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September 28, 2011

Today's Eventstodaysevents 

 

The House and Senate are in recess until October 3rd.

Media Reviewtodaysevents    

 

YoungDon Young: Roll Back Regs to 1991. If Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young has his way, all regulations from the past 20 years would vanish - just like that. Young said Tuesday he plans to introduce legislation this fall to repeal every federal regulation installed since 1991, the Anchorage Daily News reports. "My bill is very simple, I just null and void any regulations passed in the last 20 years," Young said at a speech at the Anchorage Downtown Rotary Club. "I picked 20 years ago because it crossed party lines and also we were prosperous at that time. And no new regulations until they can justify them." Politico

  

Russia and China: Arctic Phantom Menaces. The excerpts of an MoD/FCO report quoted recently in the Telegraph reflect the threat-oriented posture one expects of a defence ministry, but the analysis seems rather cruder than might be expected. The report appears not to distinguish between the general effects of the familiar pan-regional trends and their probable local - that is, northeastern Atlantic - impacts. Policy-makers' failure to go beyond broad brushstrokes has served only to make the intrinsic novelty and uncertainty of Arctic policy-making seem inherently dangerous. The temptation to find reasons to be afraid is a very human characteristic; however, it is also a treacherous side-effect of prejudice and ignorance, which is hardly conducive to sound policy-making. Royal United Services Institute 

 

Nunavut Loses Ancient Ice Shelves to Warmer Temps. 'They won't come back.' Canadian ice shelves are changing at an unexpected rate, say two Ottawa researchers. Over the past six years, they've seen nearly half of these ancient ice shelves break off. This summer saw the near-complete loss of the Serson ice shelf, as well as the splitting of the Ward Hunt ice shelf, the largest of the remaining ice shelves that have clung to Ellesmere Island for 3,000 to 5,000 years and contain the oldest sea ice in the northern hemisphere. Nunatsiaq Online

 

EU and Canada Can Grow Arctic Relations. When it comes to the Arctic, co-operation between the European Union and Canada dates back to the 1990s, when the two entities developed Northern policies. Over the years, these relations evolved in parallel, and at times interconnected ways-and it was only in the late 2000s that they became hindered by the seal hunt. Embassy   

 

Hiller Named Arctic Coordinator. Scott Hiller, former Rockport-Fulton High School (RFHS) graduate, has just been named Arctic Coordinator for Ship-Based Science Technical Support in the Arctic (STARC) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, CA. The program is program funded by the National Science Foundation. As the coordinator of STARC, Hiller will serve as a single point of contact for principal investigators, participating scientists, ship operators (e.g. US Coast Guard), and funding agency program managers to plan and deliver science technical support onboard USCG Healy and Polar Star. He will also coordinate with NSF, U.S. Coast Guard, and the academic community to provide for the operation, upgrade and maintenance of science equipment installed aboard the ships. The Rockport Pilot

 

New Comprehensive Atlas of the Arctic Will be Produced. The Russian Geographic Society (RGS), in conjunction with the Moscow State University School of Geography, will produce a new comprehensive atlas of the Arctic, RGS President Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday. "The drawing of an Arctic atlas involves extensive, serious work." Shoigu, who is also Russian emergencies minister, said at the opening of the international forum, The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue. "We will start in the near future and, I hope, will be able to present the atlas at the next Arctic forum." The Arctic 

 

Report Finds Gaps in USGS Study on Offshore Drilling in Arctic Ocean. A U.S. Geological Survey report last summer on the nation's capacity to assess impacts from oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean was credible and unbiased but failed to identify which scientific gaps are most important to fill, according to a new report commissioned by a pair of conservation groups. New York Times

 

icebreakersProspects for Commercial Marine Navigation Across the Arctic Region. While the environmental movement has warned that global warming and elevated sea levels would disrupt coastal regions, the may be some possible benefit for the marine transportation sector. Higher water levels that deeper draft ships will gain access to more bays, inlets and navigable rivers. A new theory of changing weather patterns challenges the carbon dioxide theory of global warming. Research from CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research) advises that changes in the sun, the Milky Way galaxy and gamma radiation are contributing factors behind the erratic weather patterns. Such weather patterns may allow for the installation of technology that could produce a navigable passage through the Arctic region. For decades, Hudson Bay and the Upper Great Lakes have been open to maritime operations during the northern summer months. Historical records suggest that several centuries ago, the Arctic region may have undergone a period of reduced ice cover. In the modern era, erratically changing weather patterns may assist efforts to develop a navigable passage across the Arctic region, between the Bering Strait and either Hudson Strait or Davis Strait. So far, only icebreaker ships have been able to sail part way through that passage and with great difficulty. The Maritime Executive 

 

First Phase of the Aleutian Islands Risk Assessment Completed. An advisory panel of experts and stakeholders has been meeting for more than two years to develop recommendations on how to make marine transportation safer in waters around the Aleutian Islands. The project is in response to recent marine casualties in the area and is being funded through a federal court settlement following the grounding of the motor vessel Selendang Ayu in 2004. The project is being jointly managed by the Coast Guard, State of Alaska, and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. United States Coast Guard   

