ARCUS Research Seminar Archive

Abstract

Climate change, biological invasions, and anthropogenic disturbance pose significant threats to Arctic freshwater biodiversity. Information gaps and insufficient knowledge about current biodiversity limit our ability to determine patterns or trends over space and time. Recently, a group of international scientists collaborated to compile and analyze data from streams and lakes in the circumpolar Arctic – producing the first assessment of the state of Arctic freshwater biodiversity. Fish species presence/absence data were used to evaluate patterns of diversity at local, regional, and circumpolar scales. Within North America, fish diversity patterns were evaluated for congruence with environmental factors. Circumpolar patterns of fish species diversity varied with latitude, hydrologic isolation, and ecoregion characteristics. Only one species, Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus, occurred above 71 degrees N latitude, but local scale Arctic diversity peaked at 70 degrees N, which was evident across the circumpolar north and in North America. High latitude diversity appears to be supported by the presence of anadromy in coastal systems and areas unaffected by the last glaciation (180k BP). Reduced richness above 71 degrees N resulted primarily from physical isolation of freshwater habitats and allowing colonization only by migratory anadromous species. At lower latitudes, coarse ecoregion characteristics, like elevation, contributed to overall diversity patterns, with fewer species in mountainous regions compared to adjacent lowland areas. These large-scale assessments are the first steps in determining circumpolar freshwater diversity patterns; however, this study also highlights the significant gaps in data coverage and our current limited ability to detect change. Inclusion of archived and new data – on fishes and their environment – will allow for studies to test change in observed patterns of biodiversity.

Speaker Details

Sarah Laske is a fish biologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center in Anchorage. She was hired in 2017 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she studied drivers of fish community structure and trophic relationships in Arctic Coastal Plain lakes. Her work focuses largely on fish community ecology and food webs of Arctic species and landscapes. Currently, she is taking on investigations exploring mercury biomagnification in lake food webs. Outside of work, Sarah is at the whim of her spoiled bird dogs, but she does enjoy baking loaves of sourdough and other treats.

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 400KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

Sediments beneath the Arctic continental shelf are undergoing substantial warming. This warming is associated with the sea level transgression at the end of the last ice age, when relatively warm ocean water flooded over a much colder terrestrial periglacial landscape. The warming is still propagating down into subsurface sediments causing the glacial-aged permafrost wedge to thin and retreat landwards. Models of the impact of transgression on subsea permafrost have recognized the potential existence of a slowly moving groundwater system that carries waters seaward under the extensive glacial-age relict permafrost bodies hosted within shelf sediments. Pore waters sampled in 50 sediment cores taken from 90 to 1000 m water depths along the shelf edge and upper slope of the Canadian Beaufort Sea freshen with sub-bottom depth, suggesting near-seafloor sediments are pervasively bathed in brackish water. Their isotopic composition suggests relict permafrost is the source for the freshening waters along the shelf edge. High-resolution bathymetric surveys of the shelf edge of the Canadian Beaufort Sea reveal a remarkable coalescence of seafloor morphologic features (e.g., slump-scars, submarine-pingos and steep-sided closed depressions) in the areas where these waters are emerging. Repeat mapping also shows multiple new steep-sided depressions that developed in the 9-year-long interval between surveys. The largest is 28 m in depth and 220 m across. These morphological changes occur near the maximum seaward limit of the submerged glacial-age permafrost and are attributed to groundwater flow, ascending along the relict permafrost boundaries and inducing segregated ice in relict permafrost to melt.

Speaker Details

Charlie Paull presently holds a position as a Senior Scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). He is a marine geologist with ~45 years of experience studying seafloor morphology, sediment transport, and pore water geochemistry to understand the processes that shape continental margins. In recent years he has focused on the utilization of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles and Remotely Operated Vehicles to image, observe, and sample the seafloor. Through collaborations with colleagues at the Geological Survey of Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the Korean Polar Research Institute, he as participated in seven expeditions to the Canadian Beaufort Sea. On all these expeditions MBARI’s robotic tools have been utilized to investigate seafloor geomorphic features that may have geohazard implications.

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 409 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

Increasingly, Inuit are faced with climate change, resource development, research, wildlife management, and a host of other issues and related discussions. Inuit hold solutions for how to address these challenges and proven sustainable holistic approaches to having a balanced relationship within the Arctic. At the international level, these topics as well as threats to biodiversity, shipping, and other adverse impacts to food security are constantly present. Yet Inuit communities and Knowledge have not been considered equitably. For years, Inuit have raised concerns about the top-down approaches often used by international organizations, researchers, and decision- and policymakers. More recently and because of Indigenous Peoples advocacy, the recognition of Indigenous Knowledge and the need for partnerships, is gaining consideration.

To achieve approaches that are equitable, approaches that respect and recognize Indigenous Knowledge, a paradigm shifts in how work is being done, how decisions are being made, and how policy is developed must take place. We need true equitable and ethical approaches. The 2018 Utqiagvik Declaration mandated ICC to facilitate the development of Equitable and Ethical protocols to aid in this paradigm shift. In June of this year, ICC released the “Circumpolar Inuit Protocols for Equitable and Ethical Engagement” – or EEE Protocols. The EEE Protocols are the result of many years of work and specifically over the past three years, Inuit from across Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka have worked together to create this document.

This webinar will share the process of developing the EEE Protocols, the Protocols, and welcome a discussion about how you, the attendees, can implement the EEE Protocols.

Speaker Details

Carolina Behe is the Indigenous Knowledge/Science advisor for the Inuit Circumpolar Council Alaska. As part of the Inuit Circumpolar Council Alaska team, her work is diverse and ranges from topics within food security and biodiversity to management and policy. Within the past couple of years, Carolina has been part of a team with focus on Inuit food sovereignty. Internationally, Carolina acts as the Inuit Circumpolar Council Head of Delegation on the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna working group board and brings forward ICC’s positions within the Convention on Biological Diversity. Much of ICC’s work within these international foras are focused on ensuring an Inuit perspective and interest are at the table. Additionally, a high amount of focus is placed on the involvement of Indigenous Knowledge and promoting the use of a co-production of knowledge approach to bring together Indigenous Knowledge and science. Carolina's work allows for her to work within two knowledge systems, Indigenous Knowledge and science. Indigenous Knowledge takes a holistic view and sees how many pieces fit together. Working with this understanding and way of knowing, combined with science, will aid in making adaptive ecosystem based decisions.

Attendees

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Archive Video

Abstract

The Arctic is undergoing large-scale accelerating changes including the introduction and expansion of invasive species. We are in a unique position to prevent new introductions and spread of existing invaders by adopting policies and actions aimed at prevention, early detection, and rapid response to minimize impacts on ecosystems, communities, food security, and northern economies. But resource managers often face decisions without having adequate data and resources at hand. Community science presents one way to fill knowledge gaps and inform decisions. This presentation will showcase examples related to freshwater aquatic invasive species management in Alaska aimed at understanding the long-distance pathways, human-induced spread, and informing agency prioritization with applied economics. Implications for Arctic conservation policy and future research needs will be discussed.

Speaker Details

Tobias Schwoerer has more than 15 years of public-policy experience relevant to Alaska, the Arctic, and other countries. With a diverse background in economics and the natural sciences, he develops innovative techniques for decision-making in the public and private sectors. He has led a range of projects that include assessing the value of the environment to local livelihoods, analyzing alternative energy options in collaboration with rural communities, and measuring the contribution of Alaska’s basic sector industries to the overall economy. Much of his current research focuses on human dimensions of sustainable systems, with the goal of informing policy through applied economic analysis. Most recently, he has been studying human responses to environmental risks, such as invasive species and climate change.

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 392 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

For 30 years (1992-2021) Denver and colleagues have been studying the breeding ecology of Snowy Owls at Utqiaġvik, Alaska. It is the longest continuous breeding study in the world, and conducted by the same researcher. They have studied 284 nests and banded ~800 owls, mostly nestlings.

Researchers have recorded >43,600 prey from pellets, and >3,300 prey cached at nests, of which >2,500 have been lemmings. For lemming carcass cached at nests, they recorded sex, body mass, relative age, and reproductive status.

Researchers have also monitored lemming population fluctuations through snap-trap methods. Over 30 years, more than 3,600 lemmings have been snap-trapped. They have recorded; sex, body mass, relative age, reproductive status, embryo counts, parasites, infectious diseases, and so forth. Although population fluctuations do exist, predictable cycles in the strictest definition of the word do not.

Additionally, researchers attached the first satellite transmitters to Snowy Owl in the world, recorded nest site characteristics, established genetic markers for estimating population, conducted hormone research in relation to pre-fledging nest departure of young, conducted growth rates and plumage development studies, and behavioral studies. Additionally, they have conducted an entire review their world ecology and population estimates.

Snowy Owl nesting numbers at Utqiaġvik have been declining since about 2009. Reasons are not known but climate change is suspected.

However, alternative questions for this decline do exist. For example, did the ~10 years of killing Arctic foxes to protect the threatened Steller’s Eider disrupt the entire ecosystem around Utqiaġvik? Do Brown and Collared lemmings and Arctic Fox have a relationship that benefits all three species? Did the removal of Arctic fox increase White-fronted, Brandt, and Snow goose numbers? And, in turn does the grazing impact on tundra plants, compete with lemmings, and reduce forage quality, quantity and ground cover, important for lemming survival?

These questions will be addressed in future analysis.

Speaker Details

Denver Holt is a wildlife researcher and graduate of the University of Montana. He is founder and president of the Owl Research Institute, a nonprofit organization located in Charlo, Montana. As a dedicated field researcher, Holt believes that long-term field studies are the primary means to understanding trends in wildlife populations.

Since 1978, Holt’s research focus has been owls and their ecology. He has published over 100 papers and technical documents, including four species accounts for the Birds of North America project. He was team leader for the Strigidae Family owl species accounts for The Handbook of the Birds of the World, volume 5, covering 189 species of the world’s owls. In collaboration with elementary school teachers, he has co-authored two children’s science books on owls: "Owls Whoo Are They", and "Snowy Owls Whoo Are They". In 2006, he was a chapter author on owls for the book "Arctic Wings", highlighting the birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. The forward was written by former United States President, Jimmy Carter.

