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 Today's Congressional Action:
The House and Senate are not in session.
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 Russia Just Claimed a Broad Swath of the Arctic Shelf; Why Isn't The US Doing the Same? Earlier this week, Russia renewed its claim to 460,000 square miles of territory in the Arctic Ocean -- including the North Pole -- and the rights to that area's enormous reserves of energy and mineral resources. Other countries such as Norway and Denmark are also submitting claims to the United Nations to extend their Arctic jurisdiction into the region of the North Pole. Besides the right to natural resources, owning new Arctic real estate could give these countries control over shipping routes that open as sea ice melts. Alaska Dispatch News
As Sea Ice Shrinks, the Arctic Gets Warmer and Wetter Study Finds. The Arctic became warmer and wetter since the beginning of the 21st century, a self-reinforcing trend likely to continue because it is linked to sea-ice melt and more persistent open-water conditions in the world's northern ocean, a newly published study concludes. Data from NASA shows that average surface temperatures across the Arctic Ocean increased an average of 0.16 degrees Celsius per year from 2003 to 2013, and air temperatures rose 0.09 degrees Celsius annually over the same period, says the study, published online in Geophysical Research Letters. Alaska Dispatch News
 Melting Permafrost and Camping with Muskoxen: Planning for Oil Spills on Arctic Coasts. Alaska's high Arctic coastline is anything but a monotonous stretch of beach. Over the course of more than 6,500 miles, this shoreline at the top of the world shows dramatic transformations, featuring everything from peat and permafrost to rocky shores, sandy beaches, and wetlands. It starts at the Canadian border in the east, wraps around the northernmost point in the United States, and follows the numerous inlets, bays, and peninsulas of northwest Alaska before coming to the Bering Strait. Planning for potential oil spills along such a lengthy and varied coastline leaves a lot for NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration to consider. We have to take into account a wide variety of shorelines, habitats, and other dynamics specific to the Arctic region. NOAA's Response and Restoration Blog
In Nome's Harbor, 7 Feet Separate Distinct Visions of the Future. When Nome Mayor Denise Michels envisions the future of her city's port, she sees some of the world's largest cargo and cruise ships mooring there -- perhaps alongside one of the U.S. Coast Guard's polar class icebreakers -- en route to or from a melting Arctic. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' plan for the harbor falls 7 feet short of that vision. Alaska Dispatch News
 A Climate Plan, and a Survey of the Changing Arctic. This week, President Obama announced his Clean Power Plan, a multifaceted program to cut carbon emissions by 32 percent of their 2005 levels, by the year 2030. As the president himself said in a speech announcing the plan, "There is such a thing as being too late when it comes to climate change." But is this plan itself too little, too late? David Biello of Scientific American helps us answer that question. Then, we check in on the global hotspot for climate change: the Arctic. Brendan Kelly of the Monterey Bay Aquarium talks about the weird hybrid species, such as "pizzly bears" (polar/grizzly hybrids), that are appearing on land and in the Arctic Ocean. Reporter Ari Daniel and physical oceanographer Fiamma Straneo check in from a boat in Sermilik Fjord, in Greenland, to talk about glacier calving there. And ornithologist George Divoky calls in from Cooper Island, a sand and gravel bar on the north coast of Alaska, where he has studied black guillemot birds for 41 years. Science Friday
Arctic Icebreaker Coordinating Committee Call for Nominations Extended to August 28. The Arctic Icebreaker Coordinating Committee (AICC), a committee of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), serves a liaison function by providing oversight and advice to the National Science Foundation's Division of Polar Sciences and to the U.S. Coast Guard for the purpose of enhancing scientific facilities and capabilities aboard their icebreaker fleet. The AICC solicits, synthesizes and presents the needs of the arctic science community to the Coast Guard and the NSF, fulfills an ombudsman role when necessary, and facilitates the efficient and effective execution of scientific research by U.S. icebreakers. The AICC also promotes new technology for arctic research and its utilization on icebreaker facilities, and provides information to the scientific community to facilitate organization of research projects. The AICC accomplishes these tasks through email discussions, telephone debriefs of current year research cruises and annual meetings and telephone conferences. Meetings are held at NSF in Arlington, Virginia, and at the Coast Guard facility in Seattle, Washington, where the US Coast Guard icebreaker fleet is based. Travel costs for AICC members for these meetings are supported through the UNOLS office. See announcement here.
Scientist and Bears: Uneasy Arctic Neighbors. Residents of the remote Arctic settlement of Ny-Alesund never lock their homes - happy to sacrifice privacy for the option of barging through the nearest door if a polar bear attacks. The research center, formerly a coal mining town, is perched on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, which is also home to a sizeable polar bear community in one of the most extreme landscapes on Earth. The northernmost permanent human settlement, Ny-Alesund hosts about 150 scientists, researchers and technicians during the Arctic summer, dwindling to a handful of caretakers in the colder months. The Nation
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Legislative Action
No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.
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Future Events
Industry Needs for Seasonal and Sub-seasonal Sea Ice Information and Predictions, August 11, 2015 (Webinar AKDT). Sea Ice Prediction Network webinar will provide a brief overview of contrasts and commonalities between sea ice variables relevant for geophysical or climate research and those relevant for operational needs in Arctic seas. For more information, contact Betsy Turner-Bogren at ARCUS (betsy@arcus.org).
