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Today's Events
The House and Senate have adjourned and will reconvene next week. |
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Media
 NOAA: JPSS Polar Satellite-Gap Mitigation-Request for Public Comment. Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments on a potential gap in polar satellite coverage: NOAA has long been concerned about the potential for a gap in polar satellite coverage in the afternoon orbit. In addition to reports from Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office on this topic, NOAA has also convened an Independent Review Team (IRT) to review the progress of our satellite programs and identify the challenges ahead. These reports have all substantiated NOAA's concerns regarding the gap. NOAA is taking positive steps to mitigate the negative impacts to NOAA's numerical weather forecasts that could be introduced by a lack of polar satellite data. To this end, NOAA has commissioned an investigative study to broadly explore all available options, such as substitute satellite observations, alternative non-satellite data, weather modeling, and data assimilation improvements. NOAA is convening teams of internal and external experts, industry leaders, foreign partners, and academia to study each of these areas. As a part of this effort, and to ensure we examine all potential solutions, NOAA is also seeking comments, suggestions, and innovative ideas from the public on how to preserve the quality and timeliness of NOAA's numerical weather forecasts should we experience a loss of polar satellite environmental data. Through this web portal, the public can submit ideas, review submissions from other parties, and make comments and collaborate on ideas. Federal Register
 Appropriators Still Hoping for a Lame-Duck Omnibus. House and Senate appropriators are reporting progress in their effort to hammer out an omnibus spending bill for the current fiscal year and Republican and Democratic aides are hoping it's ready to land a slot in a crowded year-end congressional calendar. The committees are operating under the $1.047 trillion spending limit set by the Budget Control Act rather than the lower level House Republicans had sought this year - and which the White House has repeatedly warned would be unacceptable. Roll Call
Rosneft Obtains Two More Arctic Licenses. In a direct deal, signed by Prime Minister Medvedev, the Russian government has granted Rosneft another two offshore Arctic licenses. The licenses covered two Pechora Sea blocks, Pomorsky and Pomorsky-2 and are believed to hold approximately 292 -332 million bbls of oil. In addition to these two new licenses, Rosneft already holds 14 other Arctic licenses covering areas of the Kara and Barents Seas. The company has reportedly applied to the government for as many as 24 similar licenses. Energy Global
BP, Chevron Spill Records Add Most Risk for Oil Investors. An oil company's track record on spills-and whether it is prepared for future accidents-has become increasingly important to investors now that oil exploration and extraction is moving offshore and into risky areas like the Arctic or South America. That's the message of an analysis released this week by MSCI Inc., a New York-based investment research firm. It rated 30 of the world's largest oil and gas companies on their investment attractiveness based on their history of spills and environmental management, as well as the riskiness of the areas they are exploring. BP and Chevron were singled out as companies that are poorly positioned in this area. The Norwegian company Statoil and Britain's BG were found to be the best positioned for a riskier era of drilling. Bloomberg
 Confirmed Greening of the Arctic Tundra. Once again in the words of the authors, "our data provide plot-scale evidence linking changes in vascular plant abundance to local summer warming in widely dispersed tundra locations across the globe," as (as we always like to add) the greening of planet earth continues, thanks not only to global warming, but also to the aerial-fertilization and water-use-efficiency-enhancing effects of atmospheric CO2 enrichment. Co2 Science
Flu Outbreak Has Already Arrived in Alaska, State Says. Alaska is already in the throes of a widespread outbreak of influenza, while most states are only reporting sporadic cases, state epidemiologist Dr. Joseph McLaughlin said Tuesday."It's possible we may be the only state to be widespread" this early, McLaughlin said. The intensity of the seasonal outbreak is still low, though there are cases in many parts of the state, said Donna Fearey, a state nurse epidemiologist who co-ordinates flu information.The state virology laboratory confirmed 91 cases over the past month, most of them from the Anchorage and Matanuska-Susitna Borough areas and Interior Alaska, the state health officials said. Anchorage Daily News
Alaska Officials Report Increase in Flu, Pertussis. Alaska health officials are reporting a sharp increase this year of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, as well as a recent spike in influenza cases.Officials say more than 200 cases of pertussis have been reported in Alaska this year. That's significantly up from the yearly average of 42 from 2009 to 2011. Anchorage Daily News
Seal Ban Heads to EU's Highest Court. Canada's national Inuit organization is gearing up for its biggest fight against the European Union's ban on seal products. Representatives from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and other groups will present their case against the ban in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg Tuesday. ITK's initial court case was rejected, so now it's taking its arguments to the highest court in the European Union. Alaska Dispatch |
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Legislative Action
No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday. |
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Future Events
Arctic Technology Conference, December 3-5, 2012. The burgeoning Arctic arena offers a host of opportunities for companies that can solve the complex environmental, physical and regulatory challenges it presents. ATC 2012 will include a highly specialized technical program, education courses, networking events, and an exhibition - all deisgned to help ensure that oil and gas professionals throughout the world are prepared to succeed in these challenging Arctic arenas.
