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April 24, 2014

 

capital Today's Congressional Action:   

The House and Senate are not in session.

 

 

Media 

     

What Needs to be Done to Respond to an Arctic Oil Spill? The National Research Council released a report on what needs to be done in order to be able to respond to oil spills in Arctic waters. Environmental groups were quick to respond that so much needs to be done that it would be better to not drill at all. The report has been a year and a half in the making and involved 14 experts from science and industry and hearings in Alaska and elsewhere. It gets deep into the details of what capabilities and knowledge exist and how limited they are. It deliberately avoids the question of whether to drill or not drill in Arctic waters. Alaska Public Radio 

 

The National Research Council report is available here.

 

Navigating the Oil Frontier: The Implications of the Tight Oil Boom on Arctic and Ultra-Deepwater Oil Development. Chair of the US Arctic Research Commission Fran Ulmer participated in an event hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center. With the U.S. tight oil boom headlining the dramatic resurgence in North American oil production, expectations about future oil supply have shifted from traditional OPEC oil producers to countries whose oil production had previously been declining. This virtual explosion in the production of unconventional oil has major implications for the development of all oil sources, particularly high-cost, high-risk "frontier oil," as found in the Arctic or ultra-deepwater. The Bipartisan Policy Center 

 

UAV Salcha Site Picked for Drone Research. The borough has picked an area in Salcha to host an industrial park for drone research. The borough hopes to attract businesses to Fairbanks that want to use the University of Alaska's new permit to test unmanned aerial vehicles, said Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins. Drones aren't allowed in most of the national airspace, but the University of Alaska was one six organizations around the nation that the Federal Aviation Administration picked in December to test the aircraft. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 

 

Greenland's Icecap Losing Stability. Catching up on the last few weeks of icy news after a spring holiday, my eye was caught by an item by Tim Radford from the Climate News Network. I quote: "Greenland is losing ice from part of its territory at an accelerating rate, suggesting that the edges of the entire ice cap may be unstable." This caught my attention not just because anything relating to Greenland tends to do that, but also because the development could have major significance for the future world climate and sea level -- and because it doesn't seem to have made its way into the mainstream media at a time when sensitivity to the issue should have been high after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. Alaska Dispatch 

 

Arming the Arctic Front. Finland yesterday signed a deal with NATO declaring its willingness to receive assistance from the alliance, should it come under attack from a foreign power. The agreement did not mention any specific country as a potential threat, but the news came the same day that Russia announced measures to beef up its military muscle in the region. Arctic Journal 

 

Ice Breaker: ONR Researchers Explore a Changing Arctic. As sea ice continues to recede at a record pace in the Arctic, officials at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) on April 14 announced new efforts to determine the pace of change in what some are calling Earth's final frontier. Scientists sponsored by ONR have traveled to the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean, placing new sensors in the ice and in the frigid waters below, to better understand the processes contributing to a dramatic decline in sea ice thickness and extent-and provide new tools to help the U.S. Navy predict conditions and operate in once-inaccessible waters. Department of Defense Science Blog 

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

 

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.

Future Events

 

The Arctic in the Anthropocene: Emerging Research Questions, April 29, 2014. (Webinar) This webinar will provide a briefing on the new National Research Council report "The Arctic in the Anthropocene: Emerging Research Questions". The co-chairs of the authoring committee will present emerging research questions that span traditional disciplinary boundaries as well as tools for meeting the challenges of understanding a rapidly changing Arctic. There will be an opportunity for questions at the conclusion of the briefing. 

 

AAAS Forum on S & T Policy, May 1, 2014. (Washington, DC) The American Association for the Advancement of Science will host a forum on science and technology policy. On May 1, AAAS will host a breakout session on US Leadership in the Arctic Council: International Science Cooperation. Presenters include executive director of the US Arctic Research Commission John Farrell.