 

Canada flagUS, Canadian Authorities to Hold Press Event to Kick Off Maritime Homeland Security Exercise. Leaders from the U.S. and Canadian military branches that are conducting a maritime homeland security and defense exercise are scheduled to be available for a news briefing Thursday morning at the Marine Security Operation Centre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Military spokespersons from the U.S. Coast Guard and Joint Task Force Atlantic will be on hand to discuss the Frontier Sentinel 2011 exercise, which began on Sept. 20 and is planned to culminate on Oct. 5. United States Coast Guard

 

President to Honor High Achieving, Early Career NOAA Scientists. Three NOAA scientists were named today as recipients of the 2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The award is the highest honor given by the U.S. government to outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers. "It is very gratifying that NOAA scientists are honored by this significant award," said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "We are immensely proud of these three individuals. They represent the best of NOAA science. While they are being lauded for specific work, this award also recognizes the promise of future contributions to science and the nation." NOAA    

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

 

No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.


Future Events                                   

 

USARC Commission Meeting: New Hampshire, October 5-7, 2011. Ulmer 2

The US Arctic Research Commission will hold its 96th meeting in New Hampshire next week. The meeting will begin at the University of New Hampshire (Oct. 5th) and will then proceed to the US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (Oct. 6th), and will end at Dartmouth College (Oct. 7th). A detailed agenda will be available tomorrow, here, on the USARC's website.

The Arctic in Transition: Regional Issues and Geopolitics, October 3-4, 2011. The conference is organized by the Center for Geopolitical Studies of the Raoul Dandurand Chair, in collaboration with the Centre Jacques Cartier (France), ArcticNet (Universite Laval, Quebec), and the Northern Research Forum (University of the Arctic; University of Lapland, Finland). This high-level international meeting reunites political scientists, lawyers, geographers, historians and practitioners to discuss, first, the socio-economic, political and security issues of developed or developing Arctic regions, and, second, to look at the evolving relationships between these spaces, their peoples, and global affairs. The meeting mainly seeks to adress security issue(s) of the various region(s) that make up the circumpolar world. Three Arctic regions will be highlighted: a) the North-American Arctic (United States (Alaska); Canada (Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut, Nunavik) and Greenland; b) the North Pacific Rim (Alaska, Russian Far East, Beaufort Sea/Chukchi); c) the Barents Euro-Arctic Region (Nordic countries - Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland - and Russia).

  

Arctic Futures Symposium, October 12-14, 2011. The International Polar Foundation (IPF) and the Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco will host Arctic Futures 2011. The event is a follow-up to last year's symposium, and will bring together international and interdisciplinary Arctic stakeholders including EU and foreign policymakers, scientists, representatives of industry, indigenous peoples and academics to discuss needs, address challenges, exchange ideas, and network.

 

From Knowledge to Action, April 22-27, 2012. The conference will bring together over 2,000 Arctic and Antarctic researchers, policy and decision-makers, and a broad range of interested parties from academia, industry, non-government, education and circumpolar communities including indigenous peoples. The conference is hosted by the Canadian IPY Program Office in partnership with the National Research Council of Canada, among other groups. Each day of the conference will feature a program of keynote speakers, plenary panel discussions, parallel science sessions, as well as dedicated poster sessions. The conference-wide plenaries will explore themes related to topics of polar change, global linkages, communities and health, ecosystem services, infrastructure, resources and security. Other sessions will provide the opportunity to present and discuss the application of research findings, policy implications and how to take polar knowledge to action. 

  

The Tenth International Conference on Permafrost, June 2012. The conference will be held in Tyumen, Russia, and is organized and hosted by Russia. The last conference was held in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2008. Details to follow.  

 

The Arctic Imperative Summit, July 29-August 1, 2012. The summit will be hosted by Alaska Dispatch and will bring together leading voices in this conversation, including residents from the small villages that comprise Alaska's coastal communities; state, national and international leaders; the heads of shipping and industry; as well as international policymakers and the news media. The goal of the summit is to sharpen the focus on the policy and investment needs of Alaska's Arctic through a series of high-level meetings, presentations, investor roundtables and original research.

 

15th International Congress on Circumpolar Heath, August 5-10, 2012. This kivalina girlevent is sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Society for Circumpolar Health, and the International Union for Circumpolar Health.  The forum will consider community participatory research and indigenous research; women's health, family health, and well-being; food security and nutrition; social determinants of health; environmental and occupational health; infectious and chronic diseases; climate change-health impacts; health service delivery and infrastructure; and, behavioral health

   

Arctic/Inuit/Connections: Learning from the Top of the World , October 24-28, 2012.  The 18th Inuit Studies Conference, hosted by the Smithsonian Institution, will be held in Washington, DC. The conference will consider heritage museums and the North; globalization: an Arctic story; power, governance and politics in the North; the '"new" Arctic: social, cultural and climate change; and Inuit education, health, language, and literature. For more information, please email Lauren Marr.

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