Arctic Update Header
July 17, 2015

 

Today's Congressional Action:   

The House is not in session. The Senate is expected to consider non-Arctic legislation.

 

Media  

 

Research: Polar Bears Can't Conserve Energy During Fasting. A study of an Alaska polar bear population in summer concludes the bear's biology will not help stave off starvation in the face of global warming. The study of southern Beaufort Sea polar bears by university, federal and private researchers over three years concludes they have no special ability to minimize energy loss during increasing periods of fasting brought on by climate warming, less sea ice and fewer hunting days. Alaska Dispatch News
 

5 Nations Sign Declaration to Protect Arctic 'Donut Hole' From Unregulated Fishing. Decades ago, fishermen, fishery managers and environmentalists from Alaska and the Soviet Union put aside their nations' differences to try to stop uncontrolled high-seas pollock catches that were imperiling stocks throughout the Bering Sea. That effort led to a 1994 international agreement that banned fishing in the Bering Sea "Donut Hole," an international area lying between U.S. and Russian territorial waters. Now the United States and Russia, along with the governments of Canada, Norway and Denmark/Greenland, are trying to accomplish something similar in the Arctic Ocean, another area of international waters with no controlling authority. Alaska Dispatch News

 

Bethel Democrat to Lead PNWER Arctic Caucus. Representative Bob Herron, a Democrat from Bethel was elected the chairman of the Arctic Caucus during the 25th summer summit of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region, or PNWER. The organization gathered in Big Sky, Montana this week. PNWER is a partnership comprised of industry and five U.S. states, three Canadian provinces and the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. As chairman, Herron will help educate policy makers in Washington, D.C., and Ottawa on arctic issues. Alaska Public Radio

 

Researchers Use Arctic Sea Floor Mapping to Piece Together Earth's History. Researchers from MacEwan University will use Arctic sea floor mapping research to understand the past, and present a key to the future. "It's about the closest thing we can get to a time machine," says Mark Furze, of the research that he and Anna Piénkowski, faculty members in the department of Physical Sciences, will be doing over the next three years. The pair have been awarded a $492,000 grant from ArcticNet to join approximately 40 scientists and crew members aboard the icebreaker CCGS Amundsen. They will study a range of environmental, human and cultural elements in the Canadian Arctic. Edmonton Journal

 

NOAA US Releases Draft Arctic Charting Plan. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has invited public comment on the recently released draft 2015 edition of the U.S. Arctic Nautical Charting plan. The plan, a major effort to improve Arctic chart coverage that is inadequate for modern needs, was originally released in 2011. Comments are due by midnight, October 1, 2015. "Maritime challenges are increasing in the Arctic. As multi-year sea ice continues to disappear at a rapid rate, vessel traffic in the Arctic is on the rise," said Rear Admiral Gerd Glang, director of NOAA's Office of Coast Survey. "Given the lack of emergency response infrastructure in remote Arctic waters, nautical charts are even more important to protect lives and fragile coastal areas." Maritime Executive

 

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

 

S. 1794, a bill to prohibit drilling in the Arctic Ocean (Yesterday, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced S. 1794 and it was referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

 

Future Events

 

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. 

 

ulmer

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 full agenda will be forthcoming.

 

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.
 
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.

 

11th International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP 2016), June 20-24, 2016 (Potsdam, Germany). The Alfred Wegener Institute has teamed up with UP Transfer GmbH and the University of Potsdam to organize a great conference for you, permafrost researchers. The conference aims at covering all relevant aspects of permafrost research, engineering and outreach on a global and regional level.

  

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