Witness the Arctic | Volume 18, Number 1 - Winter

Texas A&M University (TAMU), a long-standing ARCUS Member Institution, is a Land Grant, Sea Grant and Space Grant institution with its main campus in College Station, Texas. TAMU is dedicated to the discovery, development, communication, and application of knowledge in a wide range of academic and professional fields. With more than $700 million in research expenditures generated by faculty-researchers, the school has over 58,000 students—including 12,000 graduate students—enrolled in 10 academic colleges. The University supports several Arctic research efforts including those in the Colleges of Geosciences, Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Liberal Arts.

The Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the Department of Defense (DOD) Arctic Strategy during the Halifax International Security Forum on 22 November 2013.

United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, announced plans to create a Special Representative for the Arctic Region. These plans were announced 14 February 2014 and communicated to U.S. Senators Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska.

On 30 January 2014 the Obama Administration released the Implementation Plan for the National Strategy for the Arctic Region (Implementation Plan). This plan sets forth the methodology, process, and approach for executing the National Strategy for the Arctic Region (Strategy), which the Obama Administration released on 10 May 2013.

The Arctic Fox Research Centre, located in Sudavik, Westfjords, Iceland, opened in September of 2007 to conduct primary research on the arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) and to inform and develop sustainable tourism practices for visiting and viewing the arctic fox in Iceland's national parks and preserves.

While the impacts of climate change on natural systems and contemporary northern communities are fairly well established, current and future climate change impacts on the archaeology of the north are not well understood. The general threat of climate change to Arctic archaeological sites is apparent (Blankholm 2009).

Since the pre-industrial era, human activities have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations by about 40% to values near 400 ppm, which is higher than at any point during the last 800,000 years. During this rapid loading of the atmosphere, the ocean has absorbed more than 25% of the total emitted anthropogenic CO₂, helping to offset atmospheric warming, but fundamentally changing ocean chemistry.

The 2013 Arctic Report Card was released on 12 December 2013 during a press conference led by Dr. Martin Jeffries, Principal Editor of the Arctic Report Card and science advisor to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. This annual update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports on key indicators and components being tracked in the Arctic. The 2013 update contains 18 essays by 147 authors from 14 countries describing the state of the Arctic environmental system.

The Sea Ice Predication Network (SIPN), launched in late 2013, is a collaborative network of scientists and stakeholders seeking to advance research on Arctic sea ice prediction and communication of sea ice knowledge and tools. With funding from NSF's Arctic Sciences Section...

Johannes (Hans) Verlinde is the current Secretary of the ARCUS Board of Directors. Elected to the Board in 2008, and as its secretary in 2013, his term ends in 2014.

Michael J. Retelle is the current President of the ARCUS Board of Directors. Elected to the board in 2007, and as its president in July 2013, his term ends in 2016. Mike also served on the ARCUS board in the 1990's.

Arctic Natural Sciences Program Director William Wiseman hosted NSF's Arctic Sciences Town Hall meeting on 10 December 2013 during the American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meeting in San Francisco. Polar Cyberinfrastructure Program Director Marco Tedesco and Research Support and Logistics program contractor Jennifer Mercer joined Wiseman at the meeting to provide news from the Arctic Sciences Section, program updates, and an open forum for questions about NSF activities.

By: Ginny Fay and Ben Saylor, Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Alaska Anchorage, http://www.iser.uaa.alaska.edu

The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) recently launched the Alaska Energy Data Gateway, a new online database containing energy data—most of it at the community level—from across Alaska. The site provides data from many sources, in a user-friendly format and through a single access point with data available for download in a variety of file formats.

The Advanced Cooperative Arctic Data and Information Service (ACADIS) team continues to support data management needs of projects funded by NSF's Division of Polar Programs (PLR) Arctic Sciences Section (ARC) with data submission, preservation, and sharing services.

NSF's Arctic Research Support and Logistics (RSL) program hosted an Arctic Field Safety Risk Management Workshop on 4-5 February 2014 to initiate a discussion of Arctic field safety risk management. Over 50 participants attended representing diverse academic disciplines, facility managers, university risk management offices, field support providers and incorporating experiences from across the Arctic.

Online proposals are being solicited for funding support to enable discussions related to long-term observing management and governance. Supported discussions will focus on development of best practices in long-term observing, lessons learned from other long-term observing activities, and other related issues. Funding for these discussions is being provided through a cooperative agreement to ARCUS from NSF's Arctic Observing Network (AON) Program.