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Today's Congressional Action: 
The House and Senate are not in session.
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 Admiral: Putin's Military 'Far More Capable' Than What Soviet Union Had. The commander in charge of defending North America from attacks said Tuesday that Russia is sending a message with military flights close to the United States. "They're messaging us that they're a global power," said Adm. William Gortney, commander of U.S. Northern Command (Northcom) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) at a Pentagon briefing. The Hill
Alaska Senate Passes Bill Establishing an Official State Arctic Policy. The Alaska Senate on Tuesday passed a bill establishing an official state Arctic policy that, in large part, calls for more natural-resource extraction to bolster economic growth. It is fitting that Alaska is the first state to create an official Arctic policy, Sen. Lesil McGuire, one of the main proponents of the legislation, said in a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. Alaska Dispatch News
March's Arctic Ice Extent Was Lowest on Record for the Month. Following a record-low winter maximum hit in late February, Arctic sea ice extent in March was the lowest for that month since satellite records began nearly four decades ago, according to a release from the National Snow and Ice Data Center on Tuesday. For the month of March, average ice extent was 14.39 million square kilometers (5.56 million square miles), about 7.3 percent below the 1981-2010 average for March, the Boulder-based center reported. Alaska Dispatch News
 [Opinion] Climate-Change Deniers Are in Retreat. There is no denying it: Climate-change deniers are in retreat. What began as a subtle shift away from the claim that man-made global warming is not a threat to the planet has lately turned into a stampede. The latest attempt to deny denial comes from the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, a powerful group that pushes for states to pass laws that are often drafted by industry. As my Post colleagues Tom Hamburger, Joby Warrick and Chris Mooney report, ALEC is not only insisting that it doesn't deny climate change - it's threatening to sue those who suggest otherwise. Washington Post
Arctic Research Vessel Set Adrift to Study Sea Ice Decline. A research vessel is adrift in the Arctic to study why sea ice is retreating faster than expected. Ice cover across the northern ocean fell to a new low last month, reaching just over 14.5m sq km at its winter peak, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Centre, in Colorado. The Guardian
 Obama Says Climate Change is Harming Americans Health. Global warming isn't just affecting the weather, it's harming Americans' health, President Barack Obama said Tuesday as he announced steps government and businesses will take to better understand and deal with the problem. Obama said hazards of the changing climate include wildfires sending more pollution into the air, allergy seasons growing longer and rising cases of insect-borne diseases. "We've got to do better in protecting our vulnerable families," Obama said, adding that, ultimately, all families are affected. "You can't cordon yourself off from air," Obama said. Speaking at Howard University Medical School, he announced commitments from Google, Microsoft and others to help the nation's health system prepare for a warmer, more erratic climate. PBS NewsHour
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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". Confirmed speakers include H.E. President Grimsson, Dr. John P. Holdren, Prof. Bruce Forbes and Dr. Fiamma Straneo.
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 Tromsų, 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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