Session Chair: Hanne Nielsen (University of Tasmania, Australia)
Technical Support: Gabriela Roldan (University of Canterbury, New Zealand)
POLICY / EDUCATION / COMMUNICATION
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19:45 - 20:00 GMT: Old Data, New Context: Making Arctic Archival Data Relevant
Alexandra Taitt, Daniel Jimenez, University of Alaska Anchorage, United States
Abstract: Archival research is a major component of ethnohistorical work, but can often be overlooked as a viable research method in other disciplines. Hidden in boxes, this archival data remains an elusive, yet valuable, resource waiting to be tapped into. However, by taking archival material outside the box and contextualizing it with other modes of polar research, we open up the possibility for alternative interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to solving Arctic challenges both locally and globally. This presentation reflects on a class project from the Ethnohistory of Alaska Natives course at the University of Alaska Anchorage, which examined the Charles V. Lucier Papers housed at the Archives and Special Collections at Consortium Library. It aims to highlight three examples of material from the Lucier collection that benefit from a deeper contextualization by piecing together complementary information in the archives, and bringing in external sources from both historic and contemporary sources. The three topics include the Iñupiaq drum making, the tupilak, and the construction and use of seal nets. Together, these topics gleaned from the Lucier collection demonstrate the wealth of knowledge and value of archival material that can be used to communicate locally relevant Arctic research today.
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20:00 - 20:15 GMT: From A-B-C to A-R-T-I-C: Starting Polar Region Awareness in Early Age
Abigail P. Cid-Andres, Institute of Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Japan and Leimond International School, Shiga, Japan
Abstract: Most of the scientific researches about the Polar Regions have been presented in a professional community. A case study of communicating science in pre-school and elementary school students in Japan is presented. The form of communication is simple book reading, film showing and coloring. Another challenge is the communicating it in English for Native Japanese Speakers. Group of International School pre-school children and 1st to third grade Elementary Students after school club were exposed to simple polar science topics. This study shows that awareness of the Polar Regions is slowly inculcated to the minds of the young learners. However, it should be done in both targeting learning English and Science. The thought of the science topic is well understood when done in repetition. It also helped that the mascot of the school are Polar Animals.
CULTURAL / HISTORICAL
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20:15 - 20:30 GMT: Building University Capacity to Visualize Solutions to Complex Problems in the Arctic
Dayne Broderson, Pips Veazey, Karl Kowalski, Vanessa Raymond*, Anupma Prakash and Bobby Signor, *University of Alaska Fairbanks, United States
Abstract: Rapidly changing environments are creating complex problems across the globe, which are particular magnified in the Arctic. These worldwide challenges can best be addressed through diverse and interdisciplinary research teams. It is incumbent on such teams to promote co-production of knowledge and data-driven decision-making by identifying effective methods to communicate their findings and to engage with the public.
Decision Theater North (DTN) is a new semi-immersive visualization system that provides a space for teams to collaborate and develop solutions to complex problems, relying on diverse sets of skills and knowledge. It provides a venue to synthesize the talents of scientists, who gather information (data); modelers, who create models of complex systems; artists, who develop visualizations; communicators, who connect and bridge populations; and policymakers, who can use the visualizations to develop sustainable solutions to pressing problems.
The mission of Decision Theater North is to provide a cutting-edge visual environment to facilitate dialogue and decision-making by stakeholders including government, industry, communities and academia. We achieve this mission by adopting a multi-faceted approach reflected in the theater’s design, technology, networking, user support, community relationship building, and partnerships. DTN is a joint project of Alaska’s National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) and the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), who have brought the facility to full operational status and are expanding its development space to support larger team science efforts. Based in Fairbanks, Alaska, DTN is uniquely poised to address changes taking place in the Arctic and subarctic, and is connected with a larger network of decision theaters that include the Arizona State University Decision Theater Network and the McCain Institute in Washington, DC.
OCEANOGRAPHY / SEA ICE
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20:30 - 20:45 GMT: Internal Tidal Waves Under the Landfast Sea Ice in the Southeast Hudson Bay
Vladislav Petrusevich, Igor A. Dmitrenko, Sergey A. Kirillov, Zou Zou Kuzyk, Joel Heath, Alexander Komarov and Jens K. Ehn, Centre for Earth Observation Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba; Arctic Eider Society, St. John's, Newfoundland; Meteorological Research Division, Science and Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Abstract: An ice-tethered mooring consisting of 9 conductivity and temperature sensors and acoustic Doppler current profiler was deployed during January-March 2014 in a narrow channel between Broomfield and O’Leary islands located in the south east tip of Belcher islands group in Hudson Bay. The mooring recorded tidal driven oscillations of temperature and salinity through the whole water column. We attribute this variability to the vertical displacement of isopicnals caused by internal waves.
The tidal harmonic analysis was performed for the lunar semidiurnal constituent M2 as main tidal component. Tidal ellipses showed dominance of the baroclinic tidal pattern through the water column. The generation of internal waves likely corresponds to a barotropic wave drag over bathymetry features which leads to barotropic tide energy transfer into internal baroclinic waves.