In 2000, he was named Montana's Wildlife Biologist of the Year, by the Wildlife Society of North America. Holt’s research was the cover story for National Geographic Magazine in December 2002. His work has been subject of television bites on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and Disney. His owl research has also been featured on Audubon's Up-Close Series, PBS's Bird Watch, and David Attenborough's Life of Birds, among others. His research on Snowy Owls has been showcased in documentaries for National Geographic Explorer, NHK Natural History Unit of Japan, and the Norwegian Broadcasting Company Natural History Unit. His Snowy Owl research was also featured in the British Broadcasting Company’s (BBC) documentary series Frozen Earth, a sequel to the Planet Earth series.

In May 2011, Holt’s research was featured in the New York Times. In 2011, Holt also advised and worked in the field with a PBS Documentary team, filming "The Magic of the Snowy Owl" at his research site in Barrow, Alaska. in 2012, he was inducted into the World Owl Hall of Fame. In 2021, Hakai Magazine featured Holt’s 30 years of research on Snowy Owls and in 2022 he gave his first TED talk.

When not researching owls, Holt is involved in wildlife watching tourism as a natural history tour guide and co-owner of Wild Planet Nature Tours. He also guides private natural history tours, and is a part-time trip leader for Victor Emanuel Nature Tour Company, one of the largest nature tour company in the world.

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 393 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

The World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) data on global lightning are used to investigate the increase of total lightning strokes at Arctic latitudes. We use the summertime data from June, July, and August (JJA) which average >200,000 strokes each year above 65oN for the years 2010 – 2020. We minimize the possible influence of WWLLN network detection efficiency increases by normalizing our results to the total global strokes during northern summer each year.

The ratio of strokes occurring above a given latitude, compared to total global strokes, increases with time, indicating that the Arctic is becoming more influenced by lightning. We compare the increasing fraction of strokes with the NOAA global temperature anomaly, and find that the fraction of strokes above 65oN to total global strokes increases linearly with the temperature anomaly, and grew by a factor of three as the anomaly increased from 0.65 to 0.95 degrees C.

Speaker Details

Dr. Holzworth has been a professor of Earth and Space Science and Adjunct professor of Physics since 1982. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Colorado majoring in physics and math, and received his PhD in physics from the University of California Berkeley in 1977. He was a member of the technical staff at The Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles for four years before moving to the University of Washington where he manages an active teaching and research program in atmospheric electrodynamics and space plasma physics. Dr. Holzworth has published over 150 peer reviewed papers. As an experimental physicist he has been the principal investigator for many high-altitude balloon experiments, several rocket payloads, and a few satellite payloads. He is the director of the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN), a global, ground based, lightning location network. In the past few years, Dr. Holzworth has been the Principal Investigator for research supported by the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Naval Research Laboratory, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), NOAA, and the European Commission. He recently delivered a vector electric field instrument to NASA for an NRL rocket payload to study ionospheric plasma waves (launch planned summer 2022), and his instrument on the Air Force/NASA Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System satellite recently re-entered after operating for over eight years. Dr. Holzworth finished his term as Chair of the Council of Institutions of the University Space Research Association in 2016 and remains the representative from the University of Washington to the Universities Space Research Association.

Archive Presentation

Seminar Presentation Slides (PDF - 5.5 MB)

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 390 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

The configuration of any monitoring system depends on the major goals and purpose of monitoring and the reason for what the data of this monitoring will be used. The Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP) monitoring system was initiated by the United State Geological Survey (USGS) in the 1940s and 1950s as a set of ground temperature observations in a number of deep (200 to 1000 m) boreholes. The main reason for these measurements originally was the investigation of the geothermal conditions in Alaska. However, in the 1970s and in the beginning of the 1980s, the interpretation of the obtained data showed that a significant warming in the upper part (20 to 50 m) of many boreholes has occurred during the mid-20th century (Art Lachenbruch and Max Brewer with colleagues).

About this time, another TSP monitoring system was established in Alaska by the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) under supervision of Prof. Emeritus T.E. Osterkamp. Since then, these two monitoring systems are the most active and most productive in terms of TSP data collecting and interpretation.

The goal of this monitoring was to use the records of permafrost temperature in relatively deep boreholes as an indicator of Climate Change. Later, with further development of the monitoring systems and with the addition of the number of monitored parameters (meteorological data, snow depth, shallow ground temperature and moisture content measurements, occasional description of vegetation, etc.), the main goal of monitoring started to shift to the use of permafrost and active layer characteristics as an indicator of changes in the entire Arctic System.

In more recent times, the goals of the STP monitoring system in Alaska are evolving into not only to monitor but also to predict the changes in permafrost characteristics and the ground temperature regime in the near and more distant future and how these changes will impact climate, arctic hydrology, ecosystems, and infrastructure.

Historically, moving from one task to the next required further and often substantial changes in the observing system: 1) more and more additional measured parameters have been added; 2) higher and higher temporal (continuous vs. one-time measurements) and spatial (number of observing stations and their geographical distribution) resolution of observations and modeling were required.

As a result, the TSP monitoring system in Alaska is getting more and more complex, more distributed and, as a result, more difficult to access, more and more expensive, and more and more efforts and resources are required to support this system.

During the presentation, some examples of the results of this monitoring system obtained at each stage of its development will be presented. Dr. Romanovsky will be talking only about the ground-based observation system. The use of remote sensing observations will be mentioned only briefly.

Speaker Details

Dr. Vladimir Romanovsky is a Professor Emeritus in Geophysics at the Geophysical Institute and the Department of Geosciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks. He also heads the Geophysical Institute Permafrost Laboratory (www.Permafrostwatch.org). His work involves internationally coordinated research on permafrost temperature changes in Alaska, Russia, Canada, Greenland, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. He is also involved in numerical modeling of past, present and future permafrost dynamics and the remote sensing of permafrost and periglacial processes. Vladimir’s research interests include the scientific and practical aspects of environmental and engineering problems involving ice and permafrost. Vladimir is the author of 280+ refereed journal publications, many reports, and book chapters. His scientific publications were cited 3,226 times by various authors in 2020 alone, and the total number of citations of his work is 28,760.

Dr. Romanovsky received his MSc. in Geophysics, MSc. in Mathematics, and Ph.D. in Geology from the Moscow State University in Russia. He also received Ph.D. in Geophysics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He had several research and teaching positions at the Moscow State University. He moved to Alaska in 1992 and is currently a professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 406 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is a network of 230 universities, colleges, research institutes, and other organizations concerned with education and research in and about the North. UArctic builds and strengthens collective resources and infrastructures that enable member institutions to better serve their constituents and their regions. The tools for joint research and research-based education are Thematic Networks. Thematic networks are theme-based international and diverse groups of individuals and organizations who create opportunities for students, conduct joint research, and share knowledge on topical Arctic issues.

In this presentation Dr. Latola will talk about UArctic’s Thematic Networks, how they are endorsed, how they function, and the different pathways that individual researchers and institutions can take to participate in them. She will show examples of Thematic Network joint activities, and will also briefly share news on the next UArctic Congress 2022, which will be held in Moscow in October 2022.

Speaker Details

Over the past fifteen years PhD Kirsi Latola has worked in several Polar coordination actions and holds a positions of research coordinator at the Thule Institute at the University of Oulu, Finland. She has managed several national and international projects on Arctic research, coordination and knowledge sharing including organising several international events. Broad knowledge particularly on Arctic research and infrastructures led also to her appointment to the chair of European Polar Board in 2017, where she is now in her second term. In her position as a UArctic Vice President Networks she leads University of Arctic’s network activities and supports over 60 Thematic Networks. In addition to her work for UArctic and supporting the Arctic research conducted at the University of Oulu, she acts as a Transnational access Watch Dog in INTERACT - International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic (H2020 2016-21, 2020-24) and leads a work package on stakeholder engagement in the EU-PolarNet 2 project on coordinating and co-designing the European Polar Research area (H2020, 2020-2024). Her expertise in the project is a stakeholder engagement which follows the work and white paper she completed during the first EU-Polarnet (2015-20).

Archive Presentation

Presentation Slides (PDF - 8.85 MB)

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 177.75 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

The Arctic Ocean is changing faster than any other ocean region in the world. Uptake of anthropogenic carbon, amplified warming, sea ice reduction, coastal erosion, and enhanced riverine runoff are driving important changes in the Arctic Ocean ecosystems through changes in primary production and ocean acidification. However, the current understanding of primary production and ocean acidification in the Arctic remains highly uncertain. Furthermore, projections of both processes by Earth-System Models diverge strongly in this region.

During this webinar, Dr. Terhaar will present: (1) a modelling study that quantifies the impact of terrigenous nutrients from rivers and coastal erosions on Arctic Ocean primary production, a process that was (wrongly?) neglected so far, and (2) results from two studies on emergent constraint on ocean acidification in the Arctic Ocean that suggests that projections of Earth-System Models collectively underestimated the extent of future ocean acidification in the Arctic Ocean.

Speaker Details

Dr. Jens Terhaar is a postdoctoral fellow in the division of Climate and Environmental Physics at the Physics Institute of the University of Bern (Switzerland), and is affiliated to the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research in Bern. Dr. Terhaar is currently studying the future of the ocean carbon and heat uptake with a special focus on the Southern Ocean and is developing an adaptive approach that allows to reach the temperature goals of the Paris agreement by determining the necessary greenhouse gas reductions at every stocktake solely based on past observations and not projections. Before he started his postdoctoral work in Bern, he had a short-term postdoc contract at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris (France) to develop an emergent constraint on Arctic ocean acidification. Dr. Terhaar completed his PhD at the Institute Pierre Simon Laplace (France) and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium). During the PhD, Dr. Terhaar studied the impact of terrigenous carbon and nutrients on the Arctic Ocean. He completed a MSc. in Physics at the University of Heidelberg (Germany) and a MSc. in Water, Air, Pollution and Energy at local and regional scales at Ecole Polytechnique in Paris (France). During his studies, he had research internships in Woods Hole (USA), the National Oceanographic Centre Southampton (UK), and the Laboratoire d'Oceanographie et de Climatologie (France).