Arctic Transportation Infrastructure: Response Capacity and Sustainable Development in the Arctic, December 3-6, 2012. The Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Working Group approved a project during the Swedish Chairmanship (co-led by the United States and Iceland) to assess transportation infrastructure. The Arctic Marine and Aviation Transportation Infrastructure Initiative (AMATII) seeks to evaluate Northern infrastructure -ports, airports, and response capability - by inventorying maritime and aviation assets in the Arctic. As part of this project, the Institute of the North is hosting an Arctic transportation infrastructure conference 3-6 December at the Icelandair Hotel Natura in Reykjavik, Iceland. The conference theme is "Response Capacity and Sustainable Development in the Arctic." Participants will include policy makers and government officials; aviation and marine subject matter experts from the private, public, independent and academic sectors; as well as community leaders and Permanent Participants.
AGU Fall Meeting, December 3-7, 2012. The American Geophysical Union hosts in fall meeting in San Francisco. Roughly 20,000 scientists will be in attendance. On December 3rd, there will be a town hall meeting entitled "Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions."The U.S. Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) is organizing a Town Hall meeting at the Fall AGU Meeting entitled "TH15G Scientific Drilling in the Polar Regions". Ice sheets and ocean sediments hold important climate evidence from the past. International collaboration for drilling in the polar regions requires coordination between science, technology, and logistics. The research community is invited to hear updates on recent planning by the IDPO/IDDO, IPICS, ANDRILL, IODP, SCAR-ACE, and WAIS initiatives. Opportunities for community involvement in interdisciplinary planning will be highlighted and input solicited.
 28th Wakefield Symposium: Responses of Arctic Marine Ecosystems to Climate Change, March 26-29, 2013. This symposium seeks to advance our understanding of responses of arctic marine ecosystems to climate change at all trophic levels, by documenting and forecasting changes in environmental processes
and species responses to those changes. Presentations will focus on collaborative approaches to understanding and managing living marine resources in a changing Arctic, and to managing human responses to changing arctic marine ecosystems. Hosted by Alaska Sea Grant and sponsors. Call for abstracts, due November 30, 2012.
Arctic Observing Summit 2013, April 30- May 2, 2013. The Arctic Observing Summit is led by the International Study of Arctic Change (ISAC). It is a SAON task and part of the broader SAON implementation process, which is led by the Arctic Council jointly with the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the World Meteorological Association (WMO). AOS is a high---level, biennial summit that aims to provide community--- driven, science---based guidance for the design, implementation, coordination and sustained long term (decades) operation of an international network of arctic observing systems. The AOS will provide a platform to address urgent and broadly recognized needs of arctic observing across all components of the arctic system, including the human component. It will foster international communication and coordination of long-term observations aimed at improving understanding and responding to system---scale arctic change. The AOS will be an international forum for optimizing resource allocation through coordination and exchange among researchers, funding agencies, and others involved or interested in long term observing activities, while minimizing duplication and gaps. The AOS is a contribution to the Sustaining Arctic Observing Network (SAON)
initiative.
International Conference on Arctic Ocean Acidification, May 6-8, 2013. The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), the Institute of Marine Research, the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, and the University of British Columbia, Canada, host a conference to consider Arctic Ocean acidification. Topics will include response of Arctic Ocean to increasing CO2 and related changes in the global carbon cycle, social and policy challenges, Arctic Ocean acidification and ecological and biogeochemical coupling, implications of changing Arctic Ocean acidification for northern (commercial and subsistence) fisheries, and future developments.
Arctic Observing Summit 2013, April 30- May 2, 2013. The Arctic Observing Summit is led by the International Study of Arctic Change (ISAC). It is a SAON task and part of the broader SAON implementation process, which is led by the Arctic Council jointly with the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the World Meteorological Association (WMO). AOS is a high---level, biennial summit that aims to provide community--- driven, science---based guidance for the design, implementation, coordination and sustained long term (decades) operation of an international network of arctic observing systems. The AOS will provide a platform to address urgent and broadly recognized needs of arctic observing across all components of the arctic system, including the human component. It will foster international communication and coordination of long-term observations aimed at improving understanding and responding to system---scale arctic change. The AOS will be an international forum for optimizing resource allocation through coordination and exchange among researchers, funding agencies, and others involved or interested in long term observing activities, while minimizing duplication and gaps. The AOS is a contribution to the Sustaining Arctic Observing Network (SAON)
initiative. |
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