News Archive

Connect to the the Russian Arctic! Join us for an upcoming PolarConnect event with Stanley Skotnicki and the Vegetation Impacts on Permafrost research team on Tuesday 12 July 2016 at 10:00am AKDT. This event will be broadcast live from Northeast Scientific Station in Cherskiy, Russia. Register today!

Connect to the the Arctic! Join us for an upcoming PolarConnect event with DJ Kast and the Microbial Changes in Arctic Freshwater team on Thursday 7 July 2016 at 1:00pm AKDT. This event will be broadcast live from Toolik Field Station in Alaska. Please join us! Register today!

The Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN) announces the call for contributions for the 2016 Sea Ice Outlook July report; contributions are due Monday, 11 July. The Sea Ice Outlook provides an open process for those interested in Arctic sea ice to share ideas. The monthly reports contain a variety of perspectives—from advanced numerical models to qualitative perspectives from citizen scientists. Detailed guidelines for pan-Arctic, regional, and informal outlooks are available on the SIPN website.

The June report for the 2016 Sea Ice Outlook (SIO) is now available! The goal of the SIO is to improve Arctic sea ice prediction on seasonal time-scales. Organizers thank the 32 groups that contributed Outlooks to this report. The median Outlook value for September 2016 sea ice extent is 4.28 million square kilometers. Contributions are based on a range of methods from advanced numerical models to qualitative perspectives from citizen scientists. The report includes discussion about dynamical model contributions and their variance, which is substantially less than last year; discussion on predicted spatial fields, sea ice probability (SIP), and the first ice-free day (IFD) from a number of dynamical models; discussion on current conditions including this spring's record low sea ice conditions, observations of sea ice thickness, and atmospheric conditions; key statements from each individual Outlook; and links to view or download individual contributions.

Join PolarTREC during a live event from Toolik Field Station in Alaska.The event will be held on Thursday, 7 July 2016 with teacher DJ Kast and the Microbial Changes in Arctic Freshwater 2016 Team. Read more about their research and what DJ is learning here. The one hour event starts at 1:00PM Alaska Daylight Time (2pm PDT, 3pm MDT, 4pm CDT, 5pm EDT). The event is free.

The Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) announces ARCTIC ALERTS 2016, a media roundtable in which Arctic researchers will outline the unprecedented changes taking place in the Arctic environment and the local and global consequences. This year continues the recent trend of remarkable anomalies in the Arctic, and the presentations and discussion will focus on their connections to global changes.

The roundtable will take place at The National Press Club in Washington, DC on 13 July 2016 from 1-3 pm (EDT). Five brief presentations by scientific experts will be followed by questions from—and discussions with—journalists. In addition to the presenters, other scientific experts will be available to address journalists’ questions.

This roundtable is designed as a discussion between the researchers and journalists, so we won't be taking questions from the audience. Nonetheless, others are welcome to attend in listen-only mode. Please notify Brendan Kelly (bpkelly [at] alaska.edu) if you plan to attend so that we can accommodate everyone.

Help us serve you! ARCUS invites you to participate in a short survey on the kind of information on Arctic research you would like to get, in which formats, and with what frequency. The information from the survey will be used internally by ARCUS to improve our current communication channels. You also have the chance to win a cool Arctic umbrella! The survey will close 15 July 2016.

The Spring 2016 issue of Witness the Arctic is now published online. This issue includes highlights of ARCUS member institution UIC Science in Barrow, Alaska; SEARCH program activities of the three SEARCH Action Teams, the Sea Ice Prediction Network, the Sea Ice for Walrus Outlook, and the Arctic Observing Open Science Meeting; NSF funded projects and programs FAMOS and the new Arctic Data Center; news of key personnel changes in NSF’s Division of Polar Programs; spotlights on Arctic research efforts; interagency updates from IARPC, USARC, and SOAR; international news from IASC, a summary of 2016 ASSW events, and plans for the first-ever Arctic Science Ministerial meeting in Washington, D.C.; and comments from ARCUS Executive Director, Robert Rich.

A new study led by Christina Schädel, SEARCH Permafrost Action Team co-lead, demonstrates the big impact that increasing temperatures and changes in soil moisture conditions have on carbon release. The report was published today in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Learn more about the "uncharted territory" Arctic change researchers are facing this summer in this Washington Post article featuring SEARCH Action Team Leads, Jennifer Francis (Rutgers University) and Ted Schuur (Northern Arizona University).

Join PolarTREC during a live event from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. The event is on Thursday 16 June 2016 with teacher Anne Schoeffler and the Climate Change and Pollinators in the Arctic 2016 team. Read more about the research and what Anne is learning. The one hour event starts at 7:00AM Alaska Daylight Time [8AM PDT, 9AM MDT, 10AM CDT, 11AM EDT]. The event is free.

The document provided below is meant to serve as background information for input by SEARCH to the Arctic Science Ministerial Meeting in September 2016. It builds on discussions among the research community and stakeholders at the Arctic Observing Summit and Arctic Science Summit Week in March 2016. The document also reflects input from the International Study of Arctic Change (ISAC) and from informal conversations with the leaders of large Arctic research programs in several countries. The document was reviewed by and received input from SEARCH leadership, and was assembled by the immediate past SEARCH SSC Chair and Director of the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Hajo Eicken. The paper expands upon and complements the brief document submitted by the SEARCH program as input to the Arctic Science Ministerial. Over the course of the summer, it is hoped that further conversation among researchers from different countries active in Arctic science may help focus conversations and outcomes from the Science Ministerial.

The Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN) announces the call for contributions for the 2016 Sea Ice Outlook June report based on May data. The Sea Ice Outlook provides an open process for those interested in Arctic sea ice to share ideas. The monthly reports contain a variety of perspectives—from advanced numerical models to qualitative perspectives from citizen scientists. Detailed guidelines for pan-Arctic and Alaska regional outlooks, as well as submitting figures and gridded data for other regional contributions, are available online.

The Arctic Calendar is an online searchable calendar of conferences, lectures, webinars, and field trainings relevant to the Arctic science, education, and policy communities. The Arctic Calendar is a community resource for tracking and publicizing major Arctic events and conferences and to help avoid conflicting meeting dates. The calendar is maintained and hosted by the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) in collaboration with the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). We encourage anyone organizing a meeting to submit the event for inclusion on the calendar to maintain the calendar's usefulness as a communication and planning tool. We also welcome other Arctic organizations to link to the Arctic Calendar.

To submit events via the online form, please go to:
https://www.arcus.org/events/arctic-calendar/submit

PolarConnect participants learned about what scientists are doing to study the polar regions, and what it is like to live and work in the Arctic and Antarctica through presentations and Q&A sessions with teachers and polar scientists.

Kelly and her team were stationed in Greenland for field work that involved flying over the ice sheets in the Arctic. She was at Thule, Greenland to connect with teachers and students around the country and share their experience. Learn more about Kelly and NASA's incredible expedition: https://www.polartrec.com/expeditions/operation-icebridge-arctic

This event was broadcast with the team from Thule, Greenland. It lasted one hour and was open to all ages.

The Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) program is seeking to fill a Postdoctoral research position based at the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). The fellow will assist in the National Science Foundation funded project's efforts to document and understand how degradation in near-surface permafrost will affect Arctic and global systems using synthesis science. In particular this position will examine Arctic impacts of degrading permafrost on fish, wildlife, ecosystems (services) and/or human infrastructure. Application review begins 30 June, 2016. The position will remain open until filled.

Registration is now available for the fifth ARCUS D.C. Arctic Research seminar/webinar featuring Mark Brzezinski, Executive Director of the U.S. Arctic Executive Steering Committee. Mark's presentation will provide an update on the activities of the U.S. Arctic Executive Steering Committee and the upcoming White House Arctic Science Ministerial Meeting being planned for this fall. The event will be held Thursday, 19 May from 12:00-1:00pm EDT. Registration is required for both the live event, held at the ARCUS D.C. office, and online webinar.

Web streaming will be available for the 2016 Polar Prediction Workshop, which will be held 4-6 May 2016 at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York. The workshop will focus on: 1. sources of polar predictability on sub-seasonal to inter-annual timescales, 2. sea ice prediction, and 3. operational and research efforts. The web streaming link as well as the workshop agenda, participant list, and presentation and poster abstracts, are available on the workshop website.

PolarConnect participants will learn about what scientists are doing to study the polar regions, and what it is like to live and work in the Arctic and Antarctica through presentations and Q&A sessions with teachers and polar scientists.

Kelly and her team have been stationed in Greenland for field work that involves flying over the ice sheets in the Arctic. She will be at Thule, Greenland to connect with teachers and students around the country and share their experience. Learn more about Kelly and NASA's incredible expedition: https://www.polartrec.com/expeditions/operation-icebridge-arctic

This event will be broadcast with the team from Thule, Greenland. It will last one hour and it is open to all ages.

The first Sea Ice for Walrus Outlook (SIWO) report of 2016 is now available! The SIWO provides weekly reports from April through June with information on sea ice conditions relevant to walrus in the Northern Bering Sea and southern Chukchi Sea regions of Alaska.

This report includes the current and forecasted weather and ice conditions, as well as an overview of the pre-season ice conditions contributed by Matthew Druckenmiller at NSIDC. Updates, observations, and images will be added throughout the week as they are received. Local hunters, experts, or scientists with observations on the development of sea ice or any other aspect of walrus and sea ice can email comments to Kristina Creek (creek [at] arcus.org).

The Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN) announces a call for pre-season and informal contributions to the 2016 Sea Ice Outlook (SIO). These contributions will be in addition to the regular SIO monthly reports in June, July, and August that synthesize predictions for the September monthly average extent of Arctic sea ice. Pre-season and informal contributions provide a way to share information on sea ice parameters or time periods not included in the regular monthly reports as well as any early field observations, such as unusual early season conditions. These contributions are valuable for understanding initial conditions as well as sea ice dynamics throughout the season.

The tentative agenda for the 2016 Polar Prediction Workshop as well as presentation and poster abstracts are now available online. The workshop will focus on sources of polar predictability on sub-seasonal to inter-annual timescales, sea ice prediction, and operational and research efforts. It will convene 4-6 May 2016 at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York.

The National Science Foundation has made an award to a national partnership, led by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at the University of California Santa Barbara, to develop and curate the NSF Arctic Data Center, a new archive for Arctic scientific data as well as other related research documents. A webinar on Thursday, 21 April at 10:00am PDT will provide an opportunity to get more information about the NSF Arctic Data Center and will allow for feedback and additional insights into the needs of the Arctic research community.

A new report about the Make An Impact Workshop is now available. The workshop, held 13-15 March during ASSW, brought together teachers who currently teach in Alaskan Arctic communities with Arctic researchers to collaborate on the development of STEM educational resources related to Arctic research priorities.

Seven years after his expedition to Finland, PolarTREC teacher Michael Wing is now published! Michael Wing is first author on a journal article in California Archeology. After he came back from his expedition in Finland, he "became very interested in a possibly prehistoric line of stones at the Point Reyes National Seashore."

Michael R. Wing, Kate Iida and Emily Wearing (2015) Stone-by-Stone
Metrics Shed New Light on a Unique Stone Alignment at the Point Reyes
National Seashore, Marin County, Alta California, California Archaeology, 7:2, 245-264