US Arctic Research Commission
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March 2, 2011

Today's Eventstodaysevents 

 

The Senate is expected to vote on a continuing resolution to extend government funding through March 18 and consider patent law reform. The House is expected to consider a rule on a bill to eliminate a tax reporting requirement in the health care reform legislation and then, a measure to extend surface transportation programs.

 

Fiscal 2012 Budget: Interior Department, March 2.The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on the fiscal 2012 budget request for the Department of Interior.

 

Media Reviewtodaysevents  

 

Boehner Says No to Month Long CR. Speaker John Boehner insisted Tuesday that the House would stick to its plan to pass a two-week continuing resolution. The White House wants Congress to pass a month long CR; administration officials met with Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday night to discuss the issue. Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, Boehner did not appear to budge. "If there had been a conversation about this 10 days ago or two days ago, we might have had something to talk about," the Ohio Republican said. "But the fact is we were forced to move on our own. I think we're taking a responsible path forward to keep the government open and meet our commitments to cut spending." Roll Call

 

Shutdown Threat Abates-for now. The Senate was scheduled to vote Wednesday morning on a two-week continuing resolution, sending the stopgap measure to the president and putting off the threat of a government shutdown until after St. Patrick's Day. Senate action comes on the heels of House passage of the two week CR, which passed on Tuesday, 335-91. Government Executive

 

Begich Secures Commitment for Rural Schools: Education Secretary Agrees to Rural Set Aside for Education Grants. U.S. Sen. Mark Begich today secured a begichcommitment from Education Secretary Arne Duncan to formulate a rural set aside for competitive grant programs impacting rural schools. In a Budget Committee hearing on the President's 2012 education budget, Sec. Duncan agreed with Sen. Begich that rural schools can be at a disadvantage when competing for federal grants with cities like Los Angeles and Chicago and adjustments need to be made to make sure rural schools can compete. Senator Mark Begich

 

Russia Enhances Control in the Arctic.  The Russian border guard service plans to establish a monitoring network in the Arctic from Murmansk to Wrangle Island. Barents Observer

 

Exopolymer Alteration of Physical Properties of Sea Ice and Implications for Ice Habitability and Biogeochemisty in a Warmer Arctic. The physical properties of Arctic sea ice determine its habitability. Whether ice-dwelling organisms can change those properties has rarely been addressed. Following discovery that sea ice contains an abundance of gelatinous extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), we examined the effects of algal EPS on the microstructure and salt retention of ice grown from saline solutions containing EPS from a culture of the sea-ice diatom, Melosira arctica. We also experimented with xanthan gum and with EPS from a culture of the cold-adapted bacterium Colwellia psychrerythraea strain 34H. Quantitative microscopic analyses of the artificial ice containing Melosira EPS revealed convoluted ice-pore morphologies of high fractal dimension, mimicking features found in EPS-rich coastal sea ice, whereas EPS-free (control) ice featured much simpler pore geometries. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the Untied States of America

 Serreze

Climate Change Makes Major Snowstorms More Likely. The warming trends have been particularly strong in the Arctic, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. Serreze, who has been studying Arctic climate since the early 1980's, noted that temperatures there have been near record high levels this winter and that the area covered with sea ice shrunk to record low levels for December, January and February. Union of Concerned Scientists

 

Feds Fund Climate Change Study in Alaska's Conservation Plan. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Alaska Department of Fish and Game are working together to conserve species, habitats, and ecosystems on a landscape level, a press release said. Our Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program recently approved a $1 million state wildlife grant to incorporate climate change into Alaska's strategic conservation plan and to fund participation in the Service's Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. The Arctic Sounder

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

 

H.R. 1, continuing appropriations act (Rogers- received in the Senate)

 

H.J. Res. 44, further continuing appropriations amendments (Rogers- considered in the House)

Future Eventsfutureevents    

  

Fiscal 2012 Budget: Forest Service, March 3.  The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on the fiscal 2012 budget request for the U.S. Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture.

 

International Conference on Arctic Marine Science, International Law and Climate Protection, March 17-18. The German Federal Foreign Office is hosting an event that will take place on the Berlin premises of the Federal Office. The event is co-hosted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, with additional support from prominent research institutes. The Conference will discuss the legal framework for marine scientific research in the Arctic Ocean at present and in the future. Scholars, scientists and diplomats with an interest in the Arctic Ocean are invited to attend. For more information, please contact 504-s@diplo.de.