Archive Presentation

Presentation Slides (PDF - 71.5 MB)

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 405 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

The Arctic Ocean is experiencing rapid and dramatic changes in response to climate-driven warming. Many organisms may spread northward as a result of rising temperatures and loss of sea ice, but few present such significant threats to human and ecosystem health as harmful algal bloom (HAB) species. Alexandrium catenella, a producer of paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs), has a long history of causing toxicity in the Gulf of Alaska, yet there is little recognition of this organism as a human health concern north of Bering Strait. Here we describe an exceptionally large A. catenella benthic cyst bed and hydrographic conditions across the Chukchi Sea that support germination and development of recurrent, self-initiating, and self-seeding blooms. Two prominent cyst accumulation zones result from deposition promoted by weak circulation. Cyst concentrations are among the highest reported globally for this species and the cyst bed is 6X larger in area than any other recorded. These extraordinary accumulations are attributed to repeated inputs from advected southern blooms and to localized cyst formation and deposition. Over the last two decades, warming has likely increased the magnitude of the germination flux two-fold and advanced the inoculation of the euphotic zone, where conditions are now favorable for bloom development, by 20 days. The region is poised to support recurrent blooms that are unprecedented in scale, increasing exposure and health risks to Alaskan Arctic communities where economies are subsistence based. These observations also highlight how warming can facilitate HAB range expansions into waters where temperatures were formerly too cold.

Speaker Details

Don Anderson is a Senior Scientist in the Biology Department, at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He presently serves as Director of the Cooperative Institute for North Atlantic Region (CINAR) and as Director of the U.S. National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms. His research focus is on harmful algal blooms (HABs), commonly called red tides, covering topics ranging from molecular and physiological studies of growth, sexuality, and toxin production to the large-scale oceanography and ecology of HABs, including numerical modeling, forecasting, and a range of monitoring and management strategies, many reliant on novel instrumentation and biosensors. A current research focus is on HABs in the Arctic. Anderson is author, co-author, or editor of over 330 scientific papers and 14 books.

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 415 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

This presentation will provide an introduction to the history of human settlement in northern Alaska as represented in archaeological resources and Inuit oral histories. Following the historical introduction, Sikuaq will focus on one piece of ingenious technology developed exclusively in the Arctic thousands of years ago, the toggling harpoon head. To this day, the toggling harpoon head is an extremely important piece of technology used by all Inuit hunters to retrieve large marine mammals (e.g. walrus, seals, whales, etc.) that would otherwise sink to the bottom of the ocean. Utilizing miniature fully-functional replica ivory harpoons and bananas (to replicate the marine mammal skin and blubber), Sikuaq will demonstrate how the harpoon works and why it is so unique and effective. This activity has been developed at UIC Science and has been shared with dozens of classrooms across Alaska.

Speaker Details

Kaare Ray Sikuaq Erickson is the GM and Team Lead for Ikaaġun Engagement, based in Unalakleet and Anchorage, Alaska. Sikuaq was raised on the Bering Sea coast and has family scattered across northern Alaska from Unalakleet to Shishmaref to Utqiaġvik. Sikuaq was taught to provide for his communities through subsistence and leadership; to be aware of problems facing Arctic communities; and to find creative, realistic, and effective ways to alleviate or solve those issues. Sikuaq spent nearly two decades immersed in cultural studies and has most recently spent several years developing and implementing creative, effective, and efficient outreach, engagement and K-12 education programs for high profile Arctic research projects. Sikuaq's unique upbringing and specialized training allows him to successfully fulfill his role as cultural broker connecting Arctic communities and Arctic research entities.

Attendees

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Archive Video

Abstract

Arctic ecosystems are undergoing rapid change, and long-lived top predators are considered sentinels of the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. Beaufort Sea beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) and thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) in northern Hudson Bay have experienced long-term shifts in prey species and declines in inferred growth rates, believed to be the result of environmental changes. In partnership with Inuvialuit communities, we examined inter-annual variation and environmental factors affecting prey, body condition, and physiology of Beaufort Sea beluga whales. The estimated proportional contributions of Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) to beluga diet decreased from 2011 to 2014, coinciding with an increase in capelin (Mallotus villosus). Belugas consumed the highest proportions of capelin and the lowest proportions of cod in 2014. Body condition of whales was positively correlated with myoglobin, hemoglobin concentrations, and % hematocrit, resulting in lower total body oxygen stores in whales with lower body condition. The relationship between body condition and oxygen storage capacity may represent a positive feedback mechanism, in which environmental changes resulting in decreased body condition impair foraging ability. To examine the impacts of climate-induced prey shifts on the energetics of seabirds, heart rate was examined as a proxy for O² consumption in murres and black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), and were calibrated with GPS-accelerometers to classify behaviours and activity rate. Finally, we examined the effects of Arctic warming on murre physiology. In response to increasing temperatures, murres exhibited limited heat tolerance and low ability to dissipate heat, with one of the lowest evaporative cooling efficiencies recorded in birds. These results highlight the various impacts of climate change on marine predators and their broader implications on Arctic ecosystems.

Speaker Details

Dr. Emily Choy is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences at McGill University and Environment and Climate Change Canada. Her research is supported by NSERC and a L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Research Excellence Fellowship. Dr Choy is studying the physiological response of thick-billed murres on Coats Island, Nunavut, to Arctic climate change, specifically the effects of changes in prey availability on their energetics and warming temperatures on their physiology and behaviour. She completed her PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Manitoba and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, on beluga whales as sentinels of environmental change in the Beaufort Sea ecosystem in partnership with communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories. Dr. Choy completed her MSc. in Biology at the University of Ottawa, studying the ability of seabirds to transport contaminants to coastal food webs at Cape Vera, Devon Island, Nunavut. Dr. Choy was a scientist on the Victoria Strait expedition and a recipient of the Erebus Medal. She is a Fellow for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, a Scientific Advisor for The W. Garfield Weston Foundation’s Northern Committee, and a council member for the Association of Field Ornithologists. Dr. Choy is very passionate about science outreach and is currently partnered with Earth Rangers in their Northern Project to teach kids about the conservation of Arctic wildlife.

Attendees

Participant LIst (PDF - 384 KB)

Abstract

Data from animal-borne sensors offer a growing source of global remote sensing monitoring data. Combining these data allows ecologists answer questions about biodiversity and long-term, large-scale patterns in animal behavior in relation to changing environments. The Arctic Animal Movement Archive (AAMA) is a collaborative and growing collection of over 200 terrestrial, avian and marine animal tracking studies from the Arctic and Subarctic, documenting over 15 million location observations and other sensor measurements of over 8,000 animals of 96 species. The AAMA is hosted on Movebank, a global research platform for bio-logging data. Movebak includes the EnvDATA toolpack - a library of research tools that link movement data with many NASA remote sensing products, and weather reanalysis models’ weather data products. Through the AAMA, data collected by hundreds of institutions is stored in a standard format and can be accessed publicly or upon request. Support for controlled-access data is critical to integrating wildlife monitoring data that cannot be shared publicly due to legal restrictions or conservation status, and to allow sharing of near-real-time data as they are being transmitted.

In four case studies demonstrating the utility of this new archive, we gained preliminary insight into the climate change response of arctic animals by annotating long-term and large-scale movement data and demographic events locations and times with environmental data from remote sensing. In golden eagles, we identified the environmental drivers of long-term trends in the onset date of arrival to summering grounds. We found that parturition date (date of giving birth) in caribou is showing the most rapid change in northern populations. We found a strong movement responses to within-season maximum temperatures with opposite directions in wolves and caribou vs. moose. Finally, as a test of the tag technology, we validated tag-borne temperature observations, against ECMWF modelled temperature estimates.

As climate change and human disturbance increasingly alter the Arctic, the AAMA offers a 30-year data record that can serve as a baseline for documenting whether and how animals respond, and to recognize early signals of local or large-scale Arctic ecosystem changes.

Speaker Details

Dr. Gil Bohrer is a Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering at the Ohio State University where he studies greenhouse gas fluxes from forests and wetlands and run several long-term flux. He combines high-resolution models (Large Eddy Simulations, tree fluid dynamics) with multi-scale observations that link ecological state and function with atmospheric dynamics and hydrology. He is the PI of one of the 12 Ameriflux National Core Flux Sites (US-UMB site cluster in Michigan), and participated in writing the national state of the carbon cycle (SOCCR2) report.

An additional focus of his research is incorporating environmental data in models of animal movement. Dr. Bohrer has developed the Env-DATA system, a toolpack for automated linking remote sensing and reanalysis datasets to GPS-recorded animal movement tracks, part of the Max Planck’s Movebank.org global animal movement archive. He is working on interpreting animal-borne observations of atmospheric conditions.

Archive Presentation

Presentation Slides (PDF - 6.2 MB)

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 411 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

The ice arches that usually develop at the northern and southern ends of Nares Strait play an important role in modulating the export of multi-year sea ice out of the Arctic Ocean. As a result of global warming, the Arctic Ocean is evolving towards an ice pack that is younger, thinner and more mobile and the fate of its multi-year ice is becoming of increasing interest to both the scientific and policy communities. Here, we use sea ice motion retrievals derived from Sentinel-1 imagery to report on recent behavior of these ice arches and the associated ice flux. In addition to the previously identified early collapse of the northern ice arch in May 2017, we report that this arch failed to develop during the winters of 2018 and 2019. In contrast, we report that the southern ice arch was only present for a short period of time during the winter of 2018 as well as for a more extended period during the winter of 2020. We also show that the duration of arch formation has decreased over the past 20 years as ice in the region has thinned, while the ice area and volume fluxes have both increased. These results suggest that a transition is underway towards a state where the formation of these arches will become atypical with a concomitant increase in the export of multi-year ice accelerating the transition towards a younger and thinner Arctic ice pack.

