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Fulbright Arctic Initiative: Research and Policy Findings for Sustainable Arctic Communities and Economies, October 31, 2019 (Washington, DC USA). The Arctic faces critical policy challenges on many issues including climate change response, public health and healthcare infrastructure, energy, environmental protection, sustainable management of the Arctic Ocean, infrastructure, Indigenous rights, and governance. This symposium reports on research findings and selected policy recommendations from the Fulbright Arctic Initiative thematic research teams.
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Across Arctic Canada, Sea Ice Levels are Again at Record Lows. Last October, when Juuta Sarpinak of Igloolik set off on a seal hunt, he took his snowmobile. For the same trip exactly a year later, he'd need a boat. Across Nunavut and the rest of the Arctic, the same scenario is playing out. "It's the latest I've ever seen it freeze up in my lifetime," said Willie Aglukkaq, who's lived in Gjoa Haven for nearly 40 years. Nunatsiaq Online
'Crab War' Between Norway & EU is Simmering in the Arctic. The European Union is planning to award 20 licenses for snow crab fishing near Norway's Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, in violation of a ruling by the Norwegian Supreme Court. According to Norway's national broadcaster NRK, the bloc may unilaterally grant eleven licenses to Latvia, four to Lithuania, three to Poland, and one each to Estonia and Spain. The EU argues that Norway, which is not part of the European Union, is in violation of the Svalbard Treaty because it discriminates between Norwegian and foreign fishing vessels. RT
 Ph.D.- Turned-Policy Insider Takes Over World's Largest Science Society. Sudip Parikh has helped shape U.S. science policy as a staffer on a powerful congressional spending panel. He's been a senior health care executive for a large nonprofit organization that manages several federal research facilities. And in January 2020, the 46-year-old structural biologist will become the new CEO of AAAS (which publishes Science) as the 171-year-old association pursues its mission to advance science and serve society. "It's a marvelous organization, and I'm super excited to become a part of it," Parikh says. "I think every scientist has a place in their heart for AAAS. My goal is to turn those warming feelings into a valuable engagement with AAAS that will help us move forward." Science Magazine
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program Released 2021 Funding Solicitation. SERDP focuses on cross-Service requirements and pursues solutions to the Department's environmental challenges. The development and application of innovative environmental technologies will reduce the costs, environmental risks, and time required to resolve environmental problems while, at the same time, enhancing and sustaining military readiness. The SERDP FY 2021 solicitation was released October 24, 2019. Researchers from Federal organizations, universities, and private industry can apply for SERDP funding via the appropriate solicitation. SERDP New Ambler Heat Pump Project Aims to Drastically Reduce Diesel Costs in the Village. Heating a home in the wintertime can be expensive in the Arctic, where residents rely on diesel for most of their energy needs. In an effort to cut down on fuel costs, the Northwest Arctic Borough is kicking off a project to install air source heat pumps in homes in the village of Ambler. An air source heat pump operates a lot like a reverse air conditioner. Alaska Public Radio Ideas Win Big at 11th UAF Arctic Innovation Competition. The University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Management awarded $30,000 in cash prizes after the 2019 Arctic Innovation Competition's final presentations Saturday, Oct. 19. The competition, now in its 11th year, invites innovators to propose new, feasible and potentially profitable ideas for solving real-life problems and challenges. The top prize of $10,000 in the main division, for ages 18 and up, was awarded to Todd Krieg for Fish Wheel Salmon Selector. Delta Discovery What's Happening to the Arctic's Vanishing Glaciers? As Melting Speeds up, We'll Find Out Soon. When federal scientists working in the High Arctic began monitoring a glacier on Meighen Island in the 1960s, they built a wooden hut for shelter. As the years passed and snow accumulated, the hut was gradually buried and then abandoned once it became easier to build a new one atop the one becoming entombed in the glacier. Another decade or so and a third hut was constructed on top of the other two. It was a vivid demonstration of the principle that glaciers grow from the top and spread out at the edges. The Globe and Mail  Maritime Traffic Boost Anticipated in Arctic. Unprecedented temperature changes are expected to prompt growth of maritime activity in the U.S Arctic, with the most plausible scenario estimating that 377 vessels could be traveling there by 2030, representing a near 50 percent boost over current levels. The latest projection of maritime activity in the U.S. Arctic Region, 2020-2030, produced by the U.S. Committee on the Marine Transportation System, provides detailed information about how vessel activity in the U.S. Arctic may continue to change over the next decade. The Cordova Times
