Arctic Update Header
March 16, 2015

  

capitalToday's Congressional Action:  

The House and Senate are in session and not expected to consider Arctic legislation.

 

Media  

 

capital Chasm Grows Within GOP Over Spending. The congressional push this week to secure the first Republican budget plan in nearly a decade is revealing a chasm between fiscal hawks determined to maintain strict spending caps and defense hawks who are threatening to derail any budget that does not ensure an increase for the military. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said naval warships in the Arctic are only as effective as the Coast Guard icebreakers funded by the Department of Homeland Security that clear their path. The military can track drug shipments from South America, he added, but without a properly funded Justice Department, F.B.I. or Coast Guard, the homeland is not secure. New York Times

 

More Naval Activity in Norway's Northernmost Regions. After years of focusing on international operations and phasing-in of new equipment, the Norwegian Navy is ready for more activity in the northernmost parts of the country. This week Norway's newest frigate, the Thor Heyerdahl took part in the Joint Viking exercise. Joint Viking, which includes units from the Army, Navy, Air Force and National Guard, started on Monday. The exercise takes place in the western parts of Finnmark County, but on Wednesday the flag vessel Thor Heyerdahl visited the easternmost parts of the region, Kirkenes. Alaska Dispatch News

 

Alaska Through New Eyes. In 1886 Alaska had been American for less than two decades, Russian presence had waned, and the whaling industry widely occupied the region. The sole representative of American authority in those waters was the US Revenue Cutter Bear, a 198-foot, reinforced-hull vessel powered by both steam and sail. The ship's mission was to confiscate illegal alcohol and guns, make observations for nautical charts, offer medical assistance to natives and ships' crews, pick up explorers from an earlier US Navy expedition, and generally police the area. As a new book, Steaming to the North, shows, the Bear's cruise that summer also produced some of the first photographs ever taken of that part of the world. Arranged into a narrative and explained with the help of the authors' far-ranging research, the photographs-rediscovered in the 1970s under a porch in New Hampshire-chronicle the Bear's journey from San Francisco to Alaska and Siberia, and give us a rare glimpse of a remote place and time. The New York Review of Books

 

Peace and Stability Crucial for Arctic Economy, Norway's Foreign Minister Says. The overall goal for Norwegian Arctic policy is to ensure that the current geopolitical tensions do not spill over and pose a challenge to peace and stability characterizing the region, says Foreign Minister Børge Brende. Speaking at the Economist Arctic Summit in Oslo on Thursday, the Norwegian Foreign Minister publicly addressed suggestions of contagion risk to the Arctic from current geopolitical tensions with Russia. Alaska Dispatch News

 

[Opinion] A Reagan Approach to Climate Change. The trend of disappearing summer sea ice in the Arctic is clear even though there is always some variability from year to year. Severe winter weather underscores the importance of keeping track of significant trends. Here are the numbers, according to Julienne Stroeve, of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., as reported in the Economist in February"Between 1953 and 2014, the average area of the Arctic sea ice shrank by 48,000 square kilometers a year. Between 1979 and 2014, it shrank by 87,000 square kilometers a year." Washington Post

 

Large-Scale Mapping Project Nears Completion. After four years, nearly $2 million, and countless hours of interviews, field studies, and research, the Northwest Arctic Borough's Subsistence Mapping Project is nearly ready for unveiling. The project will produce a nearly 600-page atlas documenting subsistence-use areas (where people hunt, fish, and gather by season) and important ecological areas (places where animals feed, breed, raise young, and migrate) in seven of the region's coastal communities - Kivalina, Noatak, Selawik, Noorvik, Deering, Buckland, and Kotzebue. The Arctic Sounder

 

Earth Science is Not Hard Science, Congressional Republicans Declare. U.S. geoscientists are accustomed to being used as a punching bag by climate change skeptics in Congress, who challenge the science of global warming. But some influential Republican legislators are now going a step further, by denigrating the discipline itself. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), the new chair of the science and space panel within the Senate commerce committee and an unofficial presidential candidate, asserted yesterday at a hearing that the earth sciences are not "hard science." Freshman Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO), a member of the panel and a rising star within the Republican Party, echoed Cruz's words. And the new chair of an important science spending panel in the House of Representatives, Representative John Culberson (R-TX), has said repeatedly in recent weeks that the earth sciences don't meet his definition of "the pure sciences." Science Mag

 

Nordic Countries Close Offices in Russia. In a meeting in Greenland this week, government ministers from all the Nordic countries decided to put all activities at the Nordic Council of Ministers' information offices in Northwest Russia on hold indefinitely. That will affect the Council offices in St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad, as well as the contact centres in Petrozavodsk and Arkhangelsk, the organization informs. The information center in Murmansk was closed in early 2014 for other reasons. As previously reported, the Russian Prosecutor's Office in January this year sent a letter to the Council which read that it will have to register as "foreign agent". That triggered a furious response from the Nordic countries, which argued that the agent status is incompatible with the operations of the Council. Barents Observer 