Speaker Details

Professor Moore has a Ph.D. in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics from Princeton University. He is a Professor of Physics and Vice-Principal Research at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Professor Moore’s research interests include: theoretical geophysical fluid dynamics, mesoscale meteorology, polar meteorology, high latitude air-sea-ice interactions, physical oceanography, paleoclimatology and high altitude physiology. Professor Moore has published over 170 research papers in the peer-reviewed literature including papers in Science, Nature, Nature Climate Change, Nature Communications, the New England Journal of Medicine and the British Medical Journal.

Currently, the focus of Professor Moore’s research is in understanding the impact that topographic obstacles such as Greenland and the Himalaya have on the climate in adjoining regions. This work has and will continue to improve our understanding of the changes that are occurring in these regions as the Earth warms. In addition, Professor Moore is involved with an international collaboration that is seeking to understand the processes through which heat, moisture and momentum are exchanged between the high latitude ocean and atmosphere and the impact that a declining sea ice cover has on these exchanges. This work has implications on the impact that climate change has on important ocean circulation systems such as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 404 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

This seminar will be presented by Matthew Burtner (University of Virginia), Leena Cho (University of Virginia), and Gabrielle Russomagno (School of Visual Arts). During this webinar presenters will discuss how their work spans science and the arts through media such as music, landscape architecture, and the visual arts.

Speaker Abstracts:

Matthew will share how he uses sound as a medium between music and science in Arctic coastal ecosystems. Ecoacoustic music utilizes sonification, field recording and environmental materials to imbed natural systems into music. He will discuss the methodology and show examples of these techniques in his work.

By merging the study of environmental humanities, and science and technology studies with landscape architecture, Leena will highlight the Arctic ground’s vibrant materialities as a conceptual and physical basis for design, while delineating potential areas of landscape design research and collaboration to further examine design potentials unique to the Arctic’s built environment. Permafrost ground is one of the defining landscape elements in the Arctic, and is a foundation for dynamic socioecological and cultural expressions in Arctic cities.

Gabrielle will discuss A Quick and Tragic Thaw, a series of artworks that explores the impact of a warming world using the arctic region as the symbolic apex. Through the study of scholarly research and data, use of mapping technology and satellite imagery, as well as essays, poems, photographs and illustrations, these artworks interpret the more recent story of human influenced climate change. More broadly, this urgent narration recognizes migration movements of biological forms, toxins, and water and is meant to be a meditation on loss and the fragility of the planet.

Speaker Details

Matthew Burtner is an Alaskan-born composer, eco-acoustician and sound artist. He is the Eleanor Shea Chaired Professor of Music at the University of Virginia where he Co-Directs the Coastal Futures Conservatory (www.coastalconservatory.org). He also Directs the non-profit organization EcoSono (www.ecosono.org). A 2020 Emmy Award recipient, his ecoacoustic music has been featured by NASA, the BBC, the Obama U.S. State Department, NPR NewsHour, the Humanities Center at the University of Michigan, the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and in concerts and exhibitions around the world.

Leena Cho is an Assistant Professor in Landscape Architecture and Co-Director of Arctic Design Group at the University of Virginia School of Architecture. Her research examines the design of Arctic landscapes and cities, including emerging forms of landscape and landscape-making in the era of new climatic regimes. In particular, her work positions the uniquely dynamic Arctic landscape material systems as a critical foundation for vibrant socioecological and design expressions, while paying close attention to material meanings and design methods developed in specific historical contexts in the Arctic.

Gabrielle Russomagno received her Master of Fine Arts in photography from Yale University. She is a photographer and installation artist based in Philadelphia and New York. Exhibiting internationally since 1985 her artwork is included in many permanent collections including University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Smith College, University of New Mexico Museum of Art, Yale University Beinecke Library, the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She is on the Bachelor of Fine Arts Photography faculty at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Archive Presentation

Presentation Slides (PDF - 6.6 MB)

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 420 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

Arctic lands and seas have experienced dramatic environmental and climatic changes in recent decades, and the pace of change is expected to accelerate in the future. Beginning in the early 1980s, a constellation of Earth-observing satellites has provided a unique vantage point for observing the remote and dynamic Arctic tundra biome—the treeless environment encircling most of the Arctic Ocean. The satellite record shows that the productivity of tundra vegetation has increased since the late 20th century, a phenomenon commonly referred to as “the greening of the Arctic.” Trends in tundra productivity, however, have not been uniform in direction or magnitude across the circumpolar region and there has been substantial variability from year to year. This variability arises from a web of complex interactions that link the vegetation, atmosphere, sea-ice, seasonal snow cover, ground (soils, permafrost, and topography), and animals of the Arctic system. In this talk I will begin with an overview of the tundra biome and address the questions: what are the drivers of Arctic vegetation change? What types of change would be apparent to an observer on the ground? And, what are the consequences of these changes for Arctic residents and the rest of the globe? Frost will explore these questions through the lens of the satellite record, field studies, and the rich knowledge-base of Arctic residents to understand the drivers and impacts of ecological change in the Arctic tundra biome.

Speaker Details

Archive Presentation

Presentation Slides (PDF - 58.3 MB)

Attendees

Participant List - 105 Attendees (PDF - 169 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

The rapid decline of summer sea ice cover in the Western Arctic has been accompanied by a dramatic increase in the sea state of the region. Ocean waves are now more common throughout the region, including multiple energetic swell events each summer. These waves interact with the sea ice and help to both form and define the expanding Marginal Ice Zone of the Western Arctic. This seminar will review recent work to observe and forecast changes in the Arctic sea state, including implications for sea ice retreat and coastal morphology.

Speaker Details

Jim Thomson is a Senior Principal Oceanographer at the University of Washington's Applied Physics Lab and a Professor in the Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Dr. Thomson studied Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering in MIT's joint program with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, receiving a PhD in 2006. Dr. Thomson studies waves and turbulence at the surface of the ocean, including interactions with sea ice. His work emphasizes field measurements and physical processes and includes the development of instrumentation and autonomous platforms.

Attendees

Participant List - 117 Attendees (PDF - 132 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

Professionals who collect and use Traditional Knowledge to support resource management decisions often are preoccupied with concerns over how and if Traditional Knowledge should be integrated with science. To move beyond the integration dilemma, we view Traditional Knowledge and science as distinct and complementary knowledge systems. Dr. Brooks will share examples of how the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has applied Traditional Knowledge in decision-making in the North Slope Borough, Alaska, including applying information from both knowledge systems to monitor subsistence whaling practices and using Traditional Knowledge in environmental impact assessment. Applying Traditional Knowledge produces decisions that are more inclusive, creates mutual understanding, and enhances respect for Traditional Knowledge and science.

Speaker Details

Archive Presentation

Presentation Slides (PDF - 1.82 MB)

Attendees

Participant List - 99 attendees (PDF - 126 KB)

Archive Audio

Abstract

Arctic and sub-Arctic field measurements are showing warming and thawing permafrost, increasing winter runoff, and groundwater levels. Local scale remote sensing analyses reveal degrading ice wedges, thermokarsts, and retrogressive thaw slumps, and watershed-scale numerical modeling results suggest micro-topographical geomorphological controls on fluxes and stores of water as ice-rich ground thaws and subsides. We are living in a time of rapid change to the permafrost-affected landscape across the Arctic region with dramatic changes occurring over just a few years. Yet, our understanding of the spatial continuity of change is limited due to the logistical constraints in doing fieldwork in a remote region, under-harnessed high performance and image processing resources, and the coarse resolution of pan-Arctic models. Collaboration across disciplines and organizations allow for a holistic approach in quantifying change, understanding underlying mechanisms, and in encouraging knowledge-generation beyond the scientific community. If successful, one’s weakness becomes the other’s strength and the sum larger than its parts.

Speaker Details

Growing up in northern Sweden, Anna enjoyed playing with the abundant meltwater flowing behind the small family farm in spring. At UAF she researched the controls and fate of water under a changing Arctic climate through collaborations in field measurements, numerical modeling, remote sensing and, in the coming years, big data cyberinfrastructure.

Attendees

Participant List (PDF - 638 KB)

Abstract

Since 2006, a number of surveys have explored U.S. public knowledge and perceptions about polar regions. At first glance, these seemed to show fairly high levels of public awareness and concern about polar climate change and related issues. Closer examination with increasingly sophisticated surveys uncovered a more complex picture, however. Some basic polar and Arctic knowledge questions, which link to people’s more general beliefs, are answered with reasonably good accuracy. But other basic questions that have answers not guessable from general beliefs tend to show lower accuracy or knowledge. Contrasting results on the “two kinds” of Arctic knowledge questions exhibit strong demographic patterns. Moreover, we see public awareness on some issues gradually rising over the years of these surveys, while on others it remains stubbornly flat. Although polar-knowledge survey questions might seem a narrow topic, these results highlight deeper characteristics of U.S. society today.

Speaker Details

Archive Presentation

Seminar Presentation (PDF - 7.32 MB)

Attendees

Participant List - 43 attendees (PDF - 70 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

This seminar will feature four speakers. Each presenter will discuss how they have engaged Arctic residents or visitors in the process of data collection to enhance our understanding of northern environments and how they are changing today. There will be a discussion period following the presentations, centered on how insights gained from current projects can help envision the role of civic participation in the future of Arctic research and observing.

