Professionals who collect and use Traditional Knowledge to support resource management decisions often are preoccupied with concerns over how and if Traditional Knowledge should be integrated with science. To move beyond the integration dilemma, we view Traditional Knowledge and science as distinct and complementary knowledge systems. Dr. Brooks will share examples of how the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has applied Traditional Knowledge in decision-making in the North Slope Borough, Alaska, including applying information from both knowledge systems to monitor subsistence whaling practices and using Traditional Knowledge in environmental impact assessment. Applying Traditional Knowledge produces decisions that are more inclusive, creates mutual understanding, and enhances respect for Traditional Knowledge and science.

Arctic and sub-Arctic field measurements are showing warming and thawing permafrost, increasing winter runoff, and groundwater levels. Local scale remote sensing analyses reveal degrading ice wedges, thermokarsts, and retrogressive thaw slumps, and watershed-scale numerical modeling results suggest micro-topographical geomorphological controls on fluxes and stores of water as ice-rich ground thaws and subsides. We are living in a time of rapid change to the permafrost-affected landscape across the Arctic region with dramatic changes occurring over just a few years. Yet, our understanding of the spatial continuity of change is limited due to the logistical constraints in doing fieldwork in a remote region, under-harnessed high performance and image processing resources, and the coarse resolution of pan-Arctic models. Collaboration across disciplines and organizations allow for a holistic approach in quantifying change, understanding underlying mechanisms, and in encouraging knowledge-generation beyond the scientific community. If successful, one’s weakness becomes the other’s strength and the sum larger than its parts.

Since 2006, a number of surveys have explored U.S. public knowledge and perceptions about polar regions. At first glance, these seemed to show fairly high levels of public awareness and concern about polar climate change and related issues. Closer examination with increasingly sophisticated surveys uncovered a more complex picture, however. Some basic polar and Arctic knowledge questions, which link to people’s more general beliefs, are answered with reasonably good accuracy. But other basic questions that have answers not guessable from general beliefs tend to show lower accuracy or knowledge. Contrasting results on the “two kinds” of Arctic knowledge questions exhibit strong demographic patterns. Moreover, we see public awareness on some issues gradually rising over the years of these surveys, while on others it remains stubbornly flat. Although polar-knowledge survey questions might seem a narrow topic, these results highlight deeper characteristics of U.S. society today.

This seminar will feature four speakers. Each presenter will discuss how they have engaged Arctic residents or visitors in the process of data collection to enhance our understanding of northern environments and how they are changing today. There will be a discussion period following the presentations, centered on how insights gained from current projects can help envision the role of civic participation in the future of Arctic research and observing.

The rapid and pervasive loss of Arctic sea ice has several potential impacts to ice-associated marine mammals. Declines in sea ice cover are also occurring in concert with expanding anthropogenic activities that may have compounding effects on Arctic marine ecosystems. This talk will examine intersecting issues of recent sea ice loss, Arctic marine mammal responses, and new anthropogenic risks associated with an increasingly navigable Arctic. Dr. Hauser will provide several case studies to illustrate how changes in the timing and extent of sea ice cover affect distribution, migration timing, and foraging behavior of two Pacific Arctic populations of beluga whales. Results suggest diverse and flexible responses by belugas in the face of rapidly changing sea ice conditions, which are in line with other emerging trends from the Pacific Arctic region. Second, she will discuss a recent vulnerability assessment of 80 populations of seven Arctic marine mammal species to vessels in the increasingly ice-free Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route, which quantified the heterogeneity of risk across species, populations, and regions. Finally, these results will be discussed in the context of ongoing conversations about the future resilience of Arctic marine mammals in changing sea ice ecosystems.

