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November 27, 2015
  
[Proposals due today] 14th IATS Seminar, June 19-25, 2016 (Bergen, Norway). Interested contributors to the session the 'Third Pole': science diplomacy and transnational connections between Tibet, the Arctic and Antarctic should send their proposed contribution to Rasmus Bertelsen by 11/27/15.

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

Media  
 
president signing Obama Plans Aggressive Regs Push in Final Year. President Obama is moving to complete scores of regulations as he looks to cement key parts of his legacy in the face of a Republican-controlled Congress openly hostile to many of his top priorities. The White House quietly released its formal rulemaking schedule late last week, revealing the administration's latest plans for regulations currently in the works at agencies across the federal government. The fall Unified Agenda suggests Obama has no intentions of slowing down the process during his final year in office. The Hill
 
Speedily Eroding North Slope Rive Bluff Offers Window Into Ice Age Past. A river on Alaska's North Slope is eroding along one of its sections faster than that of any river in the permafrost regions of North America and Eurasia, a team of scientists from Alaska, Russia, Germany and Canada has found. The towering bluff about midway down the 215-mile Itkillik River, which flows from the central Brooks Range to the Colville River, lost nearly 19 meters (62.3 feet) a year between 1995 and 2010 along a nearly half-mile stretch, according to a new study by scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and other institutions. Alaska Dispatch News
 
Climate Change Consequences for People in Canada's Arctic Deserves More Attention, Says Researcher. The polar bear has become somewhat of an international symbol for the consequences of climate change but some researchers say more work needs to be done on how the disappearing sea ice affects people who call the Arctic home. Climate change is changing the Arctic landscape faster than other regions - in fact the change is happening "almost 40 times faster than the models had predicted," said Eric Solomon, director of Arctic Programs at the Vancouver Aquarium. CBC News
 
Old Sailing Logbooks Examined for Climate Clues. A Calgary researcher is taking a trip into the past in the hope that centuries of old sailing records will help us understand today's changing climate. Maribeth Murray, director of the Arctic Institute of North America at the University of Calgary, is setting out on a four-year project sifting through archives on two continents. The Sachem Glanbrook Gazette
 
Inuit Circumpolar Council to Promote Arctic Agenda at COP 21. Inuit and Saami representatives will arrive in Paris Nov. 30 for the start of the Conference of Parties, or COP 21, the 21st annual meeting of the nation states that make up the United Nations Framework on Climate Change, where the vice president of Inuit Circumpolar Council-Canada, Herb Nakimayak, will participate as a member of the official Canadian delegation. Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna and Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo, the federal fisheries minister, are also part of Canada's delegation, along with Catherine McKenna, the federal minister of the environment and climate change. Nunatsiaq Online


Legislative Actionfutureevents  

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.

Future Events
    
** New this week** Polar Research Board 2015 Fall Meeting, December 3-4, 2015 (Washington, D.C., USA). The Polar Research Board fall meeting will include a discussion forum on Advancing Scientific Understanding to Support Planning for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean, Arctic science-related briefings, and other scientific discussions.

Arctic Council and Beyond, December 4, 2015 (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada). This one-day conference hosted by The Northern Institute will focus on the role of the Arctic Council as a forum for Arctic cooperation, the place of the Arctic in Canada's foreign policy and approach to the circumpolar world, the role of the Arctic in global relations in light of the increasing interest in the region by European and Asian states, and the voice of Indigenous Peoples within the Arctic Council and in shaping circumpolar countries' Arctic policies.
 
Paris Arctic Climate Research Strategy Meeting, December 4, 2015 (Paris, France). The purpose of this facilitated discussion is to discuss future regional, national, and international funding opportunities for interdisciplinary Arctic climate research and develop concrete ideas for such research. All disciplines across humanities, social and natural sciences, art, health, technology and others as well as representatives of research, government, civil society, business and others are encouraged to attend.
 
The Arctic and Nordic Climate Science, Technology and Diplomacy in a Global Context, December 5, 2015 (Paris, France). This side event of the UN Climate Change Conference will address how the five Nordic countries, including their self-governing communities (Aaland Islands, Faroe Islands and Greenland) and indigenous peoples (Inuit and Sami) contribute to global climate diplomacy, regulation, mitigation and adaptation through Arctic science, technology and diplomacy.
 