Speaker Details

Marilyn Sigman (Alaska Sea Grant)

Presentation Title: Alaska CoastWatch Project – Using Citizen Science to Engage Alaskan Youth in Strengthening Community Resilience

Michael Køie Poulsen (Nordic Foundation for Development and Ecology, Integrated Arctic Observation System)

Presentation Title: Enhancing community-based observing programs in the Arctic

Ted Cheeseman (Polar Citizen Science Collective, Happywhale Project)

Presentation Title: Creating Polar Ambassadors through Citizen Science

Archive Presentation

Seminar Presentation (PDF - 15.2 MB)

Attendees

Participant List - 62 attendees (PDF - 77 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

The rapid and pervasive loss of Arctic sea ice has several potential impacts to ice-associated marine mammals. Declines in sea ice cover are also occurring in concert with expanding anthropogenic activities that may have compounding effects on Arctic marine ecosystems. This talk will examine intersecting issues of recent sea ice loss, Arctic marine mammal responses, and new anthropogenic risks associated with an increasingly navigable Arctic. Dr. Hauser will provide several case studies to illustrate how changes in the timing and extent of sea ice cover affect distribution, migration timing, and foraging behavior of two Pacific Arctic populations of beluga whales. Results suggest diverse and flexible responses by belugas in the face of rapidly changing sea ice conditions, which are in line with other emerging trends from the Pacific Arctic region. Second, she will discuss a recent vulnerability assessment of 80 populations of seven Arctic marine mammal species to vessels in the increasingly ice-free Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route, which quantified the heterogeneity of risk across species, populations, and regions. Finally, these results will be discussed in the context of ongoing conversations about the future resilience of Arctic marine mammals in changing sea ice ecosystems.

Speaker Details

Dr. Donna Hauser is a Research Assistant Professor at the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks where she pursues interdisciplinary and collaborative research in Alaskan marine ecology. Her research has examined the habitat use, distribution, and behavior of marine mammals for over 15 years. Having grown up in Anchorage, Alaska, her research is firmly rooted in Alaska and focused on the marine mammals that are critical ecosystem components as well as traditional cultural, nutritional, and spiritual resources across the state’s coastal regions.

Archive Presentation

Seminar Presentation (PDF - 12 MB)

Attendees

Participant List - 70 attendees (PDF - 91 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

A growing global market for generic minerals that are used in technical products for the ‘green’ energy transition and the electronic industry holds interesting potential for the Arctic. Developing prospects for the Arctic in general, this presentation takes Greenland as an example of an Arctic country which may offer alternative sources for minerals otherwise known as ‘conflict-minerals’. China’s electronic, solar power, and wind energy industries need certain generic minerals for production for the global market. Certain conflict-ridden countries are main sources of some of these minerals, which are known as ‘conflict minerals’ when their trade helps fuel armed conflicts. Commitment to fight conflict minerals have led the U.S. and the European Union to introduce requirements on importers and manufacturers to document efforts to avoid conflict-related supply chains. China has responded by developing guidelines for minerals supply chains and mining investment. The Chinese guidelines’ reference to the concept of risk-based due diligence is of particular relevance in this context. This concept was introduced by guidelines from the United Nations and elaborated in guidelines from the Organisation for Economic Collaboration and Development (OECD) as a company approach for identifying and managing its adverse impacts. The presentation will explain how it may complement Arctic host country policies and regulation on the prevention of adverse human rights impacts, and on stakeholder engagement in impact assessment for that purpose.

Speaker Details

Karin Buhmann is a Professor of Business & Human Rights at Copenhagen Business School (CBS), a Danish business university with a commitment to corporate sustainability. Her research and teaching focus on public regulations to connect business activity and public policy. Karin’s research has a strong focus on the interaction between public and private hard, soft, and smart-mix regulation; sources of norms; and their implementation in national and transnational contexts. Her Arctic-related research interests focus on potential beneficial as well as adverse social impacts of natural resource exploration and extraction and on citizen involvement in impact assessment processes. Since 2012 Karin has served as one of the members of the Danish National Contact Point under the Organisations for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. She is the deputy representative at the University of the Arctic (UArctic) for CBS, and the lead and a founding member of the UArctic Thematic Network (TN) on Arctic Sustainable Resources and Social Responsibility. She has published widely in international journals and edited volumes. During the fall of 2018 she is a visiting Scholar at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Archive Presentation

Chinese Mineral Sourcing Interests & Greenland’s Potential as a Source of ‘Conflict-Free Minerals’ by Karin Buhmann (PDF-307 KB)

Attendees

Participant List - 32 Attendees (PDF - 66 KB)

Abstract

In recent years the northern Bering Sea and southern Chukchi Sea have undergone a reduction of sea ice and warming seawater temperatures. Time-series environmental and biological studies indicate faster seasonal sea ice retreat over the last 5 years in comparison to the previous 25 years, with 2018 having the highest bottom water temperatures in the record, and also setting a new threshold for sea ice minima. At the same time, dominant bottom dwelling animals (clams, amphipods and polychaetes) that are food for diving sea ducks, gray whales, and walruses are declining in biomass and where there is still high biomass, these prey patches are contracting northward. These time series studies are being accomplished as part of the Distributed Biological Observatory, which is an internationally coordinated effort that is generating seasonal and interannual data to better understand this changing ecosystem.

Speaker Details

Archive Presentation

Seminar Presenation (PPTX - 58.3 MB)

Attendees

Participant List - 80 Attendees (PDF - 99 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

Resilience encompasses community wellness, holistic education, effective leadership and sustenance of our way of life. Cultural resilience has always been a focus of our prominent elders, ancestors and our overall leadership. Resilience in modern life can be supported by decolonizing and indigenizing the state and federal educational systems that protect our heritage language, Indigenous knowledge system, cultural epistemic principles and values, prosperity of the people, and the wellbeing of the future leaders. The State of Alaska has adopted the state’s culturally relevant standards for Indigenous communities.

Speaker Details

Theresa Arevgaq John is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cross-cultural Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She has authored numerous academic articles and a co-author of a book Yupiit Yuraryarait: Yup’ik Ways of Dancing and has presented her work at dozens of local, national, and international professional conferences. Dr. John currently serves on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education and the International Indigenous Women’s Forum. She is a former member of the Alaskan State Council Arts and the former Chair of the Traditional Native Arts Panel. She is also the recipient of the Governor's Distinguished Humanities Educator Award and Alaska State Library Award. Dr. John received her B.S., M.Ed., and Ph.D. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Attendees

Participant List - 67 Attendees (PDF - 103 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

More than a decade of national media attention to the human impacts of climate change in the Arctic has largely framed communities as victims to sell the urgency of mitigation to the public. The talk will focus on Arnold’s own experience and current research of media coverage to discuss the need for journalism and science communication that includes both threat and efficacy.

Speaker Details

Elizabeth Arnold is a former National Public Radio (NPR) Political Correspondent, an Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Alaska, and the producer of arcticprofiles.com. For twenty years she was a familiar voice on Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and a regular presence on PBS Washington Week, covering Congress, the White House, and the American West. Arnold has received numerous awards, including a duPont Columbia Silver Baton and the Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress. Over the last decade, she has reported on the ecological and human impacts of global warming from some of the most remote areas of the Arctic. She is currently a Fellow at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy where she is researching the role of the press in effectively communicating climate change.

Archive Presentation

Seminar Slides (PDF - 6 MB)

Attendees

Participant List - 85 Attendees (PDF - 648 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

The State Council Information Office of China published a white paper titled "China's Arctic Policy" on January 26, 2018. China’s policy goals in the Arctic are shaped by four key principles—to understand, protect, develop and participate in the governance of the Arctic. In order to realize these policy goals, the white paper emphasizes the need for “respect, cooperation, win-win result and sustainability.” These policy goals and principles are reflected in the respective areas that China has shown interest in, ranging from participating in Arctic governance affairs, promoting bilateral diplomacy in the Arctic area, accessing potential resources to exploiting shipping opportunities and undertaking polar research. China’s Arctic strategy is just beginning and it still faces many challenges, including the Arctic States’ disputes over territorial sovereignty, vigilance among certain countries, constraints from the United National Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the natural environment in the Arctic region and China’s technological constraints. Nevertheless, with China’s newly released Arctic policy white paper, China has emphasized a key theme—cooperation

Speaker Details

Dr. HONG Nong is Executive Director and Senior Fellow of Institute for China– America Studies. Dr. Hong holds a PhD of interdisciplinary study of international law and international relations from the University of Alberta, Canada and held a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the University’s China Institute. She was ITLOS-Nippon Fellow for International Dispute Settlement (2008-2009), and Visiting Fellow at the Center of Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia (2009) and at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (2007). She is concurrently a research fellow with the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, China, and China Institute, University of Alberta, Canada. Her research takes an interdisciplinary approach to examining international relations and international law, with focus on International Relations and Comparative Politics in general; ocean governance in East Asia and the Arctic; law of the sea; international security, particularly non-traditional security; and international dispute settlement and conflict resolution.

Dr. Hong's selected publications include Maritime Order and the Law in East Asia (Routeldge, 2018，co-edited with Gordon Houlden), UNCLOS and Ocean Dispute Settlement: Law and Politics in the South China Sea (Abingdon, New York: Routledge, 2012); Maritime Security Issues in the South China Sea and the Arctic: Sharpened Competition or Collaboration? (Beijing: China Democracy and Legal System Publishing House, 2012, co-edited with Gordon Houlden); Recent Developments in the South China Sea Dispute: The Prospect of a Joint Development Regime (London and New York: Ashgate, 2014, co-edited with Wu Shicun); UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the South China Sea (Surrey: Ashgate, 2015, co-edited with Wu Shicun, Mark Valencia).

Attendees

Participant List - 66 Attendees (PDF - 352 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

The Arctic is undergoing unprecedented changes driven by the impacts of climate change, globalization and related political, cultural and biophysical fluxes. The talk presents the works of the Arctic Design Group that foregrounds design in the act of framing and re-imagining the potential futures of the Arctic, while offering ways of re-engaging with environmental phenomena as malleable design media.

Speaker Details

Attendees

Participant List - 41 Attendees (PDF - 344 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

Russia's ambitions for the Arctic have been shaping the geopolitical landscape of the region, both in terms of securitization, governance, and territorial disputes. Yet many aspects of Russia's Arctic policy are based on on domestic imperatives such as that of regional development, transport and infrastructure sustainability, and challenging population management. Moscow envisions shipping routes and energy projects as a leverage for development, but several serious economic, social and climatic elements hamper these projects. This presentation will discuss the dominant role of domestic factors, and their articulation with Russia's foreign policy stances for the Arctic.

