The 43rd Annual Arctic Workshop 2013, March 11-13, 2013: Amherst, Massachusetts. The workshop is an annual gathering for international researchers to present work on any aspect of high-latitude environments (past, present, and future). Organizers strive for a relaxed, friendly, and interactive experience, fostered in part by the workshop's relatively small size. Researchers are invited to present their very latest research; the abstract deadline is just a few weeks before the workshop. Student participation is strongly encouraged, with partial support available to those making presentations (limited number of slots).

The Economist's "Arctic Summit: A New Vista for Trade Energy and the Environment," March 12, 2013. (Oslo, Norway) The event is hosted by The Economist. The Arctic Summit will discuss big issues concerning the region: chase for natural resources, impact of climate change, emergence of new trading routes and the need for responsible governance. The summit has been designed to focus attention and to promote constructive thinking prior to the next Arctic Council Ministers' meeting later in 2013. A high-level group of 150 policy-makers, CEOs and influential commentators will spend a day tackling the issues at the heart of the Arctic's future, in discussions led by James Astill, environment editor of The Economist and author of the special report on the Arctic.

Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region, March 12-13, 2013, Washington, D.C. The Standing Committee of the Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region is holding a meeting today and tomorrow where one of the main priorities of the Standing Committee was originally to support the establishment of the Arctic Council. The new organization, representing the eight Arctic states (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the USA) and the European Parliament was founded on 19 September 1996. Since then the Committee has worked actively to promote the work of the Council. The Committee participates in the meetings of the Arctic Council as an observer.

Senate Takes Its Own Path on CR. Caught between a diffident president and hostile House speaker, Senate Democrats took a page from Irish politics Monday night - and swung back at both. That's the true bottom line to a stopgap spending bill filed by the Appropriations Committee leadership late in the evening - a 587-page measure designed to avert any shutdown March 27 and map a six-month path forward for agencies in the wake of sequestration. Politico

Will Pacific Walrus be Next Species Protected Due to Shrinking Sea Ice? Recently, a federal appeals court ruling determined that polar bears, those poster children of the effects of climate change, could keep their "threatened" status as listed under the Endangered Species Act, despite objections from the state of Alaska and other entities. Now, the Pacific walrus-another species that calls Alaska home-may become another animal to be listed on the basis of climate change's negative effect on its summer sea ice habitat. Alaska Dispatch

Deal Struck to Give Northwest Territories More Self-Governance. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a final deal for Canada's Northwest Territories (NWT) on Monday. The announcement was made in the territorial legislature in NWT's capital city of Yellowknife. "Negotiators have reached consensus on the terms of a final devolution agreement," Harper said. Alaska Dispatch

Arctic Scientists See Canada Slipping on World Stage. In Germany, in New Zealand, in the Canary Islands and at 21 other observatories around the world, instruments called infrared spectrometers are teasing apart sunlight to measure greenhouse gas levels in the Earth's atmosphere. Two dozen spectrometers make up the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON). The one in Eureka, Nunavut, is the most northerly of them all - a sentry in the Arctic, where extreme effects of climate change are rapidly altering the environment. The Toronto Star

Hedging Bets: Oil and Gas in the Canadian Arctic. Higher hydrocarbon price levels and new technology, coupled with optimistic resource appraisals at the turn of the millennium, have made the Canadian Arctic an attractive prospect for oil and gas multinationals. It is estimated that 'approximately 35% of Canada's remaining marketable resources of natural gas and 37% of remaining recoverable crude oil is in Northern Canada. Of particular interest are the offshore resources present in the Canadian part of the Beaufort Sea, located just off the coast of the Northwest Territories. While this region of Canada is attracting the interests of a range of new players, both commercial and political, interest on its own is not sufficient for any rapid development to take place. As this article will outline, there are several factors that may restrict the viability of Canadian Arctic oil and gas despite its ostensible opportunities. The Arctic Institute

Mining, China Central Issues in Greenland Election. With sea ice thawing and new shipping routes opening in the Arctic, the former Cold War ally of the West has emerged from isolation as a geopolitical interest for governments seeking a share of the untapped minerals and potential offshore oil and gas. Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist, who in his youth hunted whales with a hand-held harpoon, has opened up Greenland to investors over the last four years. Reuters

Scientists Map Arctic Shipping Possibilities. Arctic shipping could be possible for unescorted, open-water vessels by mid-century. "This research quantifies for the first time the speculations that have been buzzing around for a number of years now," says Laurence Smith, a geographer with the University of California, Los Angeles. KUCB