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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.
Today's Congressional Action: 
The House and Senate are not in session.
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 Pentagon Chief Submits Military's 'Wish List.'
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Monday submitted the military's annual "wish lists" to lawmakers, but warned he would not support the requests unless Congress approved a larger Pentagon budget. "Any extra program inserted into our budget submission will come at the expense of other programs we deemed more important, with ripple effects across the rest of the budget," Carter said in a letter, which was seen by Reuters. The Hill
NOAA Says Cook Inlet Beluga Numbers Increased Slightly in 2014. The federal estimate of the number of beluga whales in Alaska's Cook Inlet increased slightly in 2014, but researchers conclude the population remains in danger of extinction. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists announced Monday the 2014 estimate is 340 animals, up from 312 animals in 2012. The change was not scientifically significant, according to NOAA's Alaska Fisheries Science Center. Alaska Dispatch News
 Arctic Council Delegates Ponder What Works Best in Mental Health. Though suicide prevention and mental health are areas of life that only national and sub-national governments can do anything about, Arctic Council delegates from around the circumpolar world put a lot of energy last week into talking about it, especially what works and what doesn't. The two-and-a-half-day gathering at the Iqaluit Cadet Hall, which covered one of Canada's priorities for its chairmanship of the Arctic Council, was organized under the Arctic Council's sustainable development working group. Nunatsiaq Online
Ombudsman Hopes for Sami Rights Ratification After Finnish Elections. Twenty-five years after approval of the United Nation's International Labor Organization's Convention No. 169 protecting indigenous rights, Finland's parliament was supposed to ratify it earlier this month. The issue was, however, put on ice by the parliament's Speaker's Council. "Legally, the ILO 169 would primarily have brought the protection and, importantly, the promotion of Sami rights in a dynamic process, monitored by an international body. History has shown us that legally binding international human rights commitments do have an impact in practice, as drivers of politics and practical solutions as well as directing resources for them," Eva Biaudet, Finland's non-discrimination ombudsman, told BarentsObserver. Alaska Dispatch News
Climate Change Treaty Will Include Promise of 28% Emissions Cut From US. The United States will pledge Tuesday to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by up to 28 per cent as part of a global treaty aimed at preventing the worst effects of climate change, according to individuals briefed on the White House's plans. The administration's contribution to the treaty, which world leaders expect to finalize in December, codifies a commitment President Barack Obama first made late last year in Beijing, when he announced a joint U.S.-China climate deal that raised global hopes that developed and developing nations can come together to fight climate change. The U.S. proposal has drawn intense interest around the world. Most nations will miss Tuesday's informal deadline to convey their contributions to the UN - only the European Union, Switzerland and Mexico unveiled their pledges before the U.S. By announcing its commitment early, the U.S. hopes to dial up the political pressure on other countries to take equally ambitious steps to cut emissions. CBC News
 New Source of Methane Found in the Arctic. A research team led by a professor from the University of New Hampshire has identified a new source of methane for gas hydrates in the Arctic Ocean. A stable reservoir for abiotic methane was discovered and could impact global climate change. "We've found an example where methane produced at a mid-ocean ridge is locked up in stable, deep water gas hydrate, preventing it from possibly getting out of the seafloor," says lead author Joel Johnson, associate professor of geology at UNH and guest researcher at the Center for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate (CAGE) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsų. Environmental Protection
Russian Navy to Develop Arctic Rescue Robots. The head of the Russian navy has urged the country's arms developers and manufacturers to begin developing "Arctic underwater search and rescue robots" today according to Russia's state news agency Itar-Tass. "We have formulated our requirements and set the task for manufacturers to create both manned and unmanned underwater vehicles, which can be used to provide search and rescue support with proper effectiveness in the harsh conditions of the Arctic seas," Russia's head naval commander admiral Victor Chirkov said today. Newsweek
Polar Bears Relying More on Birds' Eggs Because of Melting Ice. Melting Arctic ice means there are fewer hunting seals, the main food supply of polar bears, which have been forced to raid the nests of seabirds for eggs, a new study has found. Biologists from Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Poland say polar bears are now starting to raid birds' nests a month earlier than they used to 10 years ago. The researchers wrote in the academic journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution that the Arctic is warming up rapidly. The shrinking of sea ice is currently transforming the habitat of top-predators that rely on the ice. Market Business News
 Brain Drain as Young Greenlanders Leave for Denmark. As hopes fade for a commodities boom in Greenland, there is growing concern that an exodus of young people could cripple the economy of a territory already facing an uncertain outlook. "People come down here to study and then they become so rooted that it's difficult to go back again," said Angunguak Egede, a 28-year-old Greenlander working as an office clerk for the Copenhagen municipality. Daily Times
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Legislative Action
No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday
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Future Events
Reforming Offshore Energy Leasing in the US Arctic, April 1, 2015 (Washington, DC, USA). Join Resources for the Future (RFF) and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment for an RFF First Wednesday Seminar, where leading experts will examine offshore oil and gas leasing reform in the US Arctic. Panelists will explore how these new regulations and strategies meet the need for integrated Arctic management and what work remains to be done to design a regulatory approach that appropriately balances resource development, environmental protection, and community livelihoods. The conversation will cover recommendations put forth in the National Petroleum Council's Arctic study (to be released at the end of March) and lessons for the Arctic from the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.
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". 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 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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