Speaker Details

Marlene Laruelle is Research Professor of International Affairs and Associate Director of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. She explores contemporary political, social and cultural changes in Russia and Central Asia through the prism of ideologies and nationalism. On Russia’s Arctic, she has authored Russia’s Strategies in the Arctic and the Future of the Far North (M.E. Sharpe, 2013), and edited New Mobilities and Social Changes in Russia’s Arctic Regions (Routledge, 2016). She is co-PI on several grants from NSF and Belmont Forum studying Arctic urban sustainability.

Archive Presentation

Presentation Slides (PDF - 22 MB)

Attendees

Participant List - 97 Attendees (PDF - 93 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

One of the goals for the IARPC Arctic Research Plan: FY2017-2021 is to “Enhance understanding of health determinants and improve the wellbeing of Arctic residents.” Specific research objectives under this goal include but are not limited to supporting integrative approaches to human health that recognize the connections among people, wildlife, the environment, and climate; promoting research, sustainable development, and community resilience to address health disparities associated with underlying social determinants of health and wellbeing; and increasing understanding of mental health, substance abuse, and wellbeing for Alaskan youth. Following the efforts of the RISING SUN initiative under the 2015-2017 US Chairmanship of the Arctic Council, which developed community-based and prioritized outcomes to evaluate suicide prevention interventions among Indigenous populations across the circumpolar Arctic, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is committed to furthering research focused on reducing the burden of suicide and promoting resilience among Indigenous youth. Specifically, through cooperative agreements, NIMH has provided funding to establish and support regional collaborative hubs, including in Alaska, whose research teams will (a) conduct preventive interventions research, including strengths-based/resilience-focused approaches, with the goal of reducing suicide in indigenous youth, and (b) conduct outreach and dissemination activities to promote community engagement in research activities and enable community decision-makers to use science-based information to develop and assess mental health policies and programs. This webinar will provide an overview of research and other activities supported by the NIMH/NIH that aims to improve the mental health and wellbeing of Arctic residents.

Speaker Details

Roberto is Program Director for the Arctic Observing Network (AON) in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Office of Polar Programs (OPP), co-leads the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee's (IARPC) Environmental Intelligence Collaboration Team, co-chaired the IARPC Principles Revision Working Group, is a member of the US AON Board, and is helping to manage NSF's Navigating the New Arctic Big Idea. Prior to joining OPP's Section for Arctic Sciences, Roberto served as a program chief at the National Institutes of Health, where he co-led the IARPC Health and Wellbeing Collaboration Team, coordinated the Arctic Council's RISING SUN initiative, and managed contracts, cooperative agreements, and research grants focused on resilience and well-being among rural, global, Arctic, and American Indian and Alaska Native communities. He earned his doctorate in Biological Anthropology and Anatomy (now Evolutionary Anthropology) from Duke University, with expertise in biodiversity, evolutionary ecology, Indigenous peoples, protected areas management and monitoring, terrestrial ecosystems, and wildlife biology. He also previously held research faculty positions at Hunter College of the City University of New York and the University of Southern California.

Dr. Horvath Marques serves as Chief of the Mental Health Disparity Program at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Office for Research and Disparities and Global Mental Health (ORDGMH). She is trained as a psychiatrist, a neuroscientist, and public mental health researcher. An experienced psychiatrist and public mental health research professional, she manages a grant portfolio focused on suicide prevention in Native American and Native Alaskan communities. Dr. Horvath Marques coordinates NIMH efforts related to Mental Health Disparities research and co-leads the NIMH's Mental Health Equity Workgroup. She supports the ORDGMH Global Mental Health Program by serving as a Project Scientist for the Research Partnerships for Scaling Up Mental Health Interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Dr. Horvath Marques earned an MD with specialization in Psychiatry and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychiatry from the University of São Paulo's School of Medicine. She also earned a Masters of Public Health from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

Archive Presentation

Presentation Slides (PDF - 3 MB)

Attendees

Participant List - 49 Attendees (PDF - 77 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

Indigenous studies scholars assertively emplace Indigenous values, cosmologies, and frameworks as critical to conservation, natural resource management, and desired futures. Similarly, a new wave of conservation initiatives encompass transdisciplinary efforts to address the intersection between conservation and well-being and in doing so promote integrated frameworks, such as socio-ecological systems paradigms, and participatory and community-based research designs. These empirical, theoretical, and methodological trends attempt to reconceptualize the role of communities in local to global environmental governance as well as reshape the way in which researchers engage with pressing social and environmental questions with and alongside communities. Drawing from a collaborative research project with the community Utqiagvik, Alaska, we detail best practices for social science environmental research programs that operate at the nexus of conservation, community-directed heritage efforts, community-based practice, and multi-institutional partnerships. We emphasize the complexities of these types of relationships to: (1) recognize the heterogeneity of gendered and generational perspectives within and across communities, (2) acknowledge the possibilities of productive discussions that place diverse ontological and epistemological conceptualizations of human-environmental dynamics together, (3) challenge top-down solutions, institutional norms, and bureaucratic restrictions that may serve as barriers to best practices, and (4) identify multimedia and internet-based outputs that can serve both local and researcher constituents. In this work, we prioritize community-based norms, standards, and worldviews as guiding principles for practice, demonstrating pathways to better direct research and academia towards deconstructing hierarchical research relationships. Furthermore we describe how to produce reciprocal relationships that meaningfully reverberate across different scales (community, researcher-participant, and academic) in order to adequately address well-being in times of change.

Speaker Details

Courtney Carothers is an associate professor of fisheries in the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She is an environmental anthropologist currently researching how fishery systems are being remade by enclosure and privatization processes and the total environment of change facing Arctic Indigenous communities. Her work explores human-environment relationships, cultural values, equity, and well-being. She has co-edited two books and published over 30 articles and book chapters on these topics. She currently serves on a number of boards and working groups, including: the SEARCH (Study of Environmental Arctic Change) Science Steering Committee, the North Pacific Research Board Science Panel, the Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund Expert Panel, the State of Alaska's Salmon and People.

Laura Zanotti is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Purdue University and holds a PhD from the University of Washington. She also has affiliations with the Center for the Environment, American Studies, Latin American and Latino Studies, and the Climate Change Research Center. Zanotti is an environmental anthropologist and interdisciplinary social scientist whose research program partners with communities to better understand how local, mostly rural, livelihoods and well-being can be sustained for future generations. Using a feminist political ecology framework, Zanotti maps out spatial inequalities and injustices experienced by resource-dependent communities and highlights local creativity in the context of acute change. In all of her work she stitches together insights from visual anthropology and engaged anthropology to create collaborative and meaningful projects. Her work has resulted in over ten published articles, an edited volume with Routledge, and several book chapters. Her book, Radical Territories in the Brazilian Amazon: the Kayapo’s Fight for Just Livelihoods, was recently published by the University of Arizona press. Zanotti’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and Purdue University.

Archive Presentation

Presentation Slides (PDF - 36 MB)

Attendees

Participant List - 80 Attendees (PDF - 64 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

Arctic Observations, Data, and Society: Using Systems Science and Mediation to Enhance Information Flow for Sustainability

Recent environmental and social change has resulted in an increased focus on the Arctic region by governments and the general public. Much of this interest is generated in the context of the concept of sustainability and the global implications of a changing Arctic. Concurrently, there is a recognition by researchers, Arctic communities and decision makers that Arctic observations and data are not readily available in a usable form to all who need them. This talk provides a review of Arctic data as a complex system of interrelated data resources, technology, funding, human and machine actors and other components that can be seen as an "ecosystem". To improve the flow of information will require more than simply making data easier to discover and access in its raw form. New approaches to mediating or transforming data to meet the needs of different user communities are needed and increasingly possible. Enhancing the system will require a broad commitment to dialogue across different communities of practice and a recognition of the need to conceive of data and related technologies as infrastructure that can interoperate from local to global scales. The talk concludes with a review of existing and emerging projects and programs focused on Arctic data.

Speaker Details

Peter Pulsifer is a research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), University of Colorado at Boulder where he leads the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic project (ELOKA, http://eloka-arctic.org). His research addresses questions related to the use of geographic information with a particular focus on supporting interoperability: the ability of information systems to readily share information and/or operations. As an applied researcher, Dr. Pulsifer has focused on theory and practice in the context of polar information management. More recently, he has worked with members of arctic communities to facilitate the sharing of local observations and traditional knowledge

For more than a decade, Dr. Pulsifer has been active in the coordination of international polar data activities. He has done this through participation in the Standing Committee on Antarctic Data Management, the GEO Cold Regions Initiative, the International Polar Year Data and Information Service and a number of other initiatives. At present, he chairs the Arctic Data Committee, a body of the International Arctic Science Committee and the Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks program. Pulsifer also co-chairs the Arctic Data sub-team of the U.S. Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC). Peter splits his time between Boulder, Colorado and Ottawa, Canada.

Attendees

Participant List (66 Participants, PDF - 104 KB)

Archive Video

Abstract

Betsy Baker, Executive Director of the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB) based in Anchorage, AK, will discuss current research supporting fisheries and integrated ecosystem information needs in the Arctic, Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. Speaking from her current work directing a science funding non-profit, past experience as a professor of international, ocean, and environmental law, and her collaborations with scientists, federal agencies, Arctic Council working groups and Permanent Participants, she will discuss emerging challenges and opportunities for the Arctic research community.

Speaker Details

Archive Presentation

Seminar Slides (PDF - 1.77 MB)

Attendees

Participant List (66 Participants - PDF 98 KB)

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Abstract

In September 2016, NOAA and other US agencies submitted a deliverable to the White House Arctic Science Ministerial (WHASM) to formally establish and fund the coordination of a US AON initiative. This US AON initiative brings new coordination capabilities on-line to support and strengthen US engagement in sustained and coordinated pan-Arctic observing and data sharing systems that serve societal needs. US AON promotes the vision of well-defined observing networks that enable users to have access to high quality data that will realize pan-Arctic and global value-added services and provide societal benefits. This talk will describe the capabilities of the new US AON initiative and how those capabilities are being mobilized towards both the “backward” and “forward” problems of Arctic observing. Solving the “backward problem” requires drawing existing observations into interoperable, multi-sensor, value-added data products. Solving the “forward problem” requires the alignment of multiple agency needs and capabilities to coordinate and design the network that is “needed”. Both approaches have their own unique benefits and constraints which will be explored during this presentation.

