Arctic Update Header
April 10, 2014

Arctic Observing Summit, April 9-11 (Helsinki, Finland). ASSW is a gathering for Arctic research organizations. Any organization engaged in supporting and facilitating arctic research is welcome to participate. The ASSW meeting in 2014 will be arranged during April 5-8 in Helsinki Kumpula Campus, in the facilities of FMI and Physics Department of the University of Helsinki. The revised program is available here.

 

Association of American Geographers Polar Geography Sessions, April 8-12, 2014 (Tampa, Florida).  Polar Geography Sessions are being planned in areas such as Sustainable Development in the Arctic, Urbanization and Transportation in the Arctic, etc. Contact Scott Stephenson (stephenson@ucla.edu) for more information, and see attached flyer. 


capital Today's Congressional Action:   

The Senate will consider non-Arctic legislation. The House will consider a number of provisions including H. Con. Res. 96, establishing the budget for the United States for 2015.

 

 

Media 

     

capital House Kills Obama Budget 2-413. The House on Wednesday handily rejected a GOP budget alternative based on President Obama's 2015 spending blueprint. It was defeated 2-413, following a pattern seen in recent years in House votes to overwhelmingly reject Obama's budget proposals. Today's vote is just slightly better than the unanimous vote against Obama's budget in 2012. The Hill

 

Experiment Finds Wicking Fabric Battles 'Frost Boils' on Dalton Highway. A few miles from the Arctic Circle, on the United States' only Arctic highway, there's a sloped area notorious for perennial hazards that have caused vehicles to veer off course and sometimes crash. With each year's seasonal thaw, meltwater collects below the Dalton Highway's surface to create soft spots known by a colorful -- if technically inaccurate -- nickname: "frost boils." The trouble site, about 110 miles south of Prudhoe Bay and called "Beaver Slide," was known for developing dips and buckles that enlarged throughout each summer as trucks drove on them. Alaska Dispatch

 

Air Force Predicts Summer Shutdown for Powerful HAARP Transmitter in Alaska. The U.S. Air Force says time is running out on the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program near Glennallen, the most powerful transmitter of its kind in the world. "If no transition organization is identified, the Air Force plans to decommission the research site and initiate divestiture in June," Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick said in an email. Alaska Dispatch

 

Five Frightening Observations From the Latest International Climate Change Report. The impacts of climate change can already be seen around the world, and they're going to get worse, warns a new report from a panel of global climate scientists. "Nobody on this planet is going to be untouched by the effects of climate change," Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said today at a news conference in Yokohama, Japan, announcing the release of Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Smithsonian Magazine

 

russian flag How Russia's Move into Crimea Upended Canada's Arctic Strategy. Canadian officials welcomed their Russian counterparts to Yellowknife last week for a senior arctic's official meeting for Arctic Council. While Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been leading the effort to expel Russia from the G8, officials have been insistent that Russian action in the Crimea will not affect circumpolar co-operation. Most observers have agreed that it will be business as usual when it comes to arctic co-operation. If only this was true. The Globe and Mail

 

Canada's Humane Society Says it Doesn't Oppose Inuit Seal Hunt. A spokeswoman for the Canadian arm of the Humane Society International is clarifying the group's position on the Inuit seal hunt, as a protest in the North against TV star Ellen DeGeneres gains support. Rebecca Aldworth says recent reports on the protests are mixing up subsistence sealing in Canada's North with the commercial hunt. Alaska Dispatch

 

Frontier Arctic Ice Studies Under Way. The Kara-Winter-2014 Expedition team has departed Murmansk on board the icebreaker vessel Yamal for a 55-day exploratory program offshore northern Russia. The Arctic Research and Design Center (a joint venture of Rosneft and ExxonMobil) and Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute Federal State Budget Institution have organized the campaign. Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

Legislative Actionfutureevents  

 

H. Con Res. 96, Establishing the budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2015 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2016 through 2024. (Considered in the House yesterday)

Future Events

 

Alaska Policy Commission. May 6-7, 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 draft agenda is available here

 

International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences, May 22-24, 2014. ICASS is held every three years, bringing together people from all over the world to share ideas about social science research in the Arctic. ICASS VII, held in Akureyri in June 2011, attracted 450 participants from 30 different countries. ICASS VIII's theme is Northern Sustainabilities. By using the plural, ICASS underscores both that 'sustainability' has social, cultural, economic, political and environmental dimensions, and that definitions of the concept vary. Yet, while debating specific definitions, most would agree that working toward sustainable ways of living in the North and on approaches to sustainable engagement with the North, are critical both to the North's and to the world's future. Community sustainability in the North, whether for small settlements or large urban conglomerations, requires new models of food and energy security, and of access to employment, health care and social and cultural services for residents.

 

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. 

 

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.

USARC header

Find us on FacebookFollow us on Twitter 

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.