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Future Events
** New this week ** Permafrost Hydrology Discoveries and Opportunities, November 1, 2019 (webinar). Arctic and sub-Arctic field measurements are showing warming and thawing permafrost, increasing winter runoff, and groundwater levels. Local scale remote sensing analyses reveal degrading ice wedges, thermokarsts, and retrogressive thaw slumps, and watershed-scale numerical modeling results suggest micro-topographical geomorphological controls on fluxes and stores of water as ice-rich ground thaws and subsides. We are living in a time of rapid change to the permafrost-affected landscape across the Arctic region with dramatic changes occurring over just a few years. Yet, our understanding of the spatial continuity of change is limited due to the logistical constraints in doing fieldwork in a remote region, under-harnessed high performance and image processing resources, and the coarse resolution of pan-Arctic models. Collaboration across disciplines and organizations allow for a holistic approach in quantifying change, understanding underlying mechanisms, and in encouraging knowledge-generation beyond the scientific community. If successful, one's weakness becomes the other's strength and the sum larger than its parts.
Svalbard Science Conference 2019, November 5-6, 2019 (Oslo, Norway). The Svalbard Science Forum, The Research Council of Norway and The Norwegian Polar Institute in cooperation with The Ny-Ålesund Science Managers Committee (NySMAC) invite researchers, research managers and stakeholders to the second Svalbard Science conference. The conference will focus on Svalbard in a pan-Arctic setting, aspiring to enhance cooperation and quality within Svalbard research, build and strengthen interdisciplinary and international networks and consolidate Svalbard as an attractive platform for Arctic research.
** New this week ** AAS19 Arctic Symposium, November 13-15, 2019 (Fairbanks, AK USA). The Arctic Domain Awareness Center, a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence, will host this event along with the University of Alaska and the US Coast Guard. The principal outcome sought in AAS19 is to improve understanding of the challenges in the complicated risk environment that describes the new circumpolar north. Symposium planners seek AAS19 to create thoughtful discussions in order to gain needed solutions to address and potentially reduce the associated defense and security risks.
Greenland Science Week, December 1-5, 2019 (Nuuk, Greenland). Greenland Science Week builds bridges between science and the Greenlandic society, business community and government, and creates a networking and cooperation platform for the Greenlandic and international science community around research in the Arctic.
ASM2019 Annual Scientific Meeting, December 2-5, 2019 (Halifax, NS Canada). Canada's North is experiencing unprecedented change in its sea and terrestrial ice, permafrost and ecosystems under the triple pressures of climate change, industrialization and modernization. The impacts of these pressures can be seen on food and energy security, shipping, sovereignty, northern community health and well-being, and sustainable development and resource exploitation. All these issues have brought the North to the forefront of national and international agendas. With a focus on networking events, this gathering of leading Arctic researchers, graduate students, Northern community representatives, government and industry partners and stakeholders from all fields will provide all with valuable connections where innovative ideas and initiatives can develop in support of health and sound governance in the Arctic.
Greenland Science Week, December 2-5, 2019 (Nuuk, Greenland). The Arctic research conference, Polar Research Day, will be held in Nuuk on December 4, 2019. Alongside the one-day conference, several additional science events are planned and organized, so that the conference, a public outreach day, themed workshops, seminars and networking activities will be part of Greenland Science Week. The event will include opportunities to meet and network with a broad range of researchers, business community, government employees and society in an Arctic context, and the organizers anticipate participants from all disciplines in discussions of Arctic science in relation to Greenland. Greenland Science Week is organized by Ilisimatusarfik, AAU Arctic, Sermersooq Municipality and Greenland Perspective.
