Polar and Alpine Community News

The Working Group on Integrated Assessment for the Norwegian Sea (WGINOR) at the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is inviting for new membership.

WGINOR aims to conduct and further develop Integrated Ecosystem Assessments for the Norwegian Sea as a step towards implementing the ecosystem approach.
For this purpose, WGINOR:

• performs integrated assessment of the pelagic ecosystem in the Norwegian Sea and develops a framework for identifying important signals for management,
• utilises multi-species and ecosystem models to evaluate effects of single and multi-species harvest control rules on fishing yield and ecosystem state of the pelagic ecosystem in the Norwegian Sea
• develops forecast products (1-5 years) for ocean climate and for other ecosystem components in the Norwegian Sea
• maintains a two-way dialogue with relevant stakeholders and managers in Norway, Faroe Island, and Iceland
• regularly updates the ICES Norwegian Sea ecosystem overview

Each year in the spring, the Ice Drilling Program (IDP) works with its Science Advisory Board and the research community to update the Long Range Science Plan. This Plan identifies the science in the coming decade that will require the use of ice drilling technology and expertise for the community. This also drives the formation of other plans, for example, the Long Range Drilling Technology Plan. The plans provide the basis for multi‐annual planning for the actions and drill development projects of IDP and others, and the plans give the funding agencies advance notice of upcoming community science needs.

Polar Impact, a network for racial and ethnic minorities in polar research, are thrilled to announce applications for the inaugural Mentorship Initiative are now open!

The Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II (ArCS II) invites applications for their International Early Career Researchers Program.

This program invites a wide range of early career researchers from the Arctic and non-Arctic countries who are engaged in Arctic research, and supports their research by employing or accepting them at universities and research institutions in Japan. This project aims to revitalize mutual exchange between Arctic researchers in Japan and early career researchers overseas and to strengthen the cooperative system for international joint research.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically shown that global challenges require global responses, which most often seem impossible to agree upon given our world’s heterogeneities and the significant discrepancies in the understanding of human values that once more, the tragic war in Ukraine revealed. Also in pandemic times and in times of war, however, climate change remains the biggest global challenge that humanity is facing and urban development is an important lever of climate change albeit most often not considered a priority area.

The German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), in partnership with Ecologic Institute and the Maria-Curie Sklodowska University, is organising an interdisciplinary hybrid expert workshop online and in Bonn on 25.05.2022. The workshop is dedicated to bring experts from Arctic and non-Arctic research projects together.

As an Arctic nation, Canada should be a global leader in Arctic and northern research. In this role, Canada can advance key national priority areas through scientific excellence, co-development, self-determination, evidence-based decision-making, and reconciliation. As we move into a new future of ongoing climate warming, geopolitical tensions, and development pressures, it is critical that the Canadian Arctic research community works together to co-develop a science strategy that is equitable, diverse, and inclusive of all ways of knowing.

In order to identify research and science priorities that will support our collective community in establishing such a strategy that can best position Canada as a global leader in science, self-determined, and inclusive Arctic research, we invite you to complete the following short survey (estimated time: 5-10 minutes) by May 13, 2022.

PSECCO is Officially Launched!

The Polar Science Early Career Community Office (PSECCO) is officially launched(see linked press release)! PSECCO is a community-building and community-support organization for polar early career scientists based in the US. Its mission is to empower and elevate early career scientists in the Polar Sciences, support a vibrant community, provide opportunities and resources, offer skill training and work together towards a more just, inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible polar science environment. 

The office will be building partnerships and offering support to early career organizations already doing great work, working to build community, and offering unique professional development and funding opportunities of its own. Help us to shape and evolve the office to best support polar early career scientists by attending a community meeting on May 3^rdMay 3rd at 11am AK/1pm MT/3pm ET or June 9^thJune 9th, 9am AK/11am MT/1pm ET. Learn more about the office and sign up for our mailing lists at psecco.org, or join us on Twitter @polarsecco. 

In January 2022, the new Joint Body on the "Status of Mountain Snow Cover (JB-SMSC)" was launched. This Joint Body is a joint activity of the International Association for Cryospheric Sciences (IACS), the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), aiming to significantly improve the knowledge of the status and changes of the snow cover in mountain regions of the world. In addition to an in-depth analysis of snow changes and the underlying processes, the provision of data sets on snow cover in mountain regions is also a key objective. The JB is divided into four work packages, as follows:

• WP1: Mountain snow data quality control and homogenization for use in climatology and hydrology
• WP2: Status of snow cover: multi-decadal changes in mountain regions of the world
• WP3: Snow accumulation processes in mountain regions
• WP4: Snow ablation processes - research gaps in mountain snow modelling