program, organized by the Polar Research Board, showcased Arctic change science and its potential impacts across the globe through a series of engaging presentations, discussions, and interactive displays.

Henry P. Huntington, co-lead of SEARCH's Sea Ice Action Team, spoke about sea ice, shipping, and effective maritime governance in the Bering Strait during a webinar hosted by the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy on 12 January, 2016 at 10am AKST.

SEARCH lead a plenary session on actionable Arctic change science at the the Arctic Encounter Symposium on 15 January, 2016.

The Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN) held an open workshop to discuss data needs for sea ice forecasting on 17 December during the 2015 American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meetings. This workshop focused on how SIPN and others who provide data observations can best serve the needs of the forecasting community. The goal of the workshop was to help identify data needs for model initialization and verification, which available data products are useful—and why, what improvements to existing data products would make for better utilizations (e.g., change in formatting), what additional observations are needed, and how limited spatial scale data from ship observations etc. are being used.

Three major science synthesis efforts assessing the climate feedback from permafrost carbon are highlighted in this new report from the Permafrost Carbon Network. In addition to these science highlights, the report provides further details on the Permafrost Carbon Network's workshops, public outreach activities, and highly successful efforts to build and engage a productive Arctic change research community.

The inaugural seminar of the ARCUS Arctic Research Seminar Series will be held Friday, 15 January 2016. The seminar is entitled 'Sea Level and Polar Warming: How Past Climate Change Informs Us about Ongoing Sea Level Rise' and the speaker is Dr. Julie Brigham-Grette (Professor at the University of Massachusetts and Chair of the Polar Research Board).

Seminar Abstract: Scientists now have a better understanding of how vulnerable ice sheets and glaciers are to small amounts of polar warming. Ongoing sea level rise due to the loss of ice mass into the sea is and will impact coastlines profoundly but to different degrees -- i.e., the oceans are not a simple bathtub subject to uniform sea level rise. Adaptation may require a range of actions.

This event is a brown-bag lunch that will be held in the ARCUS D.C. office (1201 New York Avenue, NW Washington D.C. Fourth Floor). A live webinar is also available to those unable to attend in person.

Learn more about the SEARCH's ongoing effort to coordinate a sustained Arctic observing system in this news article from The Arctic Sounder.

The Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN) has published the 2015 Sea Ice Outlook post-season report! Developed by the 2015 Sea Ice Outlook Action Team, the SIPN Leadership team, and with input from community members, it includes a review of the Arctic summer conditions, a pan-Arctic overview, a summary of local-scale analysis, discussion of the modeling and statistical contributions, and a summary of lessons learned from the 2015 Sea Ice Outlook as well as recommendations for the 2016 Sea Ice Outlook. Further suggestions from the community are welcome.

The 2015 Sea Ice Outlook (SIO) Action Team invites community comment on its draft post-season report. This draft includes the main post-season analysis and discussion points, although some parts are still under development and editing. The SIO Action Team aims to have a final draft ready to share with the larger community during the 2015 American Geophysical Union Fall Meetings in San Francisco 14-19 December. Comments on the analysis and discussion sections, as well as suggestions on how to help improve sea-ice forecasts, are welcome.

Please send comments to Betsy Turner-Bogren (betsy [at] arcus.org) no later than Friday, 11 December 2015.

This one hour PolarConnect webinar archive celebrated Antarctica Day 2015 with PolarTREC teacher Michelle Brown and the Human Impacts in Antarctica 2015 expedition. Michelle and her team presented from McMurdo Station, sharing their research project with the webinar audience. The archive offers slides, audio, and video of the presentation. You can access the webinar content through the PolarConnect Archive.

The ARCUS PolarConnect special event celebrated Antarctica Day - 1 December. Antarctica Day honors the international treaty stating that the continent is set aside for peaceful scientific purposes. Over 2,000 students were registered for the event, tuning in from classrooms around the world! You can connect to the polar regions with future PolarConnect events by checking the PolarTREC website or joining the ARCUS Polar Education Email List: https://www.polartrec.com/education-list

SIPN will hold an open workshop to discuss data needs for sea ice forecasting on Thursday, 17 December 2015 from 12:30-1:30 pm during the 2015 AGU Fall Meetings.

This workshop will focus on how SIPN and others who provide data observations can best serve the needs of the forecasting community. The goal of the workshop is to help identify data needs for model initialization and verification, which available data products are particularly useful, what improvements to existing data products would make for better utilizations, what additional observations are needed, and how limited spatial scale data from ship observations etc. are being used.

The workshop will be held at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis on the 2nd floor in Foothill Room E. Lunch will be provided for meeting participants who RSVP to Betsy (betsy [at] arcus.org) by Monday, 7 December 2015.

The Fall 2015 issue of Witness the Arctic is now published online. This issue includes an ARCUS Member Highlight of the Arctic Centre in Rovaniemi, Finland; news of recent SEARCH activities and comments from the program's Executive Director; project reports from NSF-funded research in Arctic natural science and data management; several reports from interagency and international projects investigating a range of impacts on the Arctic from climate change; updates from USARC, the Polar Research Board, and the ASSW 2016 planning committee; and a newcomer's guide to the complexities of the Arctic research community from ARCUS Executive Director, Robert Rich.

The SIPN project leadership team announces a call for self-nominations to join a 2015 Sea Ice Outlook (SIO)-focused Action Team. This Action Team is being formed to guide post-season activities for the 2015 SIO and will be comprised of six to eight members of the sea ice prediction and stakeholder communities, including a representative from the SIPN leadership team. Self-nominations, including a brief summary of the expertise and perspective you could contribute to this Action Team should be sent to Betsy Turner-Bogren (betsy [at] arcus.org) by Tuesday, 13 October.

Reminder: The deadline for abstract submission and applications for early career travel awards is Friday, 9 October. The Arctic Observing Open Science Meeting will be held 17-19 November 2015 in Seattle, Washington. The open meeting will provide an opportunity to present and discuss scientific findings and advances resulting from Arctic observing projects funded by federal, state, and local agencies, and private and non-profit organizations.

Registration is now available for a Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN) webinar, entitled "The 2015 Sea Ice Outlook Post-Season Discussion" The presentation will provide an overview of the 2015 summer sea-ice conditions, a review and analysis of outlooks contributed from 2008 to 2015, discussion of the challenges and successes of predictions at the local scale, and opportunity for community comment and discussion. It is scheduled for Tuesday, 6 October 2015 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. AKDT. For questions, please contact Betsy Turner-Bogren at ARCUS (betsy [at] arcus.org).

The Science Steering Committee (SSC) of the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) program announced today the selection of Caspar Ammann, PhD to serve as the new SEARCH SSC Chair. Dr. Ammann will assume the duties of his new role in November 2015.

As the SEARCH SSC Chair, Dr. Ammann will lead the Science Steering Committee’s efforts to ensure the program is achieving its vision, mission and long-term science goals by providing oversight and guidance to the SEARCH Project Office and Action Teams.