May 27, 2014

capital Today's Congressional Action:

The Senate is not in session. The House is expect to host a pro forma session, and no votes are expected today.

Media

Feds Updating Development Scenarios for Chukchi. The federal government on Friday released a status update on the court ordered revision of an Environmental Impact Statement for Lease Sale 193 in the Chukchi Sea. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found in an April ruling that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) had underestimated how much oil may be recoverable in Arctic Ocean development. The Wilderness Society's arctic program director Lois Epstein said it appears BOEM is approaching the work of revising the development scenarios for the EIS in a thorough manner, but she said BOEM should not set a limit such as the 10 month time frame that was proposed to the court. Alaska Public Radio

Arctic Sea Ice Littered With Tiny Bits of 'Microplastic' Pollution. Dartmouth scientist Rachel Obbard was looking at samples of Arctic sea ice for small organisms when something else caught her eye: Tiny, bright-colored bits and pieces and miniature string-like objects that did not seem to belong. Those small specks turned out to be a type of pollution known as microplastics. Their presence in sea ice collected from the central Arctic Ocean showed that some of the vast quantities of garbage and pollution floating in the world's seas has traveled to the northernmost waters. Alaska Dispatch

Polar Bear Diplomacy: Where the US and Russia Can Agree. The icy wind is wicked. It's about minus-10 degrees, and near whiteout conditions dominate this landscape of rock and snow known as Wrangel Island. Some 250 miles from the nearest village in the Siberian Arctic, this bleak terrain is home to my Russian co-workers, whose tenacity I (an American scientist) have long admired. Working alongside me, but lacking in modern amenities -- no efficient snow machines, no helicopters, often no binoculars -- they persevere for one reason. They wish to learn about animals and their movements, and to understand the island's polar environment. Alaska Dispatch

China to Publish Arctic Sailing Reference. China is accelerating its pace in exploring the North Pole by publishing a comprehensive Arctic sailing reference book. The book, comprised of eight chapters and 120 pages, offers detailed information on such facts as Arctic geography, climate, ocean, resources, sailing routes, and related international laws and regulations. Ecns

For Greenland Research Institutes, Together is Better. Two of Greenland's leading research institutions have announced they will join forces to provide new educational and research opportunities. The University of Greenland and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources hope that by agreeing to establish a research campus and providing new education programs that they will be enhance the national research environment. Arctic Journal

Report Spotlights Rapid Glacier Melt in Western Canada. Western Canada's snow-capped mountains with their thousands of glaciers are always a spectacular sight. But that sight is changing, and rapidly. The glaciers in Canada and Alaska are melting at a phenomenal rate and an American state-of-the-union report on climate change has singled out the rapid melt in British Columbia and Alaska as a major climate-change issue. There are 200,000 glaciers on Earth, 17,000 of them in British Columbia. Another 800 are in Alberta. Alaska Dispatch

Offshore Iceland: The Next Arctic Opportunity? This year has seen plenty of activity by the oil and gas industry in the Barents Sea, offshore Norway, as European explorers move further northwards in their quest to find new deposits of hydrocarbons. Recent months have seen exploration drilling in the Barents by a variety of the industry's largest companies, including Statoil ASA, Eni S.p.A., GDF Suez S.A., Det norske oljeselskap ASA and Repsol S.A. Of course, the jury is still out on whether the Barents can become as significant of a hydrocarbon-producing region as the North Sea has proved over the past few decades. A very recent discovery of up to 63 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent at the Drivis prospect by Statoil may or may not lead to a development of the Johan Castberg area; while a decent enough discovery in its own right, Statoil said in a statement at the start of May that its five-well campaign in the area had been a disappointment from the point of view of volume expectations. RigZone

Legislative Action

H.R. 4742, Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act (Introduced by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) and referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.)

Future Events

Arctic in the Athropocene. June 23-July 2, 2014 (Potsdam, Germany). Under the overarching theme "Arctic in the Anthropocene", this two-week interdisciplinary and interactive event will be the first in a series of Potsdam Summer Schools to be held annually. The goal is to bring together early-career scientists and young professionals from research departments, governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations, as well as the private sector from all around the world. Participants will deal with global challenges and address urgent questions on how to shape sustainable futures in the Arctic and beyond from a scientific and socioeconomic point of view.

Alaska Policy Commission. August 26-27, 2014 (Kotzebue-Nome, Alaska). The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (AAPC) has more important work to do in 2014. The Commission will strive to gather public input and engage with Alaskan communities, state agencies, federal partners, and the international organizations working in the Arctic. In order to meet our goals AAPC will convene three in-person meetings over the course of 2014 and focus on implementation and final recommendations.

