Witness the Arctic | Volume 24, Number 1 - Summer

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) has released their 2020 strategic plan, which includes three strategic goals, that will frame the work of the board, council, staff, and members in the coming years. The AGU staff, board, council, and broader community will work together to develop an implementation plan over the coming year.

The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) provides the research foundation for understanding the complex systems that support the planet. In response to OAR's changing operating landscape and the specific factors influencing the environmental science community, OAR has developed five strategies that will help deliver NOAA's future. These strategies support the delivery of OAR's goals and objectives, as well as the advancement of NOAA's science and technology focus areas.

The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) convened a 6th Annual Conference titled "Opening Doors: Collaboration Across Knowledge Systems" on 19 May 2020. The conference promoted knowledge exchange between multidisciplinary early career scientists, science communicators, educators, and local community members in polar and alpine regions.

The Sea Ice Prediction Network–Phase 2 (SIPN2) is a network of US and international members working to advance research on the processes driving sea ice predictability, prediction products, and the communication of findings to interested stakeholders. Recent activities include town hall meetings, webinars, and report publications from the Sea Ice Outlook that provides an open process for those interested in Arctic sea ice to share ideas and predictions for Arctic ice extent, sea-ice probability, ice-free date, and other variables.

For centuries, Indigenous peoples across Eurasia and North American have maintained harmonious relations with bears with whom they share the world, and honor this relationship through ceremonies. A current NSF-funded project: "Waking the Bear," led by Andrew Wiget with Olga Balalaeva, explores the range of traditional practices. The project website describes the bear ceremonies of Siberian people, the Mansi and the Khanty through narrative, photos, videos, and audio recordings. The content is in both English and Russian.

Kawerak, Inc., an ARCUS member organization, is a regional consortium of federally recognized tribal governments in the Bering Strait. With programs ranging from education to transportation, and natural resource management to economic development, Kawerak seeks to improve the Region's social, economic, educational, cultural, and political conditions in alignment with its mission, "Advancing the capacity of our People and Tribes for the benefit of the region."

Anthropogenic emissions have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 100 years leading to levels that are higher on average than the surface ocean. Air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide in the Arctic Ocean has been limited in the past because of extensive, perennial ice cover. The response of the carbon cycle to the changing physical conditions of the Arctic Ocean is complex and not readily predicted, but observations indicated that, while the Arctic Ocean has been a significant sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide, this will diminish in the coming years if sea-ice loss continues.

Executive Director, Helen Wiggins, highlights some of the ways ARCUS staff, Board, members, and collaborators have been working to advance Arctic research and education.

COVID-19 has had far-reaching impacts, and in April 2020 the decision was made to postpone the deployment of all the 2020 PolarTREC educators to both the Arctic and Antarctica until 2021. Despite the postponed deployments, ARCUS staff have continued working with all the teams with the intent on keeping the cohort engaged, expanding their outreach, and preparing for future deployments.

News from NSF's Office of Polar Programs includes updates on guidelines for Arctic fieldwork, details about a virtual office hour scheduled for 5 August 2020, news of a new Arctic Research Support and Logistics contract, and summary biographies of new Arctic Sciences Section Program Managers.

Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan was sworn in as the 15th Director of the National Science Foundation on 18 June 2020. Panchanathan has been a leader in science, engineering, and education for more than three decades. He has a distinguished career in both higher education and government, where he has advocated for knowledge enterprise development—advancing research, innovation, strategic partnerships, entrepreneurship, global development, and economic growth.

Dr. Rosa's interest in serving on the ARCUS Board relates to her involvement in several of the the organization's mission goals: networking, communications, education, and research community support and facilitation of Arctic research. Through her work and experience at the US Arctic Research Commission (USARC) she has brought researchers, program managers, community members, and other stakeholders together to network, plan, communicate, and work towards common goals. She hopes her experience in creating these efficiencies and links will be a "value added" to ARCUS.

Board member Pips Veazey comments on the opportunity to work in a truly interdependent manner across the Arctic and collaborate with one another to find a vision for life that is sustainable and informed by people of the Arctic and our research communities. ARCUS is a key player in this quest and has the expertise and vision to bring people together to develop a shared understanding of our collective future.

The first Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) Investigators Meeting, held virtually 16–17 April 2020, was a cooperative effort among the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Office of Polar Programs, the NNA Working group at NSF, ARCUS, experts on Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge and working with Arctic communities, and NNA project investigators and team members.

Board President, David Cairns, reflects on the valuable role ARCUS plays in supporting the Arctic research community and creating an environment where knowledge can be shared, innovation can be celebrated, and traditions maintained.