Obama Signs Spending Bill, But Takes Issue With Some Provisions. As President Obama signed the fiscal 2011 spending package into law, he said he will seek repeal of provisions barring the transfer of Guantánamo Bay prisoners to the United States and restricting their transfer to foreign countries. Obama also said his administration will not be bound by another provision that would eliminate White House policy positions often called policy "czars." 

Most Canadians Believe Penguins in Arctic: Survey. The majority of Canadians believe those living in the North live in igloos and penguins may live in the Arctic, a new survey has found. Up Here magazine, which is based in Yellowknife, NWT, surveyed 303 Canadians in February and found knowledge about the north is low. The results - "were shocking and hilarious", the magazine's editor, Katharine Sandiford, said in a release. Toronto Sun

Scientists Want Climate Change Early-Warning System: More ground stations needed to measure greenhouse gases. A better monitoring network for greenhouses gases is needed to warn of significant changes and to keep countries that have agreed to cut their emissions honest, scientists said in papers published on Monday. "What we're hoping to do is see if the warming is feeding the warming, particularly in the Arctic," said Euan Nisbet, a specialist in methane emissions at the University of London. They are concerned, for example, that as Arctic permafrost melts it would allow plant matter to rot and vent methane, a greenhouse gas which could trigger more warming. Montreal Gazette

Congress Reconsiders How to Regulate Arctic Drilling. Arctic offshore oil and gas drilling was front-and-center in Washington D.C. this week as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives opened new fronts in its battle against government regulation. Several bills have been introduced recently that aim to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its mandate to control air and water quality under the Clean Air and Clean Water acts. Alaska Dispatch 

Report Warns of 'Crumbling' Arctic. Arctic coastlines are crumbling away and retreating at the rate of two meters or more a year due to the effects of climate change, it has been claimed. In some locations, up to 30 meters of the shore has been vanishing every year. The rapid rate of coastal erosion poses a major threat to local communities and ecosystems, according to a new report by more than 30 scientists from ten countries. Two-thirds of Arctic coasts consist of frozen soil, or permafrost, rather than rock, and are highly sensitive to erosion by wind and waves. Rising temperatures are melting protective sea ice fringing the coastlines and leaving them more exposed to the elements, say the experts. The report, "State of the Arctic Coast 2010", says ten-year average rates of coastal retreat are "typically in the one to two metres per year range, but vary up to 10 to 30 meters per year in some locations". Worst-hit areas include the Beaufort Sea, the East Siberian Sea and the Laptev Sea. Press Association

Marinette Marine Celebrates New Ship: Celebrates new ship, working returning. Work is beginning on the University of  Alaska Fairbanks' research vessel, the Sikuliaq. The ship will be 261 feet long and will be able to travel in ice-filled waters. Fox 11 

UAA Campus Celebrates Chancellor Fran Ulmer. Thursday afternoon, the University of Alaska Anchorage campus honored outgoing UAA Chancellor Fran Ulmer, who is retiring this spring. A former lieutenant governor and gubernatorial candidate, Ulmer is set to end yet another phase of her long career of public service. While she is leaving UAA, she's not retiring from public service altogether. President Barack Obama has appointed Ulmer as Chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and previously served on the president's commission on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. KTVA  

What do the Chinese Want in the Arctic? [Commentary] In 1999, the Chinese sailed, during their first Arctic voyage, into Tuktoyaktuk, NWT, after encountering difficulties navigating through heavy ice. Everyone in town, including the RCMP, was surprised to see them there, but shouldn't have been; the Chinese had asked for, and received, permission to enter Canadian waters weeks before, but the request was never communicated to the proper authorities. As a result, the event became a symbol of Canada's inability to monitor its waters and defend its sovereignty. Alaska Dispatch

Beaufort Sea Commercial Fishing Banned. Commercial fishing is off-limits in the Beaufort Sea, according to a new agreement between the federal government and the Inuvialuit people of the western Arctic. The memorandum of understanding, which both parties signed Friday in Inuvik, N.W.T., is the first step towards a comprehensive ocean management plan in the Beaufort Sea. CBC News