 

oil spill in open ocean VIMS Develops Underwater Robot to Assist in Oil-Spill Cleanup. One big challenge facing cleanup crews during an offshore oil spill-such as 2010's Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico-is determining just how much oil is involved. Researchers at William & Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science have now developed a remotely operated underwater vehicle to someday assist in this key aspect of the oil-spill response. Project leader Paul Panetta, a scientist with Applied Research Associates, Inc., and an adjunct professor at VIMS, says "Gauging the volume of a spill, and the extent and thickness of its surface slick, are usually done by visual surveillance from planes and boats, but that can be quite difficult. Our ROV [remotely operated vehicle] uses acoustic signals to help more easily locate and focus on the thickest part of the slick." William & Mary

 

Lease Sale 193 Decision Expected Late March. Secretary of Interior will issue a Record of Decision on Chukchi Lease Sale 193 by the end of March. It will determine if Shell can proceed with its drilling plans for the region this summer. Their leases have been suspended since 2014 pending the release of the new Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement that came out in February. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement director Brian Salerno says he thinks the SEIS will be accepted, and Shell will be able to submit an exploration plan. Alaska Public Radio

 

Proposed Arctic Drilling Regs Take Holistic Look at Safety. The heads of the two federal agencies in charge of off-shore oil and gas drilling visited Alaska last week to discuss proposed safety regulations for drilling in the Arctic. They spoke with stakeholders in Anchorage and around the North Slope, including hosting a town hall meeting in Barrow. Brian Salerno, director of the Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, says the rules set transparent, universal safety standards for drilling in the Arctic's outer continental shelf, and they emphasize prevention. Currently, safety plans are company- and project-specific. Alaska Public Radio

 

Chinaflag China to Launch Satellite Data Receiving Station in Arctic. China is set to launch its first overseas satellite data receiving station in the Arctic. The station, which is expected to start operation in the next two years, will be established in Sweden and cover information in the Arctic region and Europe. Experts say the station will enable China to obtain satellite remote sensing data for research on China's environmental conditions, resource distribution, and global climate change. Crienglish

 

[Opinion] Unalaska is a First-Class Port at a Vital Crossroads for Arctic Development. Unalaska is home to the country's northernmost deep-water port and sits at the crossroads of North America, Asia and the Arctic. With our strategic location and infrastructure, our city offers unique opportunities for business and industry. Sharing that value is the intent of the Unalaska City Council's recently approved communication plan. While many people don't realize it, communication plays a critical role in the success of every industry. Think of tourism -- Alaska is known as a top travel destination, and every year our state attracts millions of visitors who come for adventures, wilderness and scenic beauty. Alaska Dispatch News

 

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

 

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.

Future Events

 

Polar Shelves and Shelf Break Exchange in Times of Rapid Climate Warming, March 15-20, 2015 (Lucca, Italy). The GRCs provide an international forum for the presentation and discussion of frontier research in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences, and their related technologies. The guiding principle of a GRC is to encourage communication and discussion of ideas and new unpublished results at the very frontier of a particular field of research, by bringing together outstanding scientists from academia, industry, and government, ranging from senior experts to Ph.D. students. With the increasing impacts of reduced sea ice and warming seawater conditions in both the Arctic and Antarctic, this conference can act as a forum for potentially transformative discussions for interdisciplinary, international and compare/contrast evaluation of polar sciences. In addition, the Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) will precede the GRC to provide a forum for graduate students and post-docs to present and exchange new data and cutting edge ideas with experts in the different polar fields of science.


 

Coast and Ocean Film Festival, March 28, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA) In celebration of its 10th Anniversary, the Alaska Ocean Observing System and Alaska Geographic are co-hosting a Coast & Ocean Film Festival at the Bear Tooth on Saturday, March 28th!  The festival will showcase fantastic short films that highlight an array of ocean-related topics. This event promotes ocean conservation, raises awareness about issues facing marine habitats, and celebrates Alaska's unique coast and ocean environments!

 

Sweden-U.S. Planning Workshop on Joint Arctic Research Using the I/B Oden, March 30- April 1, 2015 (Stockholm, Sweden). The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Arctic Section is supporting a 'Planning Workshop on joint Arctic Research using the Swedish Class 1A Icebreaker Oden.' This workshop is held in collaboration with the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (SPRS) and the Swedish Research Council (Formas and VR). The US delegation will be led by Drs. Patricia Matrai (Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences) and Peter Minnett (RSMAS, U. Miami), as workshop co-organizers with Dr. Caroline Leck (Stockholm U.). This workshop will bring together those with research and operational/ logistical interests in the Arctic and will discuss a baseline for establishing a new, longer-term collaborative relationship among U.S. and Swedish scientists for Oden-based research in the Arctic Ocean. 

 

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 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.


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
 

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.

 
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 Call for Presentations ends this Friday.
 
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.

  

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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