Arctic Encounter Paris (AEP 2015), December 11-12, 2015 (Paris, France) (During the UN Convention on Climate Change - COP21). The Arctic Encounter Paris (AEP) will take place at the French Senate at Luxembourg Palace and the French Military College, �cole Militaire, in Paris, France, on the final days of the monumental United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP21) where thousands of global citizens and government delegates will be gathered to deliberate the world's response to our changing planet in Paris. The AEP is the only Arctic policy and economics side event currently planned to take place during the UN Convention. A reception will take place following the closing panel.
 
AGU logoFall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, December 14-18, 2015 (San Francisco, California). The 48th meeting of the union brings together nearly 24,000attendees, and lots of Arctic research results. The scientific program is here. There will be several Arctic-related "Town Hall" meetings, including those sponsored by NASA, DOE, NSF, ISAC, IARPC, and SEARCH.

 The conference will be devoted to an opening of new academic semester and an upcoming 25 years cooperation between University of Nordland and Baltic State Technical University (St. Petersburg). On the second day the educational project's results "Arctic Bridge: Cooperation on PhD Education and Research Training in the field of Management in Extractive Industries in the High North" will be presented.
 
"Arctic Matters" day at the National Academy of Sciences, January 14th, 2016 (Washington, DC, USA) This symposium is part of an ongoing initiative of the National Academies of Science Polar Research Board to expand public understanding of why the dramatic changes affecting the Arctic region ultimately matter to us all.  The agenda features engaging presentations and discussions with top Arctic science and policy experts, and displays and interactive exhibits that illustrate Arctic change and its global impacts.  The event is free and open to the public.  There are sponsorship opportunities, and a call for exhibitor applications (by Oct.31, 2015).  Audience space is limited, so register today; and please encourage your friends, neighbors, and colleagues to participate-as our goal is to reach well beyond the small circle of specialists who typically attend Arctic-themed events in the DC area.   The U.S. Arctic Research Commission is helping to sponsor this event.
Building upon the preceding Arctic Encounter event in Paris, the third annual Arctic Encounter Symposium (AES) in Seattle, Washington will convene policymakers, industry leaders, and leading experts to confront the leading issues in Arctic policy, innovation, and development. As the largest annual Arctic policy event in the United States, the AES mission is to raise awareness, engage challenges, and develop solutions for the future of a region and a people. The two-day program includes two keynote luncheons, expert plenary sessions, break out sessions, a networking cocktail reception and seated dinner. A closing reception will take place at the conclusion of the program.

**New this week** 2016 Arctic Frontiers, January 24-29, 2015 (Tromso, Norway).The Arctic is a global crossroad between commercial and environmental interests. The region holds substantial natural resources and many actors are investigating ways to utilise these for economic gain. Others view the Arctic as a particularly pristine and vulnerable environment and highlight the need to limit industrial development. Arctic Frontiers 2016 will discuss the balance between resource utilisation and preservation, and between industrial and environmental interests in the Arctic. Envisioning a well-planned, well-governed, and sustainable development in the Arctic, how can improved Arctic stewardship help balance environmental concerns with industrial expansion? How can the industrial footprints from future business activities be minimised? And last, but not least, what role will existing and emerging technologies play in making industrial development profitable and environmentally friendly, securing a sustainable growth scenario for Arctic communities?

16th Alaska Marine Science Symposium, January 25-29, 2016 (Anchorage, AK, USA)No detailed info yet (common guys...), but a valuable meeting, focusing on research results from the Gulf of Alaska, the Bering Sea, and the Arctic Ocean. Good, in-depth, research from Alaska's marine regions. AMSS.
 
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.
 
ICETECH 2016, August 15-18, 2016 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The Arctic Section of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) together with Alaska's Institute of the North (ION) will host the International Conference and Exhibition on Performance of Ships and Structures in Ice (ICETECH 16), the premiere international conference on ships and structures in ice. The conference will take place in Anchorage starting with an opening icebreaker reception on the evening of Monday, August 15, and concluding in the afternoon on Thursday August 18, with a possible workshop on Arctic EER on Friday August 19. 
  
Inuit traditions are a repository of Inuit culture and a primary expression of Inuit identity. The theme for the 2016 Inuit Studies Conference invites Elders, knowledge-bearers, researchers, artists, policy-makers, students and others to engage in conversations about the many ways in which traditions shape understanding, while registering social and cultural change. The institutional hosts of "Inuit Traditions," Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Nunatsiavut Government, invite you to contribute to an exchange of knowledge to be held in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, October 7-10, 2016. Presentations on all aspects of Inuit studies will be welcome.
 

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