"How low can you go?" Predicting this year's Arctic sea ice minimum. Estimates of the amount of sea ice that will cover the Arctic Ocean in September (when the melting peaks) have been provided by 23 contributors in the ARCUS "Sea Ice Outlook." The median value of these June outlooks, based on three different approaches - climate models, observational statistics, and heuristic methods (i.e., educated guess) - comes to 4.1 million square kilometers, which is lower than all previous estimates.  For comparison, the average coverage between the years 1979 and 2007 was about 6.5 million square kilometers. ARCUS September Sea Ice Outlook

Exxon to fund Arctic research in Russia. "Exxon Mobil Corp. will invest $200 million in a research center in Russia that will support its Arctic exploration there, the company said late Tuesday. The Irving-based oil giant said it would invest in a joint Arctic Research and Design Center for Continental Shelf Development that it would establish with Rosneft, its partner for exploration of more than 180 million acres in the country's Arctic region." FuelFix 

Language rights under scrutiny in Finland; Position of indigenous Sámi language is fragile: Cabinet report. "A new cabinet report filed with Parliament notes that the rights enjoyed by different language groups in Finland are far from being on an equal footing. There is lots of room to improve services in Swedish - to say nothing of services for Russian or Sámi speakers." Eye on the Arctic

Verizon turns on 4G LTE network in Alaska, its 50th state. "Another telecommunications provider has entered the Alaska market. Verizon officially turned on its signal in Anchorage, Fairbanks, North Pole, Juneau and much of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough on June 7." Anchorage Daily News

Is Alaska getting its fair share from mining? "As debate rages over the environmental consequences of the proposed Pebble gold and copper mine in Southwest Alaska, some are wondering what financial gain the state might get from allowing the project to move ahead." Alaska Dispatch

Companies await permits for Alaska Arctic seismic exploration. "As Arctic ice quickly succumbs to summer sun, several major energy companies are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to make good use of open ocean for exploration. Shell Oil, Norwegian geoscience company TGS, and SAExploration have all submitted requests to the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management to conduct seismic exploration projects this summer." The Arctic Sounder

Data from end of the last ice age illuminate the precarious nature of global ocean chemistry. "...Global warming is increasing ocean temperatures and harming marine food webs. Nitrogen run-off from fertilizers is causing coastal dead zones. A McGill-led international research team has now completed the first global study of changes that occurred in a crucial component of ocean chemistry, the nitrogen cycle, at the end of the last ice age. The results of their study confirm that oceans are good at balancing the nitrogen cycle on a global scale. But the data also shows that it is a slow process that may take many centuries, or even millennia, raising worries about the effects of the scale and speed of current changes in the ocean." Phys.org

Russian indigenous activist arrested, then released after indigenous conference in Norway. "A former vice-president of the Russian Association of the Indigenous Peoples of the North, Dmitri Berezhkov, was arrested June 13 after returning from the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples that took place in Alta, Norway this past week. Berezhkov was released June 15, after a court in Tromsø, Norway found no evidence that he had committed any crime." Nunatsiaq Online

Greenland fishery plans cause alarm. "Every winter, salmon from all over the north Atlantic, including Canada, converge on Greenland to feed in the territory's waters. For the last decade, Greenland has forgone commercial fishing of these salmon, in the interest of conservation. But a recent announcement by the territory that it plans to open a commercial fishery has caused alarm in some North Atlantic countries where certain salmon populations are in critical decline." Alaska Dispatch

Spilled oil covers tundra rivers. "Environmentalists say that a state of emergency must be declared after at least 500 tons of oil spilled into local rivers from an oil facility in the Komi Republic. The spill, apparently one of the biggest in several years, is now threatening to seriously disrupt major parts of the vulnerable waterways in the Komi and Nenets tundra and ruin life conditions for local inhabitants. According to Greenpeace, at least 500 tons of oil is now spreading from the Kolva River into the adjacent rivers of Pechora and Usa." Barents Observer

As anticipation builds for White House announcement, enviros prepare lawsuit and everyone questions timing. "President Obama and a senior aide have created a drum roll in recent weeks for a package of climate change-related policies to be introduced very soon. But whatever he announces will inevitably be linked to his eventual decision on the Keystone XL pipeline in the minds of many environmentalists, industry leaders and policymakers. At the same time, environmental groups are preparing to go to court to force the Obama administration to complete its emissions rules for new power plants. Details of what Obama might propose to address climate change are still sketchy, even as the president and his administration build anticipation." EE News

The Faroe Islands has signed a new agreement to protect Arctic fishing and marine life and to prevent oil pollution. "The Faroese Prime Minister Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen was a co-signatory to the deal with the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Villy Søvndal, Prime Minister Johannesen, who both drew attention to the importance for the Faroe Islands of having a direct and active role in all aspects of cooperation and negotiations in the Arctic Council." Fish Update