2014 Week of the Arctic, October 6-11, 2014 (Nome, Kotzebue and Barrow, Alaska, USA). The Institute of the North will host the 2014 Week of the Arctic. The 2014 Week of the Arctic is a platform for community leaders, subject matter experts and interested stakeholders to learn about the Arctic while contributing to a growing list of priorities and perspectives. Presentations, roundtable discussions and workshops will be held in Nome, Kotzebue and Barrow. Throughout the week, presentations and interviews will be captured on video for distribution through social media and web-based sharing.

2014 FAMOS School and Workshop #3, October 21-24, 2014 (Woods Hole, MA). The Forum for Arctic Ocean Modeling and Observational Synthesis (FAMOS) is an international effort to focus on enhancing collaboration and coordination among Arctic marine and sea ice modelers, theoreticians and observationalists synthesize major results from the field studies and coordinated numerical experiments. The major themes of workshop include but not limited by studies focused on: predictions; Arctic observational and modeling initiatives; fate of sea ice in models and observations; atmospheric, sea ice and ocean dynamics; process studies and parameterizations; model validation and calibration; numerical improvements and algorithms; ecosystems, biological issues, and geochemistry.

Arctic Circle, October 31-November 2, 2014 (Reyjavik, Iceland).

The Arctic Circle is nonprofit and nonpartisan. Organizations, forums, think tanks, corporations and public associations around the world are invited to hold meetings within the Arctic Circle platform to advance their own missions and the broader goal of increasing collaborative decision-making without surrendering their institutional independence. The Arctic Circle will organize sessions on a variety of issues, such as: Sea ice melt and extreme weather; Polar law: treaties and agreements; The role and rights of indigenous peoples; Security in the Arctic; Shipping and transportation infrastructure; The prospects and risks of oil and gas drilling; Clean energy achievements and sustainable development; Arctic resources; Business cooperation in the Arctic; The role of Asian and European countries in the Arctic; Greenland in the new Arctic; Fisheries and ecosystem management; The science of ice: global research cooperation; Arctic tourism; The ice-dependent world: the Arctic and the Himalayas.

Alaska Policy Commission. November 13-14, 2014 (Anchorage, Alaska). The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission (AAPC) has more important work to do in 2014. The Commission will strive to gather public input and engage with Alaskan communities, state agencies, federal partners, and the international organizations working in the Arctic. In order to meet our goals AAPC will convene three in-person meetings over the course of 2014 and focus on implementation and final recommendations.

The Arctic Biodiversity Congress, December 2-4, 2014. (Trondheim, Norway). The Arctic Biodiversity Congress will present and discuss the main scientific findings of the ABA; facilitate inter-disciplinary discussion, action and status updates on the policy recommendations in the ABA; provide scientific, policy, management, NGO, academia, Indigenous peoples and industry audiences the opportunity to collaborate around the themes of the ABA; advise CAFF on national and international implementation of the ABA recommendations and on the development of an ABA Implementation Plan for the Arctic Council; highlight the work of CAFF and the Arctic Council on circumpolar biodiversity conservation and sustainable development; and, contribute to mainstreaming of biodiversity and ecosystem services, ensuring that the recommendations of the ABA are implemented by not just governments, but many organizations and people across disciplines.

Arctic Change 2014, December 8-12, 2014 (Ottawa, Canada). The international Arctic Change 2014 conference aims to stimulate discussion and foster collaborations among people with a vested interest in the Arctic and its peoples. Coinciding with the pinnacle of Canada's chairmanship of the Arctic Council and marking ArcticNet's 10th anniversary, Arctic Change 2014 welcomes researchers, students, Northerners, policy makers, and stakeholders from all fields of Arctic research and all countries to address the numerous environmental, social, economical and political challenges and opportunities that are emerging from climate change and modernization in the Arctic. With over 1000 participants expected to attend, Arctic Change 2014 will be one of the largest trans-sectoral international Arctic research conferences ever held in Canada.

4350 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 510

Arlington, VA 22203, USA

(703) 525-0111 (phone)
www.arctic.gov
info@arctic.gov

External links in this publication, and on the USARC's World Wide Web site (www.arctic.gov) do not constitute endorsement by the US Arctic Research Commission of external Web sites or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities, the USARC does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. These links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this newsletter and the USARC Web site.