 

Arctic Dialogue & Study Tour, March 22-24, 2011. For the past four years Norway's Bodø University Graduate School of Business, the High North Centre for Business and Governance (affiliated with the University), the International Institute of Energy Politics and Diplomacy (MIEP) at MGIMO University in Moscow, Russia, and HBW Resources have hosted an annual Arctic Dialogue and Study Tour.  The tour brings together stakeholders from all Arctic nations (government, industries, academic, native and local peoples) to discuss issues involving resource development in the Arctic, and share common experiences, best practices and solutions. For more information contact Andrew Browning.

 

Arctic Science Summit Week, Seoul, March 28-April 1, 2011. The purpose of Korean Flagthe Arctic Science Summit Week is to provide opportunities for international coordination, collaboration, and cooperation in all fields of Arctic science. The Arctic Science Week 2011 is supported by the Korean government, the Korean Research Council of Fundamental Science & Technology, and the Seoul Tourism Organization, among other groups.  

 

The Arctic as a Messenger for Global Processes- Climate Change and Pollution, 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. 


7th Congress of the International Arctic Social Sciences, June 22-26, 2011myvatnThe 7th Congress, "Circumpolar Perspectives in Global Dialogue: Social Sciences Beyond the IPY," will be held in Akureyri, Iceland. The International Congress of the Arctic Social Sciences is held every three years. 
 
Holocene Glacier Variability from the Tropics to the Poles, July 20-27, 2011. Glaciers respond sensitively to climate change. Recent (Holocene) glacier fluctuations are a valuable proxy for terrestrial interglacial paleoclimate conditions. A main challenge for interpreting paleoclimate from past mountain glacier extents is distinguishing local and regional patterns from global signals. Reconstructing Holocene glacier extents involves many disciplines including terrestrial and marine geology, geochronology and glaciology. Organizers hope to facilitate an inter-hemispheric comparison of glacier records including locations in the Tropics, European Alps, American Cordillera, Southern Alps of New Zealand, Himalaya and Polar Regions and to identify future research questions and directions. For additional information contact: Meredith Kelly.
 
13th Arctic Ungulates Conference (AUC), August 22-26, 2011. The theme of the conference will be "Challenges of Managing Northern Ungulates." The theme Muskokaddresses the difficulties of managing ungulate populations that are faced with the unpredictable effects of climate change and an ever-increasing human presence on the land. The conference will also focus on the challenges associated with developing recovery actions for declining caribou and reindeer populations that are an integral part of Aboriginal cultures and ways of life. 
 
9th International Symposium on Permafrost Engineering, September 3-7, 2011. The Melnikov Permafrost Institute (Yakutsk, Russia), the Institute of Northern Mining (Yakutsk, Russia), the Cold and Arid Regions Engineering and Environmental Research Institute (Lanzhou, China), and the Heilongjiang Institute of Cold Region  Engineering (Harbin, China) will host the Ninth International Symposium on  Permafrost Engineering to be held in Mirny, Yakutia. The aim of the Symposium is to provide a forum for discussion of permafrost engineering issues, as well as for exchange of practical experience in construction and maintenance of engineering structures on frozen ground. For additional information, please contact Lilia Prokopieva. 

 

4th International Sea Duck Conference, September 12-16. The conference is held to provide researchers and managers with opportunities to share information, research, and conduct workshops.

 

Lowell Wakefield International Fisheries Symposium, September 14-17, 2011. The 27th Lowell Wakefield International Fisheries Symposium, entitled "Fishing People of the North: Cultures, Economies, and Management Responding to Change," will be held in Anchorage, Alaska. This international symposium will provide a forum for scholars, fishery managers, fishing families, and others to explore the human dimensions of fishery systems and growing need to include social science research in policy processes. The conference is part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Sea Grant program.   

 

Operating in the Arctic: Supporting the US Coast Guard Challenges Through Research, Sept. 21-23, 2010. This workshop, held at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and co-sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security and the US Arctic Research Commission, explored and identified ways in which scientific research and development can improve the ability of the U.S. Coast Guard to operate and carry out its statutory missions in the Arctic region. Participation in this event included state, local and international stakeholders, academics and researchers, and USCG and other federal agency officials. A funding opportunity associated with this activity is described here.

 

The Tenth International Conference on Permafrost, June 2012. The conference permafrostwill be held in Tyumen, Russia, and is organized and hosted by Russia. The last conference was held in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2008.  More details to follow.   

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