** New this week ** Greenland Conference 2019, December 4, 2019 (Copenhagen, Denmark). Connectivity in the Arctic is the key for further business development and this year's topic at the Greenland Conference 2019 in Copenhagen.Companies on land, in the air and at sea will present their role in connecting Greenland locally and to the rest of the world. Greenland Venture present their work, and a Greenlandic tech start-up present their product.
** New this week ** 9th Annual Meeting of the Permafrost Carbon Network, December 8, 2019 (San Francisco, CA USA). The 9th annual meeting of the Permafrost Carbon Network will take place prior to the Fall 2019 American Geophysical Union meeting. Bringing together the international community of permafrost researchers, the program for the day will feature a series of presentations and speed talks to introduce break-out topics. Meeting participants will then have the opportunity to split into smaller break-out groups to discuss the Permafrost Carbon Network's ongoing and new synthesis products. The meeting is open to all members of the scientific community with an interest in permafrost research synthesis.
Arctic Frontiers, January 26-30, 2020 (Tromso, Norway). Arctic Frontiers is a global scientific conference on economic, societal, and environmental sustainable growth. This year's theme will be "The Power of Knowledge," with a pan-arctic emphasis, and builds new partnerships across nations, generations and ethnic groups. Arctic Frontiers provides a forum for dialogue and communication between science, government and industry in the Arctic. The plenary program will have five main sessions with the following working titles: State of the Arctic, The power of knowledge, Robust and resilient Arctic communities, Powered by knowledge, Arctic oceans - distant connections, Sustainable business development. An abstract-driven science program will address Arctic Food Security, Local or Global Arctic? Multi-scaled considerations of connections and remoteness in climate-impacted, Disruptive Technologies and Knowledge-based Development in the Arctic.
ISAR-6: Arctic Research: the Decade Past and the Decade Future, March 2-6, 2020 (Tokyo, Japan). Rapid changes are taking place in the Arctic that impact regional human and natural systems, and affect the global environment. The International Symposium on Arctic Research (ISAR) will meet for the sixth time since its first symposium in 2008 to identify changes in the Arctic environment and society, and to discuss possible future sustainable development. The hosts invite all researchers with interests in the Arctic to participate in this multidisciplinary symposium and share their insights, their challenges, and to explore the possible futures of the Arctic.
Arctic Science Summit Week and the 5th Arctic Observing Summit. March 27 to April 2, 2020, (Akureyri, Iceland).
The Arctic Observing Summit (AOS) is a high-level biennial summit that provides a platform to address urgent and broadly recognized needs of Arctic observing across all components of the Arctic system. The theme of AOS 2020 is Observing for Action. AOS 2020 will be held in Akureyri, Iceland (March 31-April 2) and will focus on pressing issues related to the use, design, optimization and implementation of the observing system. To that end, submissions in the form of white papers, short statements and poster abstracts are requested that address any and all aspects of the overarching theme and sub-themes. Currently seeking submissions to the AOS. See link for additional information.
 ** New this week** The 7th Annual Arctic Encounter, April 16-17, 2020 (Seattle, WA USA). The 2019 Arctic Encounter Seattle drew participants and stakeholders from over 20 nations, including over 80 speakers, 27 sponsors, 17 media partners, northern fashion and photography art installations, 13 guest performers, the second annual Far North Fashion Show, live podcast recording sessions, musical and spoken word performances, and over 10 artist exhibitors. The 2020 Arctic Encounter Seattle expects to increase engagement in new sectors and engage participants through policy debates, research presentations, live performances, and more. The Arctic Encounter is the largest annual Arctic policy and business conference convening in the United States, with partnerships and convening efforts worldwide.
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