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Today's Congressional Action: 
The House and Senate are not in session.
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Shutdown of Finnish Maritime Traffic May Affect 100,000 Passengers. The Finnish Seamen's Union and the Finnish Engineers' Association are threatening to start supportive action on Thursday to stand alongside crews of Finland's icebreaker fleet in their labor dispute with their employer, state-owned Arctia Shipping. If the sympathy strike happens, it will extend the strike to every cargo ship sailing under the Finnish flag. This would potentially include the passenger cruise ships of Viking Line, Tallink Silja and Eckerö Line. Alaska Dispatch News
 Cold Climate Housing Research Center Annual Report. This year's Annual Report leads off with lessons learned from the Sustainable Village at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, a test bed for advanced building science and mechanical systems right in our backyard. Over the past two years, our researchers have worked with student residents to mine data on cost, energy performance, and utility use of the four innovative homes. This research is vital to informing future designs and improving the performance and durability of Alaska's housing. But the Sustainable Village also underscores a key component of housing: the human factor. Occupant behavior may be the most critical, yet unpredictable, element in the actual energy use in a home. The life of a building is determined not only by the quality of design and construction, but also how it is cared for over the years. Cold Climate Housing Research Center
Polar Bears Can't Rely on Land-Based Foods When the Ice Melts, Study Finds. Polar bears need sea ice in order to hunt for seals and other food in the ocean. But climate change is taking that away from them. The bears are spending more and more time on land, but there is not enough food there to truly sustain them, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Huffington Post
 NOAA Report Shows Slight Increase in Cook Inlet Beluga Population. A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows a slight increase in the Cook Inlet Beluga whale population. But, the whales haven't bounced back as fast as scientists hoped when they were placed on the endangered species list in 2008. The latest survey from June of last year showed 340 Cook Inlet Beluga whales. More than the 312 that were counted during the last survey in 2012, but still not as many as researchers would like to see. Alaska Public Radio
Senate Passes Resolution Supporting Arctic Economic Council. The Alaska Senate has passed a resolution in support of the Arctic Economic Council. The resolution, which passed on Wednesday, asks that an Alaskan be named as chair of the body. The economic council is part of the Arctic Council, an international organization that discusses Arctic issues. The United States is set to become chair of that organization this year. Alaska Dispatch News
Sikuliaq Trailer. A new trailer has been released on the Sikuliaq. You can download the trailer here. High and low resolutions are available.
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Legislative Action
No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday
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Future Events
NOAA Science Seminar: Indigenous Knowledge and Use of Ocean Currents in the Bering Strait Region, April 9, 2015 (Webinar). Julie Raymond-Yakoubian of Kawerak, Inc. will be discussing a recently completed project on indigenous knowledge and use of ocean currents. This webinar will share perspectives on the importance of traditional understandings of ocean currents as a critical aspect of the body of knowledge held by communities in the region, how this knowledge was collected, and the modern-day practical applications of this knowledge for marine policy, planning, and safety considerations. The session will include examples of where this knowledge is currently being used.
Leadership, Diplomacy and Science: Resolving the Arctic Paradox" April 13-14, 2015, (Medford, MA, USA). The 4th annual Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy International Inquiry on the Warming Arctic will convene high-level decision makers from diplomatic and security circles, cutting-edge energy and science researchers, and social, environmental and business stakeholders to investigate solutions to the Arctic Paradox and promote a sustainable future for Arctic inhabitants within a "High North, Low Tension" policy framework. Special appearance: the North American debut of the Arctic Circle Assembly's panel "Rising Stars: Young Arctic Energy Researchers". For more information: WarmingArctic@Tufts.edu
Arctic States Symposium, April 17-19, 2015 (Charlottesville, VA, USA).
ARCTIC STATES, a three-day symposium at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, brings together an international consortium of leading designers and colleagues from allied disciplines to posit the role of design in the rapidly transforming region, and generate critical discussions by sharing recent work that will trace, critique and speculate on its past, present, and future.
Arctic Science Summit Week, April 23-30, 2015 (Toyama, Japan). The Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) is the annual gathering of the international organizations engaged in supporting and facilitating Arctic research. The purpose of the summit is to provide opportunities for coordination, collaboration and cooperation in all areas of Arctic science. The summit attracts scientists, students, policy makers and other professionals from all over the world.
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.
The House of Sweden Conference, May 19-20, 2015 (Washington, DC, USA). A two day conference focusing on changes, adaptations and opportunities for a changing Arctic. The conference will be divided into separate, but intertwined thematic segments - policy, science, climate change and green technologies. The conference is organized by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, DC and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and is aimed at Arctic oriented policy-makers, researchers, business representatives and NGO's in the lead-up to the U.S. chairmanship of the Arctic Council.
The European Union and Arctic (2015 EU-Arctic Conference), May 29, 2015 (Dundee, UK). The School of Law, University of Dundee, UK and the K. G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea, University of Tromsø, Norway are pleased to announce the registration open for "The European Union and the Arctic" (2015 EU-Arctic Conference). This conference will bring together academics and practitioners from relevant disciplines such as international law, international relations, political science and marine biology, NGOs, representatives from EU institutions and international organizations to discuss the EU's potential contribution to enhance Arctic governance. A roadmap for increasing the effectiveness of the EU's action in the Arctic will be drawn at the end of the conference.
52nd Annual Conference of the Animal Behavior Society, June 10-14, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The Animal Behavior Society was founded in 1964 to promote the study of animal behavior in the broadest sense, including studies using descriptive and experimental methods under natural and controlled conditions. Current members' research activities span the invertebrates and vertebrates, both in the field and in the laboratory, and include experimental psychology, behavioral ecology, neuroscience, zoology, biology, applied ethology, and human ethology as well as many other specialized areas.
2015 ESSAS Annual Science Meeting, June 15-17, 2015 (Seattle, WA, USA). This symposium, to be held at the University of Washington, is intended for interdisciplinary scholars who will be prepared to discuss their research in the sub-arctic North Atlantic, sub-arctic North Pacific, and the Arctic Ocean that bears on the issue of how changes in sea ice are likely to affect these marine ecosystems. The symposium will also consider the people who depend upon these ecosystems and how they may be able to cope with the changes in the ecosystem goods and services that are coming. These goods and services include the availability of transportation corridors, the availability of subsistence foods, and the opportunity for commercial fishing. To put the present day in a longer perspective, the symposium will include a session on the paleo-ecology of people in sub-arctic and arctic regions that were forced to adjust to changing sea-ice conditions in the past.
6th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations, July 14-16, 2015 (Washington, DC, USA). Program in development...check back soon. To see the programs from prior symposia, click here.
Polar Law Symposium (8th) will be held in Alaska ( Sept. 23-24, UAF; Sept. 25-26, UAA). It's sponsored by UAF, UAA (and ISER), UAA Justice Center, UW Law School. Abstracts due 3/15/15. This year's conference theme is, "The Science, Scholarship, and Practice of Polar Law: Strengthening Arctic Peoples and Places."
2015 Arctic Energy Summit, September 28-30, 2015 (Fairbanks, Alaska, USA).The Institute of the North's 2015 Arctic Energy Summit builds on our legacy efforts to address energy as a fundamental element of the sustainable development of the Arctic as a lasting frontier.Central to this concept is a focus on providing pathways for affordable energy development in the Arctic and for Arctic communities.
The Polar Oceans and Global Climate Change, November 3-6, 2015 (La Jolla, California USA.) The American Polar Society will host this Symposium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. A flyer with a partial list of presenters is available on the Society's website (americanpolar.org) and from the Society's Membership Chairman by email.
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