The Alaska Arctic: A Summit on Shipping and Ports, August 23-25, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). Alice Rogoff will host the summit along with the state of Alaska and various partners, including President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson of Iceland and Mead Treadwell, president of Pt Capital and former Alaska lieutenant governor. The purpose of the meeting is to build partnerships to develop safe and reliable shipping through the Alaskan Arctic. These partnerships will be necessary to finance needed ports of refuge, search and rescue equipment, transshipment facilities and icebreakers. At the same time, the interests of local and indigenous residents must be an integral part of any development planning.
104th Meeting of the USARC, August 25-26, 2015 (Nome, AK, USA).
USARC (Fran Ulmer, Chair) will hold its next meeting in Nome, where Ulmer will present the 2015-2017 Goals Report. The Commission will tour the new, light icebreaker vessel R/V Sikuliaq in the Nome port, and will hear from local researchers on topics such as health, social science, marine science, marine mammal co-management research, federal research, renewable energy, climate shipping, port development, and water and sanitation, among other topics. A draft agenda is here.
Eighth Polar Law Symposium Alaska 2015, September 23-26, 2015 (Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska , USA). The Eighth Polar Law Symposium is co-hosted by Alaska Pacific University (APU), the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the University of Alaska Anchorage (through its Justice Center and its Institute of Social and Economic Research), the University of Washington School of Law, and Vermont Law School, in cooperation with the Arctic Law Section of the Alaska Bar Association. The symposium will be held on both campuses of the University of Alaska. The 2015 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.
2015 Arctic Circle Assembly, October 16-18, 2015 (Reykjavik, Iceland).
The Arctic Circle is the largest global gathering on the Arctic. It is attended by heads of state and governments, ministers, members of parliament, officials, experts, scientists, entrepreneurs, business leaders, indigenous representatives, environmentalists, students, activists, and others from the growing international community of partners and participants interested in the future of the Arctic. The Arctic Circle highlights issues and concerns, programs, policies and projects; it provides platforms for dynamic dialogue and constructive cooperation. While the plenary sessions are the responsibility of the Arctic Circle, the breakout sessions are organized by various participating partners in their own name and with full authority over the agenda and the choice of speakers.
2015 Arctic Science Conference, October 1-3, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The conference theme is "Healthy Estuaries: Sustainability and Resilience." Conference topics include traditional scientific disciplines, science education, arctic social sciences, biomedical research, and artistic interpretation of the evolving North. Abstract submissions are now being accepted. The deadline is August 1, 2015.
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.
Forum for Arctic Modeling and Observational Synthesis Meeting, November 3-6, 2015 (Cape Cod, MA, USA). On November 3rd, the 2015 School for young scientists will consider "Regional Oceanography of the Arctic marginal seas" with lectures covering major features of atmospheric, sea ice and oceanographic regimes of the: Bering, Chukchi, Beaufort, East-Siberian, Laptev Sea, Kara, Barents and Nordic seas. On November 4-6, the meeting portion will summarize project accomplishments for the last 3 years of activities and will focus on the formulation of scientific questions and directions for FAMOS future research (2016-2019) to: (a) improve Arctic modeling, employing very high resolution models; (b) develop and test new arctic monitoring/observing systems and (c) improve predictions of Arctic environmental parameters with reduced uncertainties.
Due North: Next Generation Arctic Research & Leadership, November 5-8, 2015 (Calgary, Alberta, Canada). The Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies (ACUNS) will convene an interdisciplinary conference of early career scientists working on Arctic issues. Topics will include: Arctic Communities, Arctic Sustainable Development, Arctic Wildlife, Ecosystem and Biodiversity, Arctic Food Security, Arctic Landscapes, Climate Change and Adaptation, Disaster Risk Management, Policy, Politics and Leadership, Arctic Environment (Data and Techniques), Arctic Resources, and Future of Arctic.
Arctic Observing Open Science Meeting, November 17-19, 2015 (Seattle, Washington). The Arctic Observing Open Science Meeting will be 2.5 days and held at the Hyatt at Olive 8 in Seattle, Washington. The conference will bring together individuals and teams involved in the collection, processing, analysis, and use of observations in the Arctic - from academia, agencies, industry, and other organizations. The meeting will be convened as a combination of plenary talks, parallel science sessions, and a poster session. The agenda and registration information will be forthcoming.
In the Spirit of the Rovaniemi Process 2015, November 24-26, 2015 (Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland).When the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, the so-called Rovaniemi Process, was adopted in 1991, it aimed at overcoming divisions and turning the zone of Cold War military tensions into a region of peace and co-operation. In this joint effort focusing on the protection of environment, and later, sustainable development, the Arctic states supported by indigenous organizations laid grounds for institutionalized collaboration and the emergence of Arctic regional identity. The second international conference will bring together decision-makers, scholars, artists, designers and students to address these questions and discuss the Arctic in global, regional and local perspectives.
Arctic Science Summit Week Arctic Observing Summit, March 12-18, 2016 (Fairbanks, AK, USA). ASSW is the annual gathering of international organizations that support and facilitate long-term planning in Arctic research. In 2016, ASSW will be held in conjunction with AOS, which brings people together to facilitate the design, implementation, coordination and sustained long-term operation of an international network of Arctic observing systems.
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External links in this publication, and on the USARC's World Wide Web site ( www.arctic.gov) do not constitute endorsement by the US Arctic Research Commission of external Web sites or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities, the USARC does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. These links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this newsletter and the USARC Web site.
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