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 Arctic Encounter Paris (AEP 2015), December 11-12, 2015 (Paris, France) (During the UN Convention on Climate Change - COP21). The Arctic Encounter Paris (AEP) will take place at the French Senate at Luxembourg Palace and the French Military College, École Militaire, in Paris, France, on the final days of the monumental United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP21) where thousands of global citizens and government delegates will be gathered to deliberate the world's response to our changing planet in Paris. The AEP is the only Arctic policy and economics side event currently planned to take place during the UN Convention. A reception will take place following the closing panel.
Today's Congressional Action:
The Senate is not in session. The House is expected to consider a continuing appropriations bill to provide short-term government funding.
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 Senate Passes Five-Day Stopgap to Keep Government Open. With talks still stalled over a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill and just a day before government funding runs dry, the Senate voted Thursday to keep federal agencies open for business through mid-next week. The five-day continuing resolution, approved by voice vote, lasts through Wednesday. The House is expected to follow suit on Friday with an identical stopgap measure. Politico
COP21: View From Canada's Northwest Territories. In this interview series we explore how climate change is affecting Canada's Arctic and whether international conferences like COP21 can actually make a difference in the day-to-day lives of northern Peoples. In this instalment, Part 3 of our series (click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2), we turn our attention to Canada's Northwest Territories. Radio Canada International
 Problems Persist Despite Arctic Food Subsidy: Researcher. A research paper suggests that a subsidy program to offset high Arctic grocery bills still hasn't fixed problems Canada's auditor general pointed out a year ago. "The real missing part is accountability," said Tracey Galloway, who studies aboriginal health issues at the University of Toronto. "There's no mechanism to show how the retailer passes on the value of that subsidy to the customer." Winnipeg Free Press
Arctic Council Moves to Unleash UAS. Perilous, shifting, mysterious and melting. All eyes in the Arctic are focused on the ice. The accelerating disintegration of the globe's northernmost ice fields is energizing Arctic nations to ease restrictions on unmanned aircraft in the region because drone flights are one of the few avenues for quickly completing vital climate change research. The Senior Arctic Officials group, a body within the eight-nation Arctic Council, approved recommendations in October to simplify cross-border flight approvals and to allow unmanned aircraft to undertake long-range missions. Inside Unmanned Systems
 Clouds Amplify Warming in Arctic, Study Finds. Clouds can increase warming in the changing Arctic region more than scientists expected, according to a new study published Dec. 10 in the journal Nature Communications. "As the Arctic atmosphere warms and moistens, it better insulates the surface," said Christopher Cox, lead author of the paper. "While we expected this to reduce the influence from clouds, we find that clouds forming in the Arctic appear to further warm the surface, especially in the fall and winter." Washington State University
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Legislative Action
No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.
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Future Events
Fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, December 14-18, 2015 (San Francisco, California). The 48th meeting of the union brings together nearly 24,000 attendees, and lots of Arctic research results. The scientific program is here. There will be several Arctic-related "Town Hall" meetings, including those sponsored by NASA, DOE, NSF, ISAC, IARPC, and SEARCH.
"Arctic Matters" day at the National Academy of Sciences, January 14th, 2016 (Washington, DC, USA) This symposium is part of an ongoing initiative of the National Academies of Science Polar Research Board to expand public understanding of why the dramatic changes affecting the Arctic region ultimately matter to us all. The agenda features engaging presentations and discussions with top Arctic science and policy experts, and displays and interactive exhibits that illustrate Arctic change and its global impacts. The event is free and open to the public. There are sponsorship opportunities, and a call for exhibitor applications. Audience space is limited, so register today; and please encourage your friends, neighbors, and colleagues to participate-as our goal is to reach well beyond the small circle of specialists who typically attend Arctic-themed events in the DC area. The U.S. Arctic Research Commission is the primary sponsor of this event.
 Building upon the preceding Arctic Encounter event in Paris, the third annual Arctic Encounter Symposium (AES) in Seattle, Washington will convene policymakers, industry leaders, and leading experts to confront the leading issues in Arctic policy, innovation, and development. The AES mission is to raise awareness, engage challenges, and develop solutions for the future of a region and a people. The two-day program includes two keynote luncheons, expert plenary sessions, break out sessions, a networking cocktail reception and seated dinner. A closing reception will take place at the conclusion of the program.
 2016 Arctic Frontiers, January 24-29, 2015 (Tromso, Norway).The Arctic is a global crossroad between commercial and environmental interests. The region holds substantial natural resources and many actors are investigating ways to utilise these for economic gain. Others view the Arctic as a particularly pristine and vulnerable environment and highlight the need to limit industrial development. Arctic Frontiers 2016 will discuss the balance between resource utilisation and preservation, and between industrial and environmental interests in the Arctic. Envisioning a well-planned, well-governed, and sustainable development in the Arctic, how can improved Arctic stewardship help balance environmental concerns with industrial expansion? How can the industrial footprints from future business activities be minimised? And last, but not least, what role will existing and emerging technologies play in making industrial development profitable and environmentally friendly, securing a sustainable growth scenario for Arctic communities?
5th Annual Fletcher Opening Arctic Conference, March 12, 2016. The Opening Arctic Conference builds on the Fletcher School's Warming Arctic International Inquiry series, to bring together high-level thought leaders from across disciplines, Fletcher's hallmark. Staged annually, Fletcher's event continues to address the foreign policy, economic, environmental and security implications of the opening Arctic, while dispelling myths.
14th IATS Seminar, June 19-25, 2016 (Bergen, Norway). The University of Bergen (UiB) is honoured to host the 14th IATS Seminar in Bergen, Norway, from Sunday 19 to Saturday 25 June 2016 in co-operation with the Network for University Co-operation Tibet-Norway, an academic network with the universities of Oslo, Bergen and Tromsø as partners. The convenor is Professor Hanna Havnevik, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo, and Chair of the Network.
ICETECH 2016, August 15-18, 2016 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The Arctic Section of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) together with Alaska's Institute of the North (ION) will host the International Conference and Exhibition on Performance of Ships and Structures in Ice (ICETECH 16), the premiere international conference on ships and structures in ice. The conference will take place in Anchorage starting with an opening icebreaker reception on the evening of Monday, August 15, and concluding in the afternoon on Thursday August 18, with a possible workshop on Arctic EER on Friday August 19.
Inuit traditions are a repository of Inuit culture and a primary expression of Inuit identity. The theme for the 2016 Inuit Studies Conference invites Elders, knowledge-bearers, researchers, artists, policy-makers, students and others to engage in conversations about the many ways in which traditions shape understanding, while registering social and cultural change. The institutional hosts of "Inuit Traditions," Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Nunatsiavut Government, invite you to contribute to an exchange of knowledge to be held in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, October 7-10, 2016. Presentations on all aspects of Inuit studies will be welcome.
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2016 (Fairbanks, AK, USA).