Tugs Collide While Maneuvering Around Kulluk. Two tugboats maneuvering around Royal Dutch Shell's oil drilling rig, the Kulluk, collided Friday afternoon, but the damage was minimal, the Coast Guard said Tuesday. The Corbin Foss, one of Seattle-based Foss Maritimes' tugboats, hit the port side of the Ocean Wave, a Crowley Marine Services tug, around 5:30 p.m. Friday in Killiuida Bay on the eastern side of Kodiak Island, where the Kulluk is anchored while awaiting Coast Guard approval to leave, said Petty Officer David Mosley. Anchorage Daily News

  

Begich Receives Highest Civilian Award From US Navy.U.S. Sen. Mark Begich received this week the United States Navy's highest civilian award for outstanding service and work on behalf of the U.S. Navy. The award recognizes Begich for his critical work on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and the Budget Committee as well as his support for the Navy's Arctic Climate Change Task Force. The Task force ensured that combat forces were prepped for changes in the Arctic environment. Senator Mark Begich

 

Large Herbivores are Arctic Plants Defense Against Climate Change. In a ten year study unlike any previous analysis, Eric Post, a Penn State University professor of biology, has determined that the best hope for Arctic plant diversity to survive the ongoing increases in temperature are large herbivores. The research was published in the Feb. 20, 2013, issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Unlike previous climate studies, Post included the contribution of large herbivores like caribou and musk ox to the mix of factors that may determine if plant diversity can persist in the Arctic in the ages of global warming that promise as much as a three degree Celsius increase in Arctic temperature. Examiner

 

Ultra-Athletic Iditarod Dogs Helping Save Soldiers' Lives in Afghanistan. For years, researchers have worked to decode the mysteries of how dogs that race 1,000 miles perform so well-and how to help them. Research on the physical stamina and the high-performance metabolism of Iditarod dogs has let to changes in the way the animals are conditioned, cared for, fed and rested. Now, from the wintery research of the northern United States, the iconic dogs of Alaska's Last Great Race are helping keep American soldiers safe in the deserts of Afghanistan. Alaska Dispatch

 

 Canada Continues to Eye Airships for Arctic Communities. It's time to rethink the blimp, a Canadian House of Commons committee suggests in a new report. Airships are often associated with the Hindenberg crash of the 1930s, and their development was overtaken by that of the airplane, reducing their use in recent years mostly to props and ad campaigns. But there's room for certain kinds of them to play a new role in Canada, especially when it comes to reaching remote communities in the North, the transportation committee recommended in a recently released report. Alaska Dispatch

 

Russia Unveils Arctic Strategy Until 2020. Russia on Wednesday unveiled its Arctic development blueprint, highlighting energy exploration, infrastructure upgrading and national security. The document, signed by President Vladimir Putin, envisages the development of Russia's Arctic zone until 2020 and beyond with an aim to secure the country's interests and national security. Global Times

 

UN Worried by Arctic Resource Drive. Awareness of the issue of melting arctic sea ice is much higher than the international community's attention to the matter, a U.N. official said from Nairobi. Changing climate patterns means international oil and gas companies are looking to exploit the estimated 30 percent of the world's unrecovered natural gas and 70 percent of the world's undiscovered oil under in arctic waters. UPI  

 

Arctic Energy Summit Call for Papers. The 2013 Arctic Energy Summit announces a call for papers. Abstracts for paper presentations, session proposals, workshop proposals and poster sessions should be submitted by April 15th, 2013. To be held in Akureyri, Iceland October 8-10, the 2013 Summit will address energy extraction, production and transmission in the Arctic as it relates to three thematic areas: richness, resilience and responsibility.  Building on the work done at the highly successful 2007 Arctic Energy Summit and Technology Conference, the Summit will be an interdisciplinary forum for scholars, energy industry officials, scientists, academics, policy makers, energy professionals and community leaders who share an interest in - and concern for - sustainable development of the Arctic and its energy resources. For more information, visit the website.

   

American Polar Society 75th Anniversary, April 15-18, 2013, Woods Hole, MA. The American Polar Society will hold a meeting and symposium at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. This meeting and symposium is titled "The Polar Regions in the 21st Century: Globalization, Climate Change and Geopolitics."

  

International Conference on Arctic Ocean Acidification, May 6-8, 2013, Bergen, Norway. 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.

 

Private Sector Transportation Infrastructure and Assets: Response Capacity and Development in the Arctic, May 30, 2012, Seattle, WA. A recently-held Arctic transportation workshop in Iceland highlighted the need to better understand private sector transportation infrastructure and assets, recognizing industry's role in the responsible development of resources, response and supportive infrastructure. As a follow-up to its efforts to inventory and map Arctic transportation infrastructure, the Institute of the North is hosting a workshop at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle, Washington that focuses on three critical areas: private sector assets and infrastructure in the Arctic, staging areas outside the Arctic that support Northern development, and vessels and technology that are difficult to map but need to be measured for future decision-making. Participants include industry representatives, technical experts, researchers, Coast Guard and other response personnel.

 

AGU Science Policy Conference, June 24-26, 2013. (Washington, DC) Hundreds of Earth and space scientists, students, policymakers, and industry professionals will discuss key Earth and space science topics that address challenges to our economy, national security, environment, and public safety. This meeting will focus on the science that helps inform policymakers' decisions related to energy, natural hazards, technology and infrastructure, climate, oceans, and the Arctic. The event is hosted by American Geophysical Union (AGU), a Washington, D. C.-based international nonprofit scientific association.