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Why are changes in the Earth’s Climate System in and across the Arctic important to the peoples of the Arctic and for the rest of the world? Warming in the Arctic is occurring at twice the rate elsewhere in the world.  This is driving sweeping changes that will impact communities in the Arctic and all over the world. Scientist have documented that the sea ice has lost 80% of its mass, the permafrost is thawing as rates unseen for 100’s of thousands of years. The glaciers of Greenland are adding to sea level rise at unprecedented rates.

Why it Matters to People in the Arctic and for the Rest of the World: First, Arctic communities are at the front lines of extreme weather events, facing collapsing infrastructure, threatened food security, and growing health concerns.  Meanwhile, warming temperatures and melting ice are opening the Arctic to increased shipping and resource extraction.

Second, these major changes in the Arctic will be explore as they are already affecting the rest of the world: (a) Sea Level Rise, (b) Opening of the Seaways, (c) Weather Extremes, (d) Ocean Acidification, (e) Thawing Permafrost, and (f) Changes in Governance and the Geopolitical Landscape.

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Dr. Robert W. Corell is a Principal at the Global Environment Technology Foundation and Leads its Center for Energy and Climate Solutions. He has several recent academic appointments, including an Adjunct Professorship at the University of Miami’s Department of Ocean Sciences, and Professorship at the University of the Arctic. He recently held the Arctic Chair at the University of Tromsø, Norway. He is Chair of the Board and Chief Scientist at the International Sea Level Institute. He is a Senior Fellow at the the Consortium for Ocean Leadership. He most recently led a comprehensive study of governance issues in the circumpolar Arctic. In 2013, chaired and was the lead author of the 2013 UNEP Year Book on “The View from the Top Searching for Responses to a Rapidly Changing Arctic” and the Co-Chair of the 2016 UNEP’s GEO-6 North American Regional Assessment. In 2010, Dr. Corell was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Veterinarian Medicine by the Norges Veterinærhøgskole (Norwegian School of Veterinarian Science) and a 2008 Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Alaska, Anchorage. In 2003 A circular mountain region forming the head of a glacier in Antarctica was named the “Corell Cirque” by the Board on Geographical Names (79°54′00″S, 155°57′00″E).

Dr. Corell is actively engaged in research concerned with the sciences of global change and the interface between science and public policy, particularly research activities that are focused on global and regional climate change, related environmental issues, and science to facilitate understanding of vulnerability and sustainable development, for example, he is the lead Editor of “The Arctic in the World Affairs: Emerging Issues, Policy Responses”, a book to be released in June 2017. He has published several dozen peer-reviewed articles and book chapters during the past decade. He is a Science Advisor to the National Geographic “Years of Living Dangerously” TV series.

Dr. Corell was Assistant Director for Geosciences at the National Science Foundation (1987-2000) where he had oversight for the Atmospheric, Earth, Ocean Sciences, Polar Programs and was Chair of the United States Global Change Research Program (1987-2000). He was also a professor and academic administrator at the University of New Hampshire.  Dr. Corell is an oceanographer and engineer by background and training, having received Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees at Case Western Reserve University and MIT. He has also held visiting scientist appointments at the Woods Hole Institution of Oceanography, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Washington.

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Climate change is destabilizing the Arctic environment and rendering its communities vulnerable. Yet new infrastructure projects are springing up on top of the shifting landscape, from ports along Russia’s northern coast to highways in Canada. This presentation will examine how certain northern communities have managed to benefit from and occasionally spearhead major new transportation infrastructure projects while others remain sidelined as their resources are extracted and exported, often for consumption in the world’s urban core. Addressing this topic requires first determining patterns of economic development in the Arctic at a regional scale, which are shown for the past two decades using night light satellite imagery. Fieldwork conducted in Canada and Russia helps explain how certain infrastructure projects are negotiated and brought into being at a local scale while drawing attention to both the benefits and risks of industrial development. Taken together, this presentation aims to identify the mechanisms which are selectively connecting certain northern communities to regional and global transportation networks.

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Mia Bennett is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at UCLA and founder and editor of the Cryopolitics blog. Her research examines the drivers and impacts of contemporary Arctic industrial development by merging fieldwork, policy analysis, and remote sensing. Currently, she focuses on transportation infrastructure projects in Canada's Northwest Territories and the Russian Far East. Mia received an MPhil in Polar Studies from the University of Cambridge, where her research focused on the roles of China, Japan, and South Korea in the Arctic. She speaks French, Swedish, and Russian and has traveled extensively in the Arctic, from the Greenland Ice Sheet to northeast Russia. She shares photographs from her journeys on her blog and can be followed on Twitter @miageografia.

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Science has long recognized the challenges associated with interdisciplinary research – from the tacit norms associated with the discipline bound university department to the difficulty inherent in communicating and collaborating across disciplines. Despite this fact, we have continually struggled with overcoming the challenges arising from interdisciplinary interaction. This is a particularly complex form of collaborative cognition where knowledge from varied fields needs to elicited and integrated. In this talk I first discuss interdisciplinary research in the context of team science. I focus on the developing field of the science of team science. This area of inquiry is designed to support a broad swath of team researchers such that we can examine basic and applied scientific issues of tremendous societal importance. Second, I provide detail on specific challenges faced by scientists working in teams (e.g., conflict) and how these can be better understood and addressed. My goal is provide macro and micro level perspectives on scientific teamwork and show how a multidisciplinary approach to theory and practice can contribute to understanding and improving solving important scientific and societal problems.

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Dr. Stephen M. Fiore, is Director, Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, and Professor with the University of Central Florida's Cognitive Sciences Program in the Department of Philosophy and Institute for Simulation & Training. He is Past-President of the Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research and a founding Program Committee member for the annual Science of Team Science Conference. He maintains a multidisciplinary research interest that incorporates aspects of the cognitive, social, organizational, and computational sciences in the investigation of learning and performance in individuals and teams. His primary area of research is the interdisciplinary study of complex collaborative cognition and the understanding of how humans interact socially and with technology. Dr. Fiore has been a visiting scholar for the study of shared and extended cognition at École Normale Supérieure de Lyon in Lyon, France (2010) and he was a member of the expert panel for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which focused on collaborative problem solving skills. He has contributed to working groups for the National Academies of Science in understanding and measuring "21st Century Skills" and was a committee member of their "Science of Team Science" consensus study. He is co-author of a book on "Accelerating Expertise" (2013) and is a co-editor of volumes on Shared Cognition (2012), Macrocognition in Teams (2008), Distributed Training (2007), Team Cognition (2004). Dr. Fiore has also co-authored nearly 200 scholarly publications in the area of learning, memory, and problem solving at the individual and the group level.

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The vast changes taking place across the Arctic are turning the once isolated region into an area of increased economic activity and opportunity. Declining sea ice extent is not only exposing natural resources, but also new routes to connect once distant economies. Routes initially seen as impossible to navigate are viewed as future alternatives to some of the world’s most popular channels. This presentation will discuss the future of Arctic shipping, including areas of cooperation between Arctic actors. As traffic increases, Arctic states should develop new management schemes that reduce the risk of maritime accidents and minimize the negative impacts on the environment, while realizing the growing economic benefits.

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Heather A. Conley is senior vice president for Europe, Eurasia, and the Arctic and director of the Europe Program at CSIS. Prior to joining CSIS in 2009, she served as executive director of the Office of the Chairman of the Board at the American National Red Cross. From 2001 to 2005, she served as deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau for European and Eurasian Affairs with responsibilities for U.S. bilateral relations with the countries of northern and central Europe. From 1994 to 2001, she was a senior associate with an international consulting firm led by former U.S. deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage. Ms. Conley began her career in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. She was selected to serve as special assistant to the coordinator of U.S. assistance to the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. Ms. Conley is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Arctic and is frequently featured as a foreign policy analyst on CNN, MSNBC, BBC, NPR, and PBS. She received her B.A. in international studies from West Virginia Wesleyan College and her M.A. in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

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Seminar Attendees - 94 Participants (PDF - 122 KB)

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After a brief review of the US Arctic Research Commission, an independent federal agency, that includes a description of its purpose, duties, personnel, activities, publication, and working groups, USARC’s Executive Director speaks on the topic of science and public policy, addressing current questions and long-standing truths.

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Dr. John Farrell is the Executive Director of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, an independent federal agency of Presidential appointees that advises the White House and Congress on Arctic research matters and works with executive branch agencies to establish and execute a national Arctic research plan. The Commission also facilitates cooperation with local and state governments and recommends means for developing international scientific cooperation in the Arctic.

Farrell previously served as the Associate Dean of Research and Administration at the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island. Before that, he was Director of the international Ocean Drilling Program that involved over 20 nations and had an annual budget of approximately $65M/yr. The program was dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of the Earth.

Farrell helped organized and conduct the first successful international scientific ocean drilling expedition to the high Arctic in 2004. He also participated in a US ocean mapping effort aboard the icebreaker US Coast Guard Cutter Healy in 2012.

He obtained a Ph.D. and Sc.M. in geological sciences from Brown University, and a B.A. in geology from Franklin and Marshall College. He was a NSF-funded Post-Doctoral Fellow at Brown University and an NSERC-funded Senior Research Associate at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada.

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Craig is Gwich’in and originally from Fort Yukon, Alaska and currently resides in Anchorage.

From 2010-2013 he served as the Deputy Commissioner of Game, Subsistence, and Habitat for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game in Anchorage, Alaska providing policy oversight on wildlife and subsistence management representing the department at the Board of Game, Arctic Policy forums, legislative briefings, and outreach. Additionally, he served from 2008-2010 as the Director of the Division of Subsistence.

Craig served as the Executive Director of the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments until 2007 where he managed health care, education, and natural resources. He was the first Director of Natural Resources in Fort Yukon and served as the regional biologist for several years.