A growing global market for generic minerals that are used in technical products for the ‘green’ energy transition and the electronic industry holds interesting potential for the Arctic. Developing prospects for the Arctic in general, this presentation takes Greenland as an example of an Arctic country which may offer alternative sources for minerals otherwise known as ‘conflict-minerals’. China’s electronic, solar power, and wind energy industries need certain generic minerals for production for the global market. Certain conflict-ridden countries are main sources of some of these minerals, which are known as ‘conflict minerals’ when their trade helps fuel armed conflicts. Commitment to fight conflict minerals have led the U.S. and the European Union to introduce requirements on importers and manufacturers to document efforts to avoid conflict-related supply chains. China has responded by developing guidelines for minerals supply chains and mining investment. The Chinese guidelines’ reference to the concept of risk-based due diligence is of particular relevance in this context. This concept was introduced by guidelines from the United Nations and elaborated in guidelines from the Organisation for Economic Collaboration and Development (OECD) as a company approach for identifying and managing its adverse impacts. The presentation will explain how it may complement Arctic host country policies and regulation on the prevention of adverse human rights impacts, and on stakeholder engagement in impact assessment for that purpose.

In recent years the northern Bering Sea and southern Chukchi Sea have undergone a reduction of sea ice and warming seawater temperatures. Time-series environmental and biological studies indicate faster seasonal sea ice retreat over the last 5 years in comparison to the previous 25 years, with 2018 having the highest bottom water temperatures in the record, and also setting a new threshold for sea ice minima. At the same time, dominant bottom dwelling animals (clams, amphipods and polychaetes) that are food for diving sea ducks, gray whales, and walruses are declining in biomass and where there is still high biomass, these prey patches are contracting northward. These time series studies are being accomplished as part of the Distributed Biological Observatory, which is an internationally coordinated effort that is generating seasonal and interannual data to better understand this changing ecosystem.

Resilience encompasses community wellness, holistic education, effective leadership and sustenance of our way of life. Cultural resilience has always been a focus of our prominent elders, ancestors and our overall leadership. Resilience in modern life can be supported by decolonizing and indigenizing the state and federal educational systems that protect our heritage language, Indigenous knowledge system, cultural epistemic principles and values, prosperity of the people, and the wellbeing of the future leaders. The State of Alaska has adopted the state’s culturally relevant standards for Indigenous communities.

The State Council Information Office of China published a white paper titled "China's Arctic Policy" on January 26, 2018. China’s policy goals in the Arctic are shaped by four key principles—to understand, protect, develop and participate in the governance of the Arctic. In order to realize these policy goals, the white paper emphasizes the need for “respect, cooperation, win-win result and sustainability.” These policy goals and principles are reflected in the respective areas that China has shown interest in, ranging from participating in Arctic governance affairs, promoting bilateral diplomacy in the Arctic area, accessing potential resources to exploiting shipping opportunities and undertaking polar research. China’s Arctic strategy is just beginning and it still faces many challenges, including the Arctic States’ disputes over territorial sovereignty, vigilance among certain countries, constraints from the United National Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the natural environment in the Arctic region and China’s technological constraints. Nevertheless, with China’s newly released Arctic policy white paper, China has emphasized a key theme—cooperation

More than a decade of national media attention to the human impacts of climate change in the Arctic has largely framed communities as victims to sell the urgency of mitigation to the public. The talk will focus on Arnold’s own experience and current research of media coverage to discuss the need for journalism and science communication that includes both threat and efficacy.

The Arctic is undergoing unprecedented changes driven by the impacts of climate change, globalization and related political, cultural and biophysical fluxes. The talk presents the works of the Arctic Design Group that foregrounds design in the act of framing and re-imagining the potential futures of the Arctic, while offering ways of re-engaging with environmental phenomena as malleable design media.

Russia's ambitions for the Arctic have been shaping the geopolitical landscape of the region, both in terms of securitization, governance, and territorial disputes. Yet many aspects of Russia's Arctic policy are based on on domestic imperatives such as that of regional development, transport and infrastructure sustainability, and challenging population management. Moscow envisions shipping routes and energy projects as a leverage for development, but several serious economic, social and climatic elements hamper these projects. This presentation will discuss the dominant role of domestic factors, and their articulation with Russia's foreign policy stances for the Arctic.

