Arctic Update Header
July 14, 2015

 

6th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations, July 14-16, 2015 (Washington, DC, USA). This biennial symposium, co-hosted by the US National Ice Center and the US Arctic Research Commission, brings together nationally and internationally recognized experts on Arctic observations, climate change, and maritime operations. Past symposia expanded the discussion to include the impact of an ice-diminishing arctic on other nations and their maritime operations including commercial transportation, oil and gas exploration and exploitation, fisheries, and oceanographic research. The continuing reduction in Arctic sea ice extent remains a central focus.

 

Confirmed marquee speakers include Congressional leaders (Rep. Don Young, Senator Lisa Murkowski), the USCG Commandant (ADM Zukunft), State Dept. Arctic Rep. (ADM Robert Papp USCG (Ret.)), US Navy's Chief of Naval Research (RADM Winter), and NOAA's Chief Scientist (Dr. Rick Spinrad).

 

Other speakers will represent the State of Alaska, academic research, institutions private sector (oil and gas, maritime insurance), and other federal entities.

 

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Today's Congressional Action:   

The House and Senate are in session and expected to consider non-Arctic legislation.

 

 

Media  

 

beluga Cat Parasite Found in Western Arctic Belugas. As hunters venture out to harvest belugas this summer, it's not climate change or mercury contamination, but cat poop they should be concerned about. Scientists at the University of British Columbia have discovered a dangerous parasite, spread by domestic cats, in western Arctic beluga - and this should raise public health concerns in Inuit regions where belugas are hunted, they say. Michael Grigg, a molecular parasitologist at UBC, says that a warming Arctic climate is allowing for much freer movement of parasites between different latitudes. Nunatsiaq Online

 

greenland Climate Scientists Find Surprising Reason for Fast Arctic Meltdown. Relatively few tropical storms ever make it as far north as Greenland, the ice-covered island that straddles the Arctic Circle east of Canada. But the ones that do appear to be inflicting serious damage - and not just to Greenland. A study published Monday shows that warm, tropical air masses are accelerating the melting of Greenland's ice sheets, exacerbating a problem that already is contributing to rising sea levels around the globe. The Greenland Ice Sheet currently covers more than 650,000 square miles, an area three times the size of Texas. Previous studies have documented rapid melting on the periphery of the ice sheet, which is losing mass at a rate 30 percent faster than in the late 1970s. Washington Post

 

Back to the Future-An Arctic Conference in 1979. On a dusty shelf in the library at my university, I came across a volume entitled Marine Transportation and High Arctic Development: Policy Framework and Priorities -- Symposium Proceedings.  The book had sat untouched for so long that the bar code inside of it no longer even worked, for there wasn't a catalog entry anymore for it. The blue hardcover book was published in 1979 by the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee (CARC), based in Ottawa, Ontario. CARC still exists today with additional offices in Yellowknife. Alaska Dispatch News

 

canadian flag Canada Poised to Sign International Deal to Block Arctic Fishing. Canada appears poised to sign an international agreement to block commercial fishing in the central Arctic Ocean until more is known about the potential of the resource. A source close to the negotiations says the deal is to be signed next Thursday in Oslo.A Fisheries and Oceans spokeswoman confirms Canada plans to attend a meeting in Norway with other Arctic Ocean countries to discuss further measures against unregulated high-seas fishing. Canada, the United States, Russia, Denmark and Norway agreed last year that some protection was needed for the High Arctic beyond territorial waters. CTV News

 

Special Report on Arctic Marine Ecosystems in "Progress in Oceanography." Read 17 new, multidisciplinary research papers on the 'new state' of marine ecosystems in the Pacific Arctic, written by over 100 experts on topics ranging from ocean physics to whales. These papers resulted from the Synthesis of Arctic Research (SOAR) project, led by NOAA scientists Sue Moore and Phyllis Stabeno, and supported by BOEM. Progress in Oceanography

 

Churchill to Host Oil-Spill Research. A multimillion-dollar research facility to study the impact of oil spills in sea ice will be built on the shores of Hudson Bay in Churchill, the federal and provincial governments announced Monday. Regional minister Shelly Glover and Premier Greg Selinger spent the day touring Manitoba's northern port, watching beluga whales in Hudson Bay and stopping in at polar bear jail as well as delivering a joint announcement of $22 million toward the $31.7-million Churchill Marine Observatory. The Canada Foundation for Innovation is providing $12.4 million of the funding, and the province is kicking in $9.7 million over four years. Additional dollars and in-kind funding is coming from the private sector and other public-sector sources. Winnipeg Free Press

 

Massive Marine Debris Removal Project to get Underway in Alaska. A massive cleanup effort is getting underway in Alaska, with tons of marine debris - some likely sent to sea by the 2011 tsunami in Japan - set to be airlifted from rocky beaches and taken by barge for recycling and disposal in the Pacific Northwest. Hundreds of heavy-duty bags of debris, collected in 2013 and 2014 and stockpiled at a storage site in Kodiak, also will be shipped out. The barge is scheduled to arrive in Kodiak by Thursday, before setting off on a roughly one-month venture. The scope of the project, a year in the making, is virtually unheard of in Alaska. It was spurred, in part, by the mass of material that's washed ashore - things like buoys, fishing lines, plastics and fuel drums - and the high cost of shuttling small boatloads of debris from remote sites to port, said Chris Pallister, president of the cleanup organization Gulf of Alaska Keeper, which is coordinating the effort. US News and World Report

 

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

 

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.

 

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 �lafur Ragnar Gr�msson 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. 

 

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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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