He has spent more than 28 years in the military with four years in the U.S. Marine Corps and 24 years in the Alaska National Guard where he continues to serve as a Major and the Senior Intelligence Officer with the 176th Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Craig brings decades of experience conducting research in the Arctic. He’s provided support to search and rescue missions throughout Alaska, served as a permanent participant to the Arctic Council including in-depth work on several of the working groups of the Arctic Council. He has worked on human dimensions issues related to subsistence, climate change, and adaptation in the Arctic and served on numerous boards and commissions such as the Gwich’in Council International, International Porcupine Caribou Board, and the Yukon River Panel.

He has a Master of Arts, graduating with honors, in Intelligence Studies from American Public University where in 2013 he wrote a thesis on U.S. Arctic Policy; A Race for the Arctic. He graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1999 with a BSc. in Natural Resources Management and completed substantial work towards an MSc. in Wildlife Biology through the Resources and the Environment Program at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.

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Seminar Attendees - 92 Participants (PDF - 138 KB)

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The Arctic sea-ice cover is in the midst of a major transformation, with the Pacific Arctic sector and Alaska experiencing some of the most profound changes in ice cover anywhere in the Arctic. With impacts on Arctic coastal communities and increases in maritime activities, both observations of changes underway and predictions at the scale of less than a week to several months out are of importance to the research community and those living and operating in ice-covered seas. The presentation will explore key benefits or hazards deriving from sea ice, and explore the types of information and predictions most relevant to sea ice users, with a focus on Alaska coastal environments. Specifically, use of coastal land fast ice by Indigenous communities and industry serves to illustrate the importance of stakeholder input and guidance in defining the research problem and types of observations and predictions needed. The presentation will explore how the combination of surface-based observations, Indigenous and local knowledge, and remote sensing is particularly effective in addressing a hierarchy of issues of deriving from rapid changes in coastal ice environments.

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Hajo Eicken is Professor of Geophysics and Director of the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. His research focuses on sea ice geophysics, Arctic coastal processes, and their importance for human activities and ecosystems. In Alaska he has helped lead efforts to advance collaborative research with Indigenous knowledge holders and to enhance use of scientific data by Arctic communities and government agencies. For more than a decade, he has worked with colleagues to establish a sea-ice observatory at Utqiaġvik/Pt. Barrow. Other collaborative efforts include his involvement in helping launch the Arctic Sea Ice Outlook and Sea Ice Prediction Network, his co-leadership of the Arctic Observing Summit, and service as Chair of a National Academies Standing Committee on Offshore Science and Assessment.

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George Divoky is the founder of Friends of Cooper Island and serves as its director. He has studied seabirds in arctic Alaska since 1970 and has participated in studies and assessments related to oil and gas development and regional climate change. Since 1975 he has maintained a continuing study of Black Guillemots on Cooper Island, Alaska, in the western Beaufort Sea. The study is one of the longest longitudinal bird studies in the Arctic and its findings on the consequences of decadal-scale reductions in snow and sea ice provide some of the best examples of the biological consequences of climate change.

Divoky’s research was featured in a cover story in the New York Times Magazine entitled “George Divoky’s Planet,” in the Scientific American Frontiers program “Hot Times in Alaska” and on ABC Nightly News and Nightline. He was a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman and his work and findings were featured in a play about climate change, Greenland, presented at the Royal National Theatre in London in 2011.

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Why do people move to an eroding village? Why do fishermen go farther north in the Bering Sea in cold years? Why would hunters report an ecosystem in trouble when subsistence harvests are up? And what does AmazonPrime have to do with food security?

Research on human-environment interactions in the Arctic has demonstrated the strong connections between people and their ecosystems. But those connections do not always lead to the outcomes one might expect. In addition to examining the physical and biological aspects of Arctic change, we need more attention to the social dynamics that shape human responses to climate and other types of change.

This presentation will review some of the basics of what we know in these areas, and then discuss how to start studying the things we cannot yet explain.

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Henry P. Huntington earned his bachelor’s degree in English at Princeton University and his master’s and doctorate in Polar Studies at the University of Cambridge. He lives in Eagle River, Alaska, where he works as an independent researcher and on Arctic Ocean conservation for Ocean Conservancy. Huntington’s research activities include reviewing the regulation of subsistence hunting in northern Alaska, documenting traditional ecological knowledge of marine mammals, examining Iñupiat Eskimo and Inuit knowledge and use of sea ice, and assessing the impacts of climate change on Arctic communities and Arctic marine mammals. Huntington has been involved in a number of international research programs, such as the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, the Program for the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, and the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment. He was co-chair of the National Academy of Sciences committee on emerging research questions in the Arctic and a member of the Council of Canadian Academies panel on the state of knowledge of food security in the North. Huntington has written many academic and popular articles, as well as three books. He has made long trips in the Arctic by dog team, open boat, and snowmobile.

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Mark's presentation will provide an update on the activities of the U.S. Arctic Executive Steering Committee and the upcoming White House Arctic Science Ministerial being planned for this fall.

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Former United States Ambassador to Sweden Mark Brzezinski serves as Executive Director of the U.S. Government's Arctic Executive Steering Committee. On January 21st, 2015, in recognition of the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the Arctic, President Obama issued an Executive Order to enhance coordination of national efforts in the Arctic. The Executive Order creates expanded opportunities for Alaskans and those in the Federal government to work on Arctic issues and establishes a clear structure to improve the coordination of Federal Arctic activity.

An Arctic Executive Steering Committee (AESC) was established to oversee implementation of the National Strategy for the Arctic Region. The AESC convenes at the Deputy Secretary level to guide the development of department and agency plans to assure that Federal activity is well-coordinated and better communicated to partners such as the State of Alaska, Alaska Native communities, the U.S. Congress, the business community, international partners, and other stakeholders. Dr. John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, serves as the AESC Chair.

As U.S. Ambassador to Sweden between 2011-2015, Mark worked closely with the Swedish Government during its Chairmanship of the Arctic Council. The U.S. is one of eight member nations of the Arctic Council, and currently is the Council's Chair. In May 2013, Mark joined the U.S. Delegation led by Secretary of State John Kerry to the Arctic Council Ministerial in Kiruna, Sweden, above the Arctic Circle. At that ministerial, key agreements involving Arctic search and rescue, oil spill preparedness and cleanup, and inclusion of non-Arctic nations as Arctic Council observers were advanced. In September 2013, Mark welcomed President Barack Obama to Stockholm for a historic, first ever visit by a sitting U.S. President to Sweden's capital. In Stockholm, President Obama and all five heads of government of the Nordic countries met together to discuss a shared approach to climate change and the future of the Arctic among other issues.

Mark made the Arctic a central focus of his tenure in Sweden. Speaking in February 2015 at Dartmouth College where he gave the Montgomery Fellowship lecture on the Arctic, Mark noted that "the Arctic is simultaneously a strategic problem and a human problem." At the U.S. Embassy, he developed new partnerships with government and diplomats, business, media and entertainment, and the environmental and NGO community to consider the link between what is happening in the Arctic and what is happening in the rest of the world. He used new communications and social-media tools to share how the looming crisis confronting the Arctic is a tangible preview of the crisis confronting the world as a whole. Mark initiated and helped develop the new U.S. Fulbright Scholarship devoted to the study of the future of the Arctic. The new Arctic Fulbright, funded by the State Department, is a unique two-year program composed of researchers selected from the eight Arctic Council countries.

Mark served on the National Security Council staff under President Clinton between 1999-2001, first as Director for Russia and Eurasia, then as Director for the Balkans. He received his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College, his law degree at the University of Virginia Law School and has Doctorate in political science from Oxford University. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Warsaw, Poland between 1991-1993. He was a partner at a Washington, DC law firm before joining the Obama Administration, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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Seminar Attendees - 101 Participants (PDF - 125 KB)

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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 local scales.

This event is being conducted in partnership with The Arctic Institute

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The intensity and extent of ocean acidification in the Arctic will increase rapidly as atmospheric CO2 levels continue to rise making the region a bellwether for the global ocean during the next few decades. The environmental changes brought on by ocean acidification could pose a significant threat to Arctic ecosystems that are already facing challenges from changes in sea ice distribution, warming and increased freshwater discharge. New ways of collecting and integrating critical environmental intelligence will be discussed in the context of developing resilience and adaptation strategies for dealing with ocean acidification.

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Dr. Jeremy Mathis is the Director of the Arctic Research Program in NOAAs Office of Ocean and Atmospheric Research. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Miami. Dr. Mathis has worked in Alaska and the Arctic for more than 12 years and has published over 75 research articles on ocean acidification and the carbon cycle. In 2015, he was awarded a Silver Medal from the Department of Commerce for his work using groundbreaking technology to gather environmental intelligence on ocean acidification in Alaska.

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Does it seem as though the weather gods have gone crazy lately? It is not your imagination. The question on everyone’s minds is why? And is it related to climate change? In this presentation, I will explain new research that links increasing extreme weather events with the rapidly warming and melting Arctic during recent decades. Evidence suggests that Arctic warming is causing weather patterns to become more persistent, which can lead to extremes such as droughts, cold spells, heat waves, and some flooding events.

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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.

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Dr. Brigham-Grette has been on the faculty at UMass since 1987. Her research interests are on the stratigraphy, sedimentology, and chronology of geologic systems that record the climate evolution and sea level history of the Arctic over the past 3.5 Million years, when CO2 in the atmosphere was ~400 ppm. Her research program is largely aimed at documenting the global context of ancient environmental change across Beringia, i.e., the Bering Land Bridge, stretching across the western Arctic from Alaska and the Yukon into northeastern Russia and adjacent marginal seas. Brigham-Grette is the U.S. Chief Scientist of the Elgygytgyn Lake Scientific Drilling project, a multinational program leading to the first unprecedented recovery of a 3.6 million year old record of Arctic paleoclimate in 2009. She has also been studying with her graduate students evidence of past sea ice changes and paleoceanography across the Arctic-Pacific gateway. Since 2005, she has collaborated with colleagues at Northern Illinois University conducting a research program for undergraduate students on the massive retreat of Svalbard tidewater glaciers.

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