BOEMRE Awards $858,900 to Study Health of Important Subsistence Fish Populations in Alaska: Project will obtain baseline data for Arctic fish species. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) announced today that it has awarded a Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) grant for $858,900 to the state of Alaska's Department of Natural Resources. These funds will enable the department to study the life cycles of a variety of fish species, used for subsistence purposes by area residents, that inhabit the waters around Admiralty Bay, about 40 miles southwest of Barrow on Alaska's far northern coast. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement 

Murkowski Seeks Comments on Draft Legislation to Address Nation's Critical Minerals Supply Chain. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today released a discussion draft of legislation designed to revitalize the nation's critical minerals supply chain. Murkowski is asking for public comments on the draft by May 6. "Minerals are the building blocks of our economy," said Murkowski, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "From rare earth elements to molybdenum, we rely on minerals for everything from the smallest computer chips to the tallest skyscrapers. This draft bill provides clear, programmatic direction to keep us competitive with foreign nations and promote a stable supply of critical minerals."  Senator Lisa Murkowski 

Update: Coast Guard Host Meetings with Russia's Northeast Border Directorate in Kodiak, Anchorage. Rear Adm. Christopher Colvin, commander of the 17th Coast Guard District, is scheduled to host a bi-annual commanders meeting with Russian Lt. Gen. Raphael Alexeseevich Daerbaev, the chief of the Northeast Border Directorate of the Federal Security Service of Russia in Anchorage and Kodiak Sunday thru Wednesday. The 17th District and the NBD routinely coordinate international fisheries enforcement operations, responses to distresses at sea and law enforcement operations along the U.S./Russian Maritime Boundary Line in the Bering Sea. These meetings are held to review ongoing and future operations for cooperative efforts against illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, mutual maritime law enforcement activities and future activities in the Arctic, the Bering Sea and the North Pacific. U.S. Coast Guard

Lab Puts Sea Life to an Acid Test. Biologists at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center are doing some of the most sophisticated work anywhere to see how the marine world responds to a major side effect of fossil-fuel emissions: increasingly corrosive seas. As oceans absorb evermore carbon dioxide, pH levels of the world's seas have been dropping. And recent experiments in laboratories around the globe show such shifts in ocean chemistry can spark bizarre and serious changes in plants and animals. PhysOrg.com

NOAA Awards Contract to Manage Fairbanks Satellite Operations Facility. NOAA officials today announced that ASRC Aerospace Corp., of Greenbelt, Md., has been awarded a contract to operate and maintain the agency's Fairbanks Satellite Operations Facility (FSOF) located in Fairbanks, Alaska. Nestled in Alaska's Gilmore Valley, FSOF is farther north than any other satellite communications facility in North America. As a result, it receives more environmental satellite data than any other station and is a vital link to satellites operated by NOAA and other agencies. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

H.R. 1473, Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act.

The Arctic as a Messenger for Global Processes- Climate Change and Pollution (pdf), May 4-6, 2011. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), the University of Copenhagen, and Aarhus University. The conference will include talks by invited keynote speakers, oral presentations selected on the basis of submitted abstracts, poster presentations, and short oral presentations of selected posters. A panel discussion will develop messages to be communicated to the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting that will take place in Greenland one week after the conference. 

  
Sixth International Conference on Arctic Margins, May 31-June 2, 2011 at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks. The International Conference on Arctic Margins (ICAM) will examine current geological and geophysical research on the Arctic. Topics include: hydrocarbon potential and gas hydrates; science issues relating to UNCLOS Article 76; geodynamic significance of Arctic magmatism; vertical motions in the Arctic, tectonic, and glacial; geology and palaeogeography of the Arctic continental margins; evolution of the Arctic Ocean basins, including plate reconstructions, magmatism, and sedimentology; modern Arctic environments, including geological, climatic, and oceanographic processes; recent advances in Arctic research technology. More information email.  

American Meteorological Society Summer Policy Colloquium, June 5-14. This policy colloquium brings together a group to consider atmospheric policy.  The colloquium will cover policy creation basics, interactions with congressional staff, and information on the current atmospheric policy issues. 

The Arctic Imperative, June 19-21, 2011. The Alaska Dispatch, Aspen Institute, Commonwealth North, and the Institute of the North will host a forum titled "The Arctic Imperative: Think of the Bering Strait as the Next Panama Canal."  The forum will bring together international policymakers, industry, and investment leaders to consider topics just as security, resources, port development, marine shipping, commerce, and trade.