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December 10, 2014
  

PHOTO CONTEST: The U.S. Arctic Research Commission (USARC) is holding a photo contest titled "Observing the Arctic" to identify compelling Arctic images to be included in USARC's publication "Report of the Goals and Objectives for Arctic Research 2015- 2016." This report, to the President and Congress, outlines scientific research goals and objectives for the Arctic.

 

We invite you to submit original photos of Alaska and the greater Arctic region in the following categories:

  • Environmental Change
  • Human Health
  • Natural Resources
  • Civil Infrastructure
  • Indigenous Cultures and Identities
  • Nature
One overall winner and six runners up will be selected. Consistent with U.S. Federal Government Challenge.gov regulations, the winner will receive a prize of $400.00, and the winning photo will be prominently exhibited in USARC's Alaskan and Washington offices, displayed on the USARC website, and published on the cover of USARC's 2015-2016 Goals Report. The six runners up will receive prizes of $150.00 each, and will also have their photos displayed on the USARC website and published in the report. For details, click here.
 

"The Melting Arctic... What the Science Says, and What it Means for Our Future" December 10, 2014. (Remote access, see here.) The National Weather Service; Office of Climate, Weather, and Water Services; Climate Division is sponsoring this webinar. This talk probes the loss of ice in the Arctic Ocean from three aspects -- 1) what the science says, 2) why it is important, and 3) what it means for our future, and makes the case that as transport drives the patterns of human civilization, a melting Arctic will move population centers in the far north. This talk, which puts climate science in a social and historical context, was presented previously at the AMS Annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, in February 2013. 

  

Subcommittee Hearing: The United States as an Arctic Nation: Opportunities in the High North, December 10, 2014 (Washington, D.C., USA). The House of Representatives Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats will hold a hearing on "The United States as an Arctic Nation." US Special Representative Admiral Robert Papp is expected to testify.

 

Arctic Change 2014, December 8-12, 2014 (Ottawa, Canada). The international Arctic Change 2014 conference aims to stimulate discussion and foster collaborations among people with a vested interest in the Arctic and its peoples. Coinciding with the pinnacle of Canada's chairmanship of the Arctic Council and marking ArcticNet's 10th anniversary, Arctic Change 2014 welcomes researchers, students, Northerners, policy makers, and stakeholders from all fields of Arctic research and all countries to address the numerous environmental, social, economical and political challenges and opportunities that are emerging from climate change and modernization in the Arctic. With over 1000 participants expected to attend, Arctic Change 2014 will be one of the largest trans-sectoral international Arctic research conferences ever held in Canada.  

 

capitalToday's Congressional Action:  

The House and Senate are in session and expected to consider non-Arctic legislation.

Media  

 

capital Lawmakers Release Massive 'Cromnibus' 2 Days Ahead of Shutdown. With roughly 51 hours left before the government runs out of cash, lawmakers released the text Tuesday night of a massive 289,861-word, $1.013 trillion bill to keep federal agencies running past Dec. 11. The spending package, a carefully negotiated piece of legislation between the Republican House and Democratic Senate, would fund the vast majority of government operations through September with the notable exception of the Department of Homeland Security. Roll Call

 

Climate Change and Alaska Natives: Food. Wild foods are important to Alaskans, and especially to rural residents, but subsistence users and scientists say climate change is affecting wildlife populations, access to subsistence resources, and food preservation. On its website, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says subsistence hunting and fishing make up a large share of the food supply in rural Alaska - about 375 pounds per person, compared to 22 pounds per person in urban areas. Alaska Public Radio

 

The Red Knot, A Small Shorebird, Added to Threatened Species List. Ending months of input and speculation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday added to its list of threatened species a small shorebird called the red knot, whose round-trip migration of nearly 20,000 miles includes stops on Delaware Bay every spring to refuel on horseshoe crab eggs. The bird's dramatic decline has been blamed by many on aggressive harvesting of the crabs, which are used as bait in other fisheries. However, the red knot is the first bird whose listing identifies climate change as a principal threat to its survival, said Dan Ashe, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. The Inquirer

 

Studying the Arctic? Take Time to Invest in Communities, Conference Hears. A group of students and researchers pack a conference room at Ottawa's glass, egg-shaped convention center. They hail from different regions of the country, but there's a common thread: all their research focuses on Arctic or Inuit issues. And they're here at ArcticNet's 2014 Arctic Change conference to learn more about community cooperative research, and building the kind of relationships that will enhance the work they do, and hopefully, the lives of those who call the Arctic home. Nunatsiaq Online

 

R/V Sikuliaq Conducts Science and Helps Film Crew During Maiden Voyage Seward. At a well-attended Seward Chamber of Commerce luncheon on December 5, Project Manager Dan Oliver enthusiastically presented the Research Vessel Sikuliaq story so far. The 261-foot long ship has joined the American academic-research fleet and features specialized equipment that makes it especially suited to arctic research. According to Oliver, the National Science Foundation paid for and owns Sikuliaq, but University of Alaska Fairbanks operates it. Although home ported in Seward, if the vessel does it intended job, Seward will seldom see the pale blue ship. Sikuliaq will spend most of its life at sea in service to science. The vessel will make port in Seward two or three weeks hence according to Oliver. As of December 9, Sikuliaq reported its position as about 1,000 nautical miles northwest of Hawaii near Midway Islands. Seward City News