Arctic Observations, Data, and Society: Using Systems Science and Mediation to Enhance Information Flow for Sustainability

Recent environmental and social change has resulted in an increased focus on the Arctic region by governments and the general public. Much of this interest is generated in the context of the concept of sustainability and the global implications of a changing Arctic. Concurrently, there is a recognition by researchers, Arctic communities and decision makers that Arctic observations and data are not readily available in a usable form to all who need them. This talk provides a review of Arctic data as a complex system of interrelated data resources, technology, funding, human and machine actors and other components that can be seen as an "ecosystem". To improve the flow of information will require more than simply making data easier to discover and access in its raw form. New approaches to mediating or transforming data to meet the needs of different user communities are needed and increasingly possible. Enhancing the system will require a broad commitment to dialogue across different communities of practice and a recognition of the need to conceive of data and related technologies as infrastructure that can interoperate from local to global scales. The talk concludes with a review of existing and emerging projects and programs focused on Arctic data.

One of the goals for the IARPC Arctic Research Plan: FY2017-2021 is to “Enhance understanding of health determinants and improve the wellbeing of Arctic residents.” Specific research objectives under this goal include but are not limited to supporting integrative approaches to human health that recognize the connections among people, wildlife, the environment, and climate; promoting research, sustainable development, and community resilience to address health disparities associated with underlying social determinants of health and wellbeing; and increasing understanding of mental health, substance abuse, and wellbeing for Alaskan youth. Following the efforts of the RISING SUN initiative under the 2015-2017 US Chairmanship of the Arctic Council, which developed community-based and prioritized outcomes to evaluate suicide prevention interventions among Indigenous populations across the circumpolar Arctic, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is committed to furthering research focused on reducing the burden of suicide and promoting resilience among Indigenous youth. Specifically, through cooperative agreements, NIMH has provided funding to establish and support regional collaborative hubs, including in Alaska, whose research teams will (a) conduct preventive interventions research, including strengths-based/resilience-focused approaches, with the goal of reducing suicide in indigenous youth, and (b) conduct outreach and dissemination activities to promote community engagement in research activities and enable community decision-makers to use science-based information to develop and assess mental health policies and programs. This webinar will provide an overview of research and other activities supported by the NIMH/NIH that aims to improve the mental health and wellbeing of Arctic residents.

Betsy Baker, Executive Director of the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB) based in Anchorage, AK, will discuss current research supporting fisheries and integrated ecosystem information needs in the Arctic, Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. Speaking from her current work directing a science funding non-profit, past experience as a professor of international, ocean, and environmental law, and her collaborations with scientists, federal agencies, Arctic Council working groups and Permanent Participants, she will discuss emerging challenges and opportunities for the Arctic research community.

Indigenous studies scholars assertively emplace Indigenous values, cosmologies, and frameworks as critical to conservation, natural resource management, and desired futures. Similarly, a new wave of conservation initiatives encompass transdisciplinary efforts to address the intersection between conservation and well-being and in doing so promote integrated frameworks, such as socio-ecological systems paradigms, and participatory and community-based research designs. These empirical, theoretical, and methodological trends attempt to reconceptualize the role of communities in local to global environmental governance as well as reshape the way in which researchers engage with pressing social and environmental questions with and alongside communities. Drawing from a collaborative research project with the community Utqiagvik, Alaska, we detail best practices for social science environmental research programs that operate at the nexus of conservation, community-directed heritage efforts, community-based practice, and multi-institutional partnerships. We emphasize the complexities of these types of relationships to: (1) recognize the heterogeneity of gendered and generational perspectives within and across communities, (2) acknowledge the possibilities of productive discussions that place diverse ontological and epistemological conceptualizations of human-environmental dynamics together, (3) challenge top-down solutions, institutional norms, and bureaucratic restrictions that may serve as barriers to best practices, and (4) identify multimedia and internet-based outputs that can serve both local and researcher constituents. In this work, we prioritize community-based norms, standards, and worldviews as guiding principles for practice, demonstrating pathways to better direct research and academia towards deconstructing hierarchical research relationships. Furthermore we describe how to produce reciprocal relationships that meaningfully reverberate across different scales (community, researcher-participant, and academic) in order to adequately address well-being in times of change.

In September 2016, NOAA and other US agencies submitted a deliverable to the White House Arctic Science Ministerial (WHASM) to formally establish and fund the coordination of a US AON initiative. This US AON initiative brings new coordination capabilities on-line to support and strengthen US engagement in sustained and coordinated pan-Arctic observing and data sharing systems that serve societal needs. US AON promotes the vision of well-defined observing networks that enable users to have access to high quality data that will realize pan-Arctic and global value-added services and provide societal benefits. This talk will describe the capabilities of the new US AON initiative and how those capabilities are being mobilized towards both the “backward” and “forward” problems of Arctic observing. Solving the “backward problem” requires drawing existing observations into interoperable, multi-sensor, value-added data products. Solving the “forward problem” requires the alignment of multiple agency needs and capabilities to coordinate and design the network that is “needed”. Both approaches have their own unique benefits and constraints which will be explored during this presentation.

Science has long recognized the challenges associated with interdisciplinary research – from the tacit norms associated with the discipline bound university department to the difficulty inherent in communicating and collaborating across disciplines. Despite this fact, we have continually struggled with overcoming the challenges arising from interdisciplinary interaction. This is a particularly complex form of collaborative cognition where knowledge from varied fields needs to elicited and integrated. In this talk I first discuss interdisciplinary research in the context of team science. I focus on the developing field of the science of team science. This area of inquiry is designed to support a broad swath of team researchers such that we can examine basic and applied scientific issues of tremendous societal importance. Second, I provide detail on specific challenges faced by scientists working in teams (e.g., conflict) and how these can be better understood and addressed. My goal is provide macro and micro level perspectives on scientific teamwork and show how a multidisciplinary approach to theory and practice can contribute to understanding and improving solving important scientific and societal problems.

Why are changes in the Earth’s Climate System in and across the Arctic important to the peoples of the Arctic and for the rest of the world? Warming in the Arctic is occurring at twice the rate elsewhere in the world.  This is driving sweeping changes that will impact communities in the Arctic and all over the world. Scientist have documented that the sea ice has lost 80% of its mass, the permafrost is thawing as rates unseen for 100’s of thousands of years. The glaciers of Greenland are adding to sea level rise at unprecedented rates.

Why it Matters to People in the Arctic and for the Rest of the World: First, Arctic communities are at the front lines of extreme weather events, facing collapsing infrastructure, threatened food security, and growing health concerns.  Meanwhile, warming temperatures and melting ice are opening the Arctic to increased shipping and resource extraction.

Second, these major changes in the Arctic will be explore as they are already affecting the rest of the world: (a) Sea Level Rise, (b) Opening of the Seaways, (c) Weather Extremes, (d) Ocean Acidification, (e) Thawing Permafrost, and (f) Changes in Governance and the Geopolitical Landscape.

The vast changes taking place across the Arctic are turning the once isolated region into an area of increased economic activity and opportunity. Declining sea ice extent is not only exposing natural resources, but also new routes to connect once distant economies. Routes initially seen as impossible to navigate are viewed as future alternatives to some of the world’s most popular channels. This presentation will discuss the future of Arctic shipping, including areas of cooperation between Arctic actors. As traffic increases, Arctic states should develop new management schemes that reduce the risk of maritime accidents and minimize the negative impacts on the environment, while realizing the growing economic benefits.

Climate change is destabilizing the Arctic environment and rendering its communities vulnerable. Yet new infrastructure projects are springing up on top of the shifting landscape, from ports along Russia’s northern coast to highways in Canada. This presentation will examine how certain northern communities have managed to benefit from and occasionally spearhead major new transportation infrastructure projects while others remain sidelined as their resources are extracted and exported, often for consumption in the world’s urban core. Addressing this topic requires first determining patterns of economic development in the Arctic at a regional scale, which are shown for the past two decades using night light satellite imagery. Fieldwork conducted in Canada and Russia helps explain how certain infrastructure projects are negotiated and brought into being at a local scale while drawing attention to both the benefits and risks of industrial development. Taken together, this presentation aims to identify the mechanisms which are selectively connecting certain northern communities to regional and global transportation networks.

After a brief review of the US Arctic Research Commission, an independent federal agency, that includes a description of its purpose, duties, personnel, activities, publication, and working groups, USARC’s Executive Director speaks on the topic of science and public policy, addressing current questions and long-standing truths.

The Arctic sea-ice cover is in the midst