NOAA Seeks Comment on Draft Environmental Impact Statement on Arctic Oil and Gas Exploration. NOAA is seeking public comment on a draft environmental impact statement describing how offshore oil and gas activities in the U.S. Beaufort and Chukchi seas could affect marine mammals and the Alaska Native communities that depend on them for subsistence. The document also examines measures to lessen potential effects. The draft EIS looks at measures NOAA could adopt over the next five years as it issues incidental take authorizations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act in the area. The EIS will also contribute to decisions made by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on issuing permits for seismic surveys. The Maritime Executive 

Russian Icebreaker Tanker Renda. Since last Wed. Dec. 21, the NOAA Scientific Support Coordinator has been meeting daily with U.S. Coast Guard District personnel (Juneau, AK) and from the NOAA NWS Alaska office to plan for and to monitor the Russian icebreaker tanker, as it gradually makes it way to Nome, Alaska, through 300 miles of the Bering Sea ice pack to make a crucial delivery of winter fuel. No spill; just an extremely engaging, but potentially risky marine event. NOAA Incident News 

Scientists Test Sick Alaska Seals for Radiation. Scientists in Alaska are investigating whether local seals are being sickened by radiation from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Scores of ring seals have washed up on Alaska's Arctic coastline since July, suffering or killed by a mysterious disease marked by bleeding lesions on the hind flippers, irritated skin around the nose and eyes and patchy hair loss on the animals' fur coats. Biologists at first thought the seals were suffering from a virus, but they have so far been unable to identify one, and tests are now underway to find out if radiation is a factor. Environmental News Network 

Russian Troops Above America's Border: Canada's 'Red Dawn' moment? [Editorial/Blog] In August 2007, at the end of a series of war games uniting China and Russia, the Russians planted their flag at the North Pole, that singular place on earth where the world's axis seems to align itself with the North Star. The planting of the flag was a Sputnik moment, but underwater. Its purpose was to territorialize our northern regions as surely as a dog of war would pee on the frozen tundra to ward off Canadian coyotes. It should have been, but President George W. Bush, his imagination full of visions of Armageddon in the Holy Land conjured by Appalachian mountain preachers, missed it. Presidential hopefuls, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry in particular, should not. Until recently, threats to America via the splendid isolation of the Arctic seemed absurd. But now it is reported that Russia intends to send a combat brigade. The Hill 

Yukon Permafrost Yield Answers to Mysteries: Discoveries show that many Ice Age mammals survived longer than previously thought. University of Alberta scientist Duane Fro-ese was on sabbatical when he received a call from a Yukon miner who wanted to give him the tip about a site he planned to excavate. Like most Klondike miners, Tony Beets is a character. He's tall, bushy-haired, drives fast and uses colourful language. But he'd also been incredibly helpful over the years, moving in heavy equipment for scientists such as Froese, exposing layers of ancient permafrost that yielded the frozen bones of woolly mammoths, scimitar cats, short-faced bears and other animals that lived in this part of the world before the last major Ice Age ended 11,500 years ago. Vancouver Sun

US- Canada Arctic Ocean Partnership Leads to Better Data. A recent mission marked the completion of a five-year collaboration between the United States and Canada to survey the Arctic Ocean. The bilateral project collected scientific data to delineate the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the coastline, also known as the extended continental shelf (ECS). According to Deborah Hutchinson, PhD, geologist with the USGS and US science lead and liaison on board CCG Ship Louis S. St-Laurent, the amount and quality of the data collected as part of these joint Arctic missions met, and often exceeded, the expectations set each year. Hydro International 

US Needs to Act as Melting Ice Transforms Arctic. Santa Claus may see you when you're sleeping, but NORAD makes sure it sees Santa pretty much 'round the clock. The North American Aerospace Defense Command not only follows Saint Nick's sleigh ride with its famous NORAD Tracks Santa site, but it is also involved in a struggle over resources, border control and broader military presence right in Santa's vast and magnificent home: the Arctic. In April, President Obama signed a new command plan that gives NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command greater responsibility in protecting the North Pole and U.S. Arctic territory. The Arctic region -- covering more than 30 million square kilometers and stretching around the territorial borders of Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Norway, Russia and the United States by way of the Alaska coastline -- is transforming before our eyes. And not just because the ice is melting. It's increasingly the site of military posturing, and the United States isn't keeping up with the rest of the world. Anchorage Daily News

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.

Alaska Marine Science Symposium, January 16-20, 2012. The symposium was first held in 2002 to connect scientists in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and beyond in an effort to collaborate and communicate on research

activities in the marine regions off Alaska. There will be plenary and poster sessions featuring a broad spectrum of ocean science on issues of climate, oceanography, lower trophic levels, the benthos, fish and invertebrates, seabirds, marine mammals, local and traditional knowledge, and socioeconomic research. There will also be speakers, workshops and special sessions.

Workshop: Responding to Arctic Environmental Change: Translating Our Growing Understanding into a Research Agenda for Action Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2012.   Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. Co-sponsored by International Study of Arctic Change (ISAC) and the School of Policy Studies at Queen's University. Endorsed by the International Arctic Science Committee, this workshop is the first in a planned series of meetings that aim to collectively shape and coordinate initiatives for research that directly addresses the needs of stakeholders who are affected by change or who are addressing arctic environmental change. The long-term objective is to enable local people, the arctic nations and the wider global community, including the scientific community, to better respond to a changing Arctic. This workshop is a pre-IPY 2012 Conference event. It is intended to develop a science plan that will feed into and further evolve at IPY 2012 Conference "From Knowledge to Action". For more information and to register for the workshop go here.