 

Russian Navy to Focus Strategy on Arctic Zone and Black Sea. The Russian navy has unveiled plans to strengthen its presence in the Black Sea and the Arctic zone, heavily focusing its military strategy on the two regions for the next 15 years according to the head officer of the Russian navy, admiral Victor Chirkov. Speaking in front of the Russian government's Marine Board on Tuesday, Chirkov said the new naval doctrine, which is in place until 2030, will see Russia strengthen its presence around Crimea and the North Pole. News Week

 

navy The US Navy and the Arctic. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus met with senior research personnel and faculty members at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) on December 5 to discuss the role of the U.S. Navy in the arctic. "We in the Navy have a particular interest (in the arctic) because our responsibilities increase as the arctic changes," said Mabus. "As sea levels rise, as ice melts, our role in terms of freedom of navigation, in terms of search and rescue and in terms of scientific exploration, increases pretty dramatically." Maritime Executive 

 

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

 

The House and Senate did not formally consider Arctic legislation yesterday.

Future Events

   

"Arctic Modeling: Improving Models and Predictions in the Arctic" January 13, 2015. (Remote access, see here). The Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections (MAPP) program will host this webinar. Additional information will be released soon.

 

AGU Fall Meeting, December 15-19, 2014 (San Francisco, CA, USA). With nearly 24,000 attendees, the AGU Fall Meeting is the largest Earth and space science meeting in the world. The AGU Fall Meeting brings together the entire Earth and space sciences community for discussions of emerging trends and the latest research. The technical program includes presentations on new and cutting-edge science, much of which has not yet been published.

 

Arctic Frontiers: Climate and Energy, January 18-23, 2015. The earth is in the midst of major climate changes. The Arctic is experiencing the impact of these changes more and faster than other parts of the globe. Processes starting in the Arctic may have deep and profound impacts on other parts of the globe. At the same time the Earth's population is rising and with it the global energy demand. New and greener energy sources are gaining market shares, but still the energy mix of the foreseeable future will have a substantial fossil component. The Arctic is expected to hold major oil and gas resources, while the regions green energy potentials are less explored. The Arctic Frontiers conference is a central arena for discussions of Arctic issues. The conference brings together representatives from science, politics, and civil society to share perspectives on how upcoming challenges in the Arctic may be addressed to ensure sustainable development. Arctic Frontiers is composed of a policy section and a scientific section. 

  

Alaska Marine Science Symposium, January 19-23, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The symposium will feature a session on the Communicating Ocean Sciences, keynote addresses, poster sessions, and workshops. As in past years, the main content of the symposium is organized by large marine ecosystem. The 2015 schedule will be: Tuesday, January 20 - Gulf of Alaska; Wednesday, January 21 - Bering Sea; and Thursday, January 22 - Arctic Ocean. The details of the 2015 Alaska Marine Science Symposium program will be available in mid-November.

 

Symposium on Law and Governance in the Arctic, UCI LAW, January 30-31, 2015 (Irvine, California, USA).  The symposium will explore the effectiveness of existing governance in the Arctic region, strategies for improving effective implementation, and possible alternative governance regimes. A segment of the presented papers will be published in the UCI Law Review as a symposium. Presenters include: Betsy Baker, Michael Byers, Joseph DiMento, Tore Henriksen, Brian Israel, Timo Koivurova, Tullio Scovazzi, and Oran Young. 

 

Arctic Encounter Symposium 2015: Charting a Path to US Leadership in the Far North, January 30-31, 2015 (Seattle, Washington, USA). The second annual Arctic Encounter Symposium will focus on the role of the U.S. as an Arctic nation and the challenges it will confront in its upcoming chairmanship of the Arctic Council, including: climate change, natural resources, investment opportunities, and international relations. The goal of the 2015 Arctic Encounter is to facilitate a creative environment for the development of a proactive agenda, short and long-term domestic and international priorities, and a strategic execution plan.The two-day program will take place at the University of Washington with a dinner reception on January 30, 2015 at the Museum of History and Industry.

 

Polar Shelves and Shelf Break Exchange in Times of Rapid Climate Warming, March 15-20, 2015 (Lucca, Italy). The GRCs provide an international forum for the presentation and discussion of frontier research in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences, and their related technologies. The guiding principle of a GRC is to encourage communication and discussion of ideas and new unpublished results at the very frontier of a particular field of research, by bringing together outstanding scientists from academia, industry, and government, ranging from senior experts to Ph.D. students. With the increasing impacts of reduced sea ice and warming seawater conditions in both the Arctic and Antarctic, this conference can act as a forum for potentially transformative discussions for interdisciplinary, international and compare/contrast evaluation of polar sciences. In addition, the Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) will precede the GRC to provide a forum for graduate students and post-docs to present and exchange new data and cutting edge ideas with experts in the different polar fields of science.


The Polar Geography and Cryosphere, April 21-25, 2015 (Chicago, IL, USA). The Polar Geography and Cryosphere Specialty Groups of the Association of American Geographers will host its annual meeting in Chicago to consider: current topics in human-environment interactions; current topics in politics, resource geographies, and extractive industries; current topics in Antarctic research; advances in cryosphere research; high latitude environments in a changing climate; an mountain ice and snow.

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