 

Alaska Policy Commission. May 6-7, 2014 (Anchorage, Alaska). The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (AAPC) has more important work to do in 2014. The Commission will strive to gather public input and engage with Alaskan communities, state agencies, federal partners, and the international organizations working in the Arctic. In order to meet our goals AAPC will convene three in-person meetings over the course of 2014 and focus on implementation and final recommendations. The draft agenda is available here

 

International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences, May 22-24, 2014. ICASS is held every three years, bringing together people from all over the world to share ideas about social science research in the Arctic. ICASS VII, held in Akureyri in June 2011, attracted 450 participants from 30 different countries. ICASS VIII's theme is Northern Sustainabilities. By using the plural, ICASS underscores both that 'sustainability' has social, cultural, economic, political and environmental dimensions, and that definitions of the concept vary. Yet, while debating specific definitions, most would agree that working toward sustainable ways of living in the North and on approaches to sustainable engagement with the North, are critical both to the North's and to the world's future. Community sustainability in the North, whether for small settlements or large urban conglomerations, requires new models of food and energy security, and of access to employment, health care and social and cultural services for residents.

 

Arctic in the Athropocene. June 23-July 2, 2014 (Potsdam, Germany). Under the overarching theme "Arctic in the Anthropocene", this two-week interdisciplinary and interactive event will be the first in a series of Potsdam Summer Schools to be held annually. The goal is to bring together early-career scientists and young professionals from research departments, governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations, as well as the private sector from all around the world. Participants will deal with global challenges and address urgent questions on how to shape sustainable futures in the Arctic and beyond from a scientific and socioeconomic point of view. 

 

Alaska Policy Commission. August 26-27, 2014 (Kotzebue-Nome, Alaska). The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (AAPC) has more important work to do in 2014. The Commission will strive to gather public input and engage with Alaskan communities, state agencies, federal partners, and the international organizations working in the Arctic. In order to meet our goals AAPC will convene three in-person meetings over the course of 2014 and focus on implementation and final recommendations. 

 

Arctic Circle, October 31-November 2, 2014 (Reyjavik, Iceland).

The Arctic Circle is nonprofit and nonpartisan. Organizations, forums, think tanks, corporations and public associations around the world are invited to hold meetings within the Arctic Circle platform to advance their own missions and the broader goal of increasing collaborative decision-making without surrendering their institutional independence. The Arctic Circle will organize sessions on a variety of issues, such as: Sea ice melt and extreme weather; Polar law: treaties and agreements; The role and rights of indigenous peoples; Security in the Arctic; Shipping and transportation infrastructure; The prospects and risks of oil and gas drilling; Clean energy achievements and sustainable development; Arctic resources; Business cooperation in the Arctic; The role of Asian and European countries in the Arctic; Greenland in the new Arctic; Fisheries and ecosystem management; The science of ice: global research cooperation; Arctic tourism; The ice-dependent world: the Arctic and the Himalayas. 

 

Alaska Policy Commission. November 13-14, 2014 (Anchorage, Alaska). The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (AAPC) has more important work to do in 2014. The Commission will strive to gather public input and engage with Alaskan communities, state agencies, federal partners, and the international organizations working in the Arctic. In order to meet our goals AAPC will convene three in-person meetings over the course of 2014 and focus on implementation and final recommendations. 

 

The Arctic Biodiversity Congress, December 2-4, 2014. (Trondheim, Norway). The Arctic Biodiversity Congress will present and discuss the main scientific findings of the ABA; facilitate inter-disciplinary discussion, action and status updates on the policy recommendations in the ABA; provide scientific, policy, management, NGO, academia, Indigenous peoples and industry audiences the opportunity to collaborate around the themes of the ABA; advise CAFF on national and international implementation of the ABA recommendations and on the development of an ABA Implementation Plan for the Arctic Council; highlight the work of CAFF and the Arctic Council on circumpolar biodiversity conservation and sustainable development; and, contribute to mainstreaming of biodiversity and ecosystem services, ensuring that the recommendations of the ABA are implemented by not just governments, but many organizations and people across disciplines.

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