The House and Senate are in recess.

Arctic Ambitions: Commercial Development of the Arctic, May 2, 2012. World Trade Center Alaska and the Institute of the North will hold a conference focusing on connections between international trade, Arctic policy issues, and resource development.

Arctic Security Report "Climate Change & International Security: The Arctic as a Bellwether." A new report published by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, first-authored by Canada's Rob Huebert. A pdf of the report can be downloaded here. And see news item below, in AK Dispatch. 

ARCUS 2012 Board Meeting. Details here. 

Coast Guard to Participate in US Navy and Canadian Joint-Forces Exercises. The U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and Canadian Joint Task Force Atlantic will participate in a joint-forces exercise scheduled for May 2-9, 2012, in Groton, Conn. The exercise, titled Frontier Sentinel, will begin in Sydney, Nova Scotia, and conclude in Groton and New London, Conn.  It will be limited to specific areas in New London Harbor and on the Thames River, and should not significantly impact vessel traffic or harbor and river operations. The focus of Frontier Sentinel is the maritime homeland security of both the U.S. and Canada.  The exercise will allow Coast Guard, Navy and Canadian forces to train together to handle a security-related drill during a full-scale live event and may include mine counter measures and migrant vessel scenarios.  Participants will include a number of U.S. and Canadian military personnel and units, as well as other government department organizations. US Coast Guard  

Arctic Sea-Ice Loss Didn't Happen By Chance. The ongoing rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice is often interpreted as the canary in the mine for anthropogenic climate change. In a new study, scientists have now systematically examined the validity of this claim. They find that neither natural fluctuations nor self-acceleration can explain the observed Arctic sea-ice retreat. Instead, the recent evolution of Arctic sea ice shows a strong, physically plausible correlation with the increasing greenhouse gas concentration. For Antarctic sea ice, no such link is found -- for a good reason. Science Daily 

Norway Whalers Take First Whales of Hunting Season. Norwegian whale hunters have harpooned the first three whales of the year, nearly a month after the controversial hunting season began, the country's Fishermen's Sales Organisation said Wednesday. "Three whales were taken off Bear Island on Sunday," Per Rolandsen, of the sales organisation's division in Norway's Arctic Lofoten archipelago, told AFP. Asia Online 

Can Polar Bears Keep Their Heads Above Water in a Warming World? Polar bears are classified as marine mammals, like a seal or a walrus, which might come as a surprise given that they're usually pictured on land. But polar bears spend a lot of their time in the waters of the Arctic, fishing or swimming among the sea ice. They may look awkward in the water, but no creature with paws is a better swimmer. They'd better be. Arctic sea ice is declining fast, robbing the polar bear of its prime habitat and forcing them to swim longer and longer distances to reach solid ground. No other animal seems to be such a direct victim of warming, which is one reason why the polar bear has emerged as the symbol of climate change. (Another is that they look cute and cuddly-a lot more so than the Panamanian golden frog-although up close that can be a different story.) It's a simple narrative to grasp: carbon warms the climate, Arctic sea ice melts and baby polar bears drown. Time 

Arctic Military Buildup Linked to Climate Change by New Report. Is the Arctic being militarized? As nations and corporations look north to unlock natural resources in the melting Arctic Ocean, military buildup is accelerating at the pole, too. Indeed, according to a new report by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, militarization has been going on for  years -- "the starkest example yet of the way climate change directly affects international security." The report looks at how focused governments are on their northern borders, where climate change is occurring at twice the global rate. It also examines evolving Arctic policy. Alaska Dispatch 

Nessie of the North: Is Alaska's Iliamna Lake Monster a Huge Sleeper Shark? For years, legendary tales from Scotland and Western Alaska described large animals or monsters thought to live in Loch Ness and Lake Iliamna. But evidence has been mounting that the Loch Ness and Lake Iliamna monsters may, in fact, be sleeper sharks. Two exceptionally large Arctic sharks ply northern waters - Greenland sharks and the Pacific sleeper sharks. During the last few years, scientists have documented Greenland sharks using the St. Lawrence Seaway, lending further credence to the hypothesis that some sharks can survive in freshwater. Bull sharks are also known to swim in fresh water, but this species needs warmer waters. Alaska Dispatch

The Arctic Imperative Summit, August 24-28, 2012. The summit will be hosted by Alaska Dispatch and will bring together leading voices in this conversation, including residents from the small villages that comprise Alaska's coastal communities, state, national and international leaders, the heads of shipping and industry, as well as international policymakers and the news media. The goal of the summit is to sharpen the focus on the policy and investment needs of Alaska's Arctic through a series of high level meetings, presentations, investor roundtables and original research. Click here.