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February 24, 2016

IARPC Webinar Series: The Arctic Digital Elevation Model Project, February 24, 2016 (Webinar). The ArcticDEM project will produce the first very high resolution, publicly available digital surface model of the entire Arctic region above 60 degrees North including all of Alaska, Greenland and Kamchatka. The result of a partnership between the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and a group lead by the US National Science Foundation funded Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota, the project converges civilian, high-quality sub-meter stereo imagery, petascale computing, and open source photogrammetry software.  In addition, the USGS is collecting Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (ifsar) over Alaska as part of the 3D Elevation Program.  This webinar will provide information on the collaboration, the timeline, and the expected ArcticDEM products, as well as the data characteristics, acquisition status, and plans for summer 2016 ifsar acquisition. 
  
Today's Congressional Action:  
The House and Senate are in session and expected to consider non-Arctic legislation.
Media  
 
Annual Winter Growth of Arctic Sea Ice Stalls Early. Normally in the Arctic, the ocean water keeps freezing through the entire winter, creating ice that reaches its maximum extent just before the melt starts in the spring. Not so this year. As of Tuesday, sea ice had stopped growing for two weeks. Sea ice extent -- the areas with at least 15 percent ice coverage -- hit a winter maximum of 14.214 million square kilometers (5.488 million square miles) on Feb. 9, and has stalled since, according to daily reports from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado. Alaska Dispatch News
 
Nunavut Planning Commission to Look at Caribou Habitat, Marine Areas. The Nunavut Planning Commission, hoping to get back on track after much of 2015 was derailed by court proceedings, a lack of funding and disputes with the federal government, will hold a three-day technical meeting in Iqaluit in March, a Feb. 21 news release from the commission said. The meeting, scheduled from March 7 to March 10, will discuss management methods for Nunavut's caribou habitats and marine environments, the release said. Nunatsiaq Online

USCG Comandant Zukunft: 2016 Funding, 2017 Budget Request Will Help Accelerate Heavy Icebreaking Program. The Coast Guard's 2017 acquisition budget request is the largest in history and would help the service revitalize its fleet - and in particular, its heavy icebreaker fleet, Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft said during the annual State of the Coast Guard address today. The Coast Guard has been busy over the past year confiscating cocaine by the metric ton, securing maritime approaches to Guantanamo Bay, fending off provocation by the Iranian Republican Guard Navy in the northern Persian Gulf, and collaborating with British and Saudi counterparts. But the service has struggled to maintain a presence in the Arctic due to a lack of ice-capable ships and icebreakers. USNI News
 
As the Arctic Roasts, Alaska Bakes in One of Its Warmest Winters Ever. This winter's shocking warmth in the Arctic, some seven degrees above average, has oozed into the Alaska which is experiencing one of its mildest recorded winters. So far this winter, Alaska's temperature has averaged about 10 degrees above normal, ranking third warmest in records that date back to 1925. The Washington Post

Sniffing the Arctic. Arctic sea ice conditions can now be measured in real time using cutting-edge laser-based isotope detection technology. New Frontier Scientists videos feature the work of University of Alaska Anchorage scientists Dr. Jeff Welker, Fulbright Distinguished US Arctic Chair and professor of Ecology at UAA, and Dr. Eric Klein, research scientist at UAA and the Arctic Domain Awareness Center. Welker and Klein are the first to explore water vapor isotope properties in real time over the course of a 1000 mile USCGC Healy expedition between Kodiak Island and Prudhoe Bay. They've also shown that rapid changes in Arctic sea ice may be recorded in water vapor isotopes detected over 100 miles inland. Watch 'Sniffing The Arctic,' 'How To Process An Isotope,' and 'Arctic Cyclone Discovered By Isotope Experiment,' at FrontierScientists.com. Videos also feature Matt Rogers, research scientist at UAA Stable Isotope Lab. (http://frontierscientists.com/projects/atmosphere-precipitation-science/isotope-sniffing-the-arctic/)

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.

Future Events
    
43rd Annual Meeting of the Alaska Anthropological Association, March 2-6, 2016 (Sitka, Alaska, USA). The Alaska Anthropological Association will be holding its 43rd Annual Meeting in Sitka, Alaska. This year it is being organized by archaeologists and anthropologists of the National Park Service - Alaska Region.

5th Annual Fletcher Opening Arctic Conference, March 12, 2016. The Opening Arctic Conference builds on the Fletcher School's Warming Arctic International Inquiry series, to bring together high-level thought leaders from across disciplines, Fletcher's hallmark. Staged annually, Fletcher's event continues to address the foreign policy, economic, environmental and security implications of the opening Arctic, while dispelling myths.
 
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.

15th Annual Arctic Health Science Seminar, April 1, 2016 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The American Society for Circumpolar Health will host the 15th Annual Arctic Health Science Seminar in Anchorage, Alaska. This event will include the annual meeting of the American Society for Circumpolar Health, the Robert Fortuine Memorial lecture, and the Albrecht Milan Foundation will provide the Albrecht-Milan Emerging Professional Award to one of the Arctic Health Science Seminar presenters. The call for abstracts is open through Monday February 29, 2016.

** New this week** The American Arctic: The United States as an Arctic Power in Science, Technology and Security, April 4, 2016 (San Francisco, CA, USA). The Association of American Geographers will host a panel discussion on the American Arctic. In 2015 the United States assumed the chairmanship of the Arctic Council. In recent years, the Federal government began to pay closer attention to the Arctic owing to dramatic environmental and social changes and growing economic interest in the region's vast resources. President Obama became the first sitting US President to visit the Arctic this August. US Arctic Research Commission Chair Fran Ulmer is expected to be a panelist.

Alaska Rural Energy Conference, April 26-28, 2016 (Fairbanks, Alaska, USA). The Alaska Rural Energy Conference is a three day event offering a large variety of technical sessions covering new and ongoing energy projects in Alaska, as well as new technologies and needs for Alaska's remote communities. Building on the growing success, the Alaska Energy Authority and the Alaska Center for Energy and Power have joined forces again to organize and sponsor the 10th annual Alaska Rural Energy Conference.   

14th IATS Seminar, June 19-25, 2016 (Bergen, Norway).
The University of Bergen (UiB) is honored to host the 14th IATS Seminar in Bergen, Norway, from Sunday 19 to Saturday 25 June 2016 in co-operation with the Network for University Co-operation Tibet-Norway, an academic network with the universities of Oslo, Bergen and Troms� as partners. The convenor is Professor Hanna Havnevik, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo, and Chair of the Network.
 
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.
  
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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