Based on velocity, temperature and salinity data and tidal analysis we came to conclusion that our mooring recorded internal tidal waves produced from interaction of high tides typical for Hudson Bay with the particular bathymetry of the narrow channel between the islands.
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20:45 - 21:00 GMT: Low Basal Melt Rates at the Grounding Zone of an Antarctic Ice Shelf
Carolyn Branecky, University of California, Santa Cruz, United States
Abstract: Thinning of ice shelves at the grounding zone, the transition between grounded and floating ice, can lead to loss of grounded ice, perhaps catastrophically. Melt rates at the base of ice shelves can be high at grounding zones, where the melting point of ice is lowered by the pressure at depth. For the first time, we collected oceanographic data within a few kilometers of the grounding zone of a major West Antarctic ice shelf, the Ross Ice Shelf. We also measured ice shelf melting at 11 locations at and around the borehole using a phase-sensitive radar. We find that melt rates are low near the grounding zone due to the presence of a highly stable double-diffusive staircase. Parameterizations of ice shelf melting in ocean models are less sensitive to the present-day freshening of Ross Sea waters than double-diffusive staircases are. This could lead ice-ocean models to underestimate the response of the Ross Ice Shelf to oceanographic changes.
CULTURAL / HISTORICAL
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21:00 - 21:15 GMT: Gendering Processes of Inupiaq Youth: An Ethnohistorical Approach
Susannah Deeds and Eddie Perez, University of Alaska Anchorage, United States
Abstract: Inupiaq peoples have relied on oral storytelling, observational learning, and firsthand experiences to pass cultural information to younger generations. The integral role children play in the continuation of culture is tied to their formed concept of self. A child’s maturity into adulthood is recognized based off of social, biological, and gender dependent forms of self. Traditionally wherein a girl’s first menstruation marks her transformation into womanhood, a boy’s process into manhood is highly based on the cultural concepts of male achievement. Beginning from childhood, youth are molded into understanding their roles of self in the community and what it means to be a man or woman in their culture. This acquired knowledge is through observance, practice, teachings, stories, and trial and error. This paper focuses on providing a collection of the self-awareness and gendering processes of Inupiaq youth with a main focus on the transition from ‘boy’ to ‘man’. Additionally, I explore the idea that the recognition and reinforcement of male gender roles through the processes of ceremonies and rites is parallel to female pubescent transitions. I aim to deepen the understanding of Inupiaq gendering through recollections of childhood experiences found in the Charles V. Lucier Collection in the University of Alaska-Anchorage Consortium Library Archives.
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21:15 - 21:30 GMT: Antarctica, Advertising, and the Changing Face of the Hero
Hanne E F Nielsen, University of Tasmania, Australia
Abstract: Antarctic history is often seen as synonymous with the Heroic Era of exploration (1899-1922). This was a time when expeditions – under the likes of Scott, Shackleton, and Mawson – set off for the South in search of a first, and motivated by romantic ideas of man versus nature. Yet today’s Hero is not the same as yesterday’s. This paper explores to what extent the Heroic myth of Antarctica is still culturally viable. Advertisements provide an ideal litmus test for such an investigation, as they recycle ideas that are already in common cultural circulation.
The theme of Heroism in the Antarctic has appeared in many guises over the past century, and been used for a wide range of commercial ends. A century on, the Heroic Era itself may have been relegated to sepia tones in the popular cultural memory, but famed images of men fighting against the blizzard continue to evoke an immediate response. In the case of advertising material, evolving depictions of the Antarctic hero have ranged from straight endorsements, through to ironic distancing and de-identification.
Despite such changes over the years, Heroism continues to be a theme with strong Antarctic connections. In more recent times, the ongoing relevance of the Hero myth can also be seen in the framing of the “Heroic Scientist.” Analysing advertisements sheds light on how the myth of the Heroic Antarctic explorer has been valued, been seen as viable, and helped to shape the imagined version of Antarctica for the population at large.
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21:30 - 21:45 GMT: Updates from The Permafrost Young Researcher’s Network (PYRN)
J. Heslop on behalf of the PYRN Executive Committee,Permafrost Young Researchers Network
Abstract: The Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) is an international organization established in 2005 under the patronage of the International Permafrost Association (IPA). We seek to inform, promote, and facilitate research collaborations between future generations of permafrost researchers. The PYRN Executive Committee regularly distributes information on recent permafrost news, research, events, and funding opportunities by organizing workshops, updating public social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), and sending emails and newsletters to registered members. As of 2016, we have 1,472 registered members representing 32 countries. In this presentation, a PYRN Executive Committee member will showcase several recent and upcoming activities organized for PYRN members in order to involve more young scientists into its community. These include: 1) a summary of the PYRN activities and their impacts during the International Conference on Permafrost in 2016, 2) a presentation of the PYRN events planned for the upcoming 2nd Asian Conference on Permafrost, 3) an introduction to the use of social media for promoting research conducted by young permafrost researchers and to the newly-designed PYRN website, and 4) an overview of the recent PYRN-Russia workshop dedicated to the studies of Yamal crater. Our main focus is now to involve National Representatives who are working on a national level to foster collaboration of young permafrost researchers in their region/country. We will therefore promote opportunities for young permafrost researchers through our organization, including funding opportunities for National Representatives to organize local permafrost events.