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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.