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August 11, 2015
 
Industry Needs for Seasonal and Sub-seasonal Sea Ice Information and Predictions, August 11, 2015 (Webinar AKDT). Sea Ice Prediction Network webinar will provide a brief overview of contrasts and commonalities between sea ice variables relevant for geophysical or climate research and those relevant for operational needs in Arctic seas. For more information, contact Betsy Turner-Bogren at ARCUS ([email protected]).

capital Today's Congressional Action:   
The House and Senate are not in session. 

Media  

Shell in Chukchi Shell Ready to Begin Drilling for Oil in the Arctic. Shell is set to restart its controversial hunt for Arctic oil, three years after the company's last ill-fated venture north. The Polar Pioneer rig began drilling on 30 July, but US safety standards have prevented the company from sinking a well deep enough to hit oil until a key safety vessel, an icebreaker called the Fennica, was in the Chukchi Sea. The Guardian
 
Shell Asks for Approval on Deeper Arctic Drilling. Shell is asking federal regulators for permission to drill deeper into potential oil-bearing rock thousands of feet below the Chukchi Sea. Although the company has been drilling a well at its Burger Prospect since July 30, Interior Department regulators have limited the company's work to the top 3,000 feet. The restriction stems from regulators' insistence that Shell have an emergency device called a capping stack nearby and ready to be deployed on top of a damaged well within 24 hours of an incident. But for weeks, that capping stack and the icebreaker used to deploy it have been unavailable while a hole in the hull of that vessel was fixed in a Portland, Ore., shipyard. Houston Chronicle
 
Arctic Map The Arctic in the Time of Sanctions. When Western countries began to take a hard line against Russia in early 2014, the aim was to force Vladimir Putin to change his mind about meddling in Crimea and Ukraine. Doing so also stoked a bitter debate over whether the Russian president had Arctic territory on his to-annex list. On the one side of the discussion were those who held staunchly fast to the belief that, despite fraying relations over Ukraine, there would be no spill-over into the Arctic. Diplomatic relationships may groan, it was underscored, but the system would not break down, if only because that was what served Moscow's interests best. Arctic Journal
 
Growing Polar Bear Presence Terrifies Scientists in Arctic Town of Ny-Alesund. People living in the Arctic settlement of Ny-�lesund, Norway, have been dealing with a nontraditional pest this summer: polar bears. Residents of the northernmost permanent human settlement, many of them scientists, have called the increasing presence of polar bears near the town's research center a "nightmare." They have reduced access to certain areas and forced locals to learn to shoot, Agence France-Presse reported. "As [much] as possible, we travel in pairs," Dutch ornithologist Maarten Loonen said, adding that he's seen the polar bear population in Ny-�lesund grow over his past 20 years of living there. "I tell my students, 'The polar bear views you as potential prey.'" International Business Times
 
FIU Professor Leading Historic Arctic Research Expedition. Oceanographer David Kadko has been to the Arctic Ocean several times over during the course of his career, but on Aug. 9 he left for one of the biggest undertakings and international collaborations in the history of Arctic research. Kadko, a professor and associate director of the Applied Research Center at FIU, is the chief scientist of a multimillion-dollar U.S. Arctic GEOTRACES initiative. He is leading a team of 51 scientists, students and technicians conducting experiments that will help provide the most comprehensive understanding of the Arctic's chemical composition ever. FIU News
 
( Opinion) Is Canada Ready for the Latest US Twist in Arctic Affairs? The United States has put a polar bear among the seals in Arctic diplomatic waters with its announcement that Secretary of State John Kerry will host an unprecedented foreign ministers' conference on the Arctic at the end of the month. At the gathering in Anchorage, Alaska, President Barack Obama is expected to spell out his "American Arctic" vision. This U.S. initiative raises some issues, as well as opportunities, for Canada. The first sensitivity for Canada is that the conference, with its global focus and attendees, is not sponsored by the Arctic Council, of which the United States is the current chair. The meeting leapfrogs the Arctic Council's delicate regional governance architecture: eight Arctic member states, formal and empowered indigenous permanent participants, and a number of observer states. The Globe and Mail
 
Boeing's Insitu to Arctic Skies to Make Case for Drones. Unmanned aerial vehicle maker Insitu is hoping a successful offshore demo for the Coast Guard will help the growing effort to incorporate drones into wider civilian uses. The Boeing-owned maker of small, pilot-less aircraft showed off its ScanEagle and how it can be used in search and rescue operations at the Coast Guard's July 13-15 "Arctic Technology Evaluation." The demo took place on the North Slope of Alaska, where oil and gas exploration takes place under difficult conditions. The Business Journals

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. 

 

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 draft agenda is here.

The Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience (GLACIER), August 30-31, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The U.S. Department of State will host a major event to focus the world's attention on the most urgent issues facing the Arctic today and provide an unprecedented opportunity for foreign ministers and key stakeholders to define the region's most crucial challenges; highlight innovative ways in which these challenges can be addressed at the local, national and international levels; and broaden global awareness of the impacts of Arctic climate change.

 

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.

2015 Arctic Science Conference, October 1-3, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The conference theme is "Healthy Estuaries: Sustainability and Resilience." Conference topics include traditional scientific disciplines, science education, arctic social sciences, biomedical research, and artistic interpretation of the evolving North.  Abstract submissions are now being accepted. The deadline is August 1, 2015.

 
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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