By: Brendan Kelly, SEARCH Executive Director and Brit Myers, ARCUS Project Manager
Arctic Futures 2050: Sustaining the Conversation
In September 2019, the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) convened 393 Arctic scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and policymakers to collaboratively envision the information that will be needed to inform Arctic policy in the coming decades. The Arctic Futures 2050 conference, supported by 19 sponsor and partner organizations, was held over three days and included panel sessions, plenary talks, 181 posters with over 400 authors, and over 1,400 livestream views. Fifteen countries, including all eight Arctic nations, were represented, and 54 Indigenous and early career travel award winners were supported.
Available conference products include posters, session videos, follow-up interviews, and more. Products are available through the conference website.
A conference report will be circulated to conference participants and finalized in early 2020. To stay informed about Arctic Futures 2050 conference proceedings, please join the Arctic Futures 2050 Mailing List or the SEARCH mailing list.
SEARCH Events at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU)
SEARCH Town Hall: Advancing and Sharing Arctic Research
Date: Friday, 13 December 2019
Time: 12:30–1:30pm PT
Location: San Francisco, CA | Moscone Convention Center, Moscone West – 2003, L2
In this AGU Town Hall, SEARCH seeks best practices and ideas to further improve how we share knowledge of the Arctic with policy makers. SEARCH has had a long history of supporting and enhancing Arctic science, and in the past five years we have focused on facilitating cross-disciplinary syntheses and conveying what we know to policy makers and other decision makers. SEARCH facilitated syntheses that improved understanding of:
- greenhouse gas fluxes from thawing permafrost;
- ice sheet contributions to sea level rise;
- the consequences of diminishing sea ice; and
- the relationship of Arctic change to weather at lower latitudes.
SEARCH has shared our understanding of Arctic change with the media and policy makers at all levels of government. Novel collaborations with Indigenous Peoples and policy makers have made scientific understanding more accessible to policy makers through press events, knowledge exchange workshops, succinct written answers to policy questions, Congressional briefings, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meetings, and convenings of Arctic Science Ministers. This town hall will also explore how we can best advance those novel collaborations. All are welcome, and light snacks will be provided.
Permafrost Carbon Network Annual Meeting
The 9th annual meeting of the Permafrost Carbon Network will take place on Sunday, 8 December prior to the Fall AGU meeting. Bringing together the international community of permafrost researchers, the program will feature a series of presentations and speed talks to introduce break-out session topics. Meeting participants will then split into smaller break-out groups to discuss the Permafrost Carbon Network's ongoing and new synthesis research products. The meeting is open to all members of the scientific community with an interest in permafrost carbon research synthesis. However, because capacity for the meeting has been reached, online registration for the event is now closed. For more information about this event, please contact Christina Schädel (christina.schaedel [at] nau.edu).
Other SEARCH Contributions to AGU
In addition to the events above, SEARCH will be active in several oral and poster sessions; more information is available at SEARCH at AGU 2019.
More Information about SEARCH
For more information about SEARCH activities, see the SEARCH website or contact SEARCH Executive Director Brendan P. Kelly (bpkelly [at] alaska.edu).