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Arctic Reading for the Quarantine:
(Congressional Research Service) Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress, updated 01/23/2020. The diminishment of Arctic sea ice has led to increased human activities in the Arctic, and has heightened interest in, and concerns about, the region's future. The United States, by virtue of Alaska, is an Arctic country and has substantial interests in the region. The seven other Arctic states are Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark (by virtue of Greenland), and Russia.
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Arctic Maritime Spill Response Modeling (AMSM) Workshop Report. On December 3-5, 2019, the Center for Spills and Environmental Hazards (CSE) and Arctic Domain Awareness Center (ADAC) hosted the Arctic Maritime Spill Response Modeling (AMSM) workshop at the University of Alaska in Anchorage, AK. The ADAC project is comprised of the following six phases: the formation of project core advisory team, core team determination of needs/questions to be addressed by response models, three-day Arctic Maritime Spill Response Modeling Workshop, formation of working groups on specific response model components/criteria, two-day workshop to review working group drafts and integrate feedback, and the completion of knowledge product. A link to the full report is here.
Packing the Tundra with Animals Could Slow Arctic Melt. Enormous herds of animals roamed the Arctic tundra thousands of years ago. Just a fraction remain today, but some scientists say they should be brought back to help fight climate change. Wild horses, reindeer, bison, musk oxen and other large herbivores trample the ground as they plod along, packing down the earth and any snow that's on top of it. Thick and fluffy snow tends to act as an insulator, warming the soil beneath it. But denser snow can keep soil colder. Scientific American
Arctic Melting Continues at Alarming Rate, UC Irvine and JPL Scientists Say. Arctic melting continues at an alarming rate, threatening to erode coastal areas as sea levels rise, UC Irvine and Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists concluded in a paper published Wednesday. "We're seeing it's continuing and we're not slowing down," said the study's lead author, UCI professor Isabella Velicogna. "The ice sheets are continuing to lose mass into the ocean at increasing levels consistently." NBC Southern California
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Future Events
** Updated ** Ice Core Science Community Planning Workshop 2020, April 2-3, 2020 (Virtual Meeting Only). Please note, this event is meeting virtually only now. Scientific discoveries achieved in the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets and temperate glaciers are critical to society today, but they are not achieved without significant advance planning. The U.S. Ice Drilling Program (IDP) will sponsor an interdisciplinary ice community workshop to identify science driving future Arctic and Antarctic ice coring sites, the ice drilling technology that will be needed, and the timeline over the coming decade for advancing ice core science on multiple frontiers. The outcome of the workshop will be white papers describing community endeavors with associated timelines that will become part of the updated U.S. Ice Drilling Program Long Range Science Plan.
NOAA Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program Webinar Series, April 16, 2020 (Webinar). Deep-sea coral and sponge communities in the Aleutian Islands are important habitat features for many life stages of commercially important fish targets, including Atka mackerel, Pacific cod, and rockfish. The effects of commercial fishing activities on deep-sea corals and sponges has been difficult to quantify due to a lack of spatially-explicit fishery data, bottom contact by different gear types, undetermined location of corals and sponges, and the susceptibility and recovery dynamics these structure-forming invertebrates (SFI). To address these challenges, a fishing effects model was developed in the North Pacific to integrate spatially explicit VMS data with target-specific gear configurations for over 40,000 bottom trawls since 2003. Fishery observer coverage for Aleutian Island trawl fisheries is nearly 100 percent and records catch species composition. Species distribution models provide presence data for coral, sponge, Primnoidae, and Stylasteridae.
** Updated ** Securing S&T Success for the Coming Arctic, April 22-23, 2020 (Washington, DC USA). The Arctic Domain Awareness Center hosts this annual meeting. The meeting will review the Center's current research and discuss better leveraging ADAC. The agenda includes discussions regarding the transition of ADAC's mature research and the initiation of new research associated with ADAC's recently awarded projects from ADAC's Arctic Incidence of National Significance 2019 workshop. Cancelled
ICESAT-2 Cryospheric Science Hackweek, June 15-19, 2020 (Seattle, Washington USA). ICESat-2 Cryospheric Science Hackweek is a 5-day hackweek to be held at the University of Washington. Participants will learn about technologies used to access and process ICESat-2 data with a focus on the cryosphere. Mornings will consist of interactive lectures, and afternoon sessions will involve facilitated exploration of datasets and hands-on software development.
** New this week ** Arctic Circle Assembly, October 8-11, 2020 (ReykjavÃk, Iceland). The annual Arctic Circle Assembly is the largest annual international gathering on the Arctic, attended by more than 2000 participants from 60 countries. It is attended by heads of states and governments, ministers, members of parliaments, 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.
** New this week ** 3rd Arctic Science Ministerial, November 21-22, 2020 (Toyko, Japan). Since the last Arctic Science Ministerial in 2018, changes in the Arctic ecosystem and the resulting impacts locally and globally have been severely felt. While the reasons for these changes in climate largely stem from activities outside of the Arctic, the Arctic is warming at a rate of nearly double the global average. Considering the need for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and repair measures, the relevance of an international Arctic Science Ministerial has never been greater. It is necessary to strengthen scientific cooperation and collaboration among both Arctic and non-Arctic States in order to develop our understanding of the rapid changes impacting the Arctic. The First Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM1) was hosted by the United States in 2016, and two years later, the Second Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM2) was co-hosted by Germany, Finland, and the European Commission. The Third Arctic Science Ministerial will be co-hosted by Iceland and Japan.
** New this week ** Arctic Science Summit Week, March 20-26, 2021 (Lisbon, Portugal). The Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Local Organizing Committee will host the Arctic Science Summit Week 2021. The Conference is organized by FCT, Ciência Viva, AIR Center, the Portuguese Arctic Community and by IASC and partners. Framed by the overarching theme for the Science Conference "The Arctic: Regional Changes, Global Impacts," Lisbon invites International experts on the Arctic and Indigenous Peoples to discuss the "New Arctic" and also its impacts and interactions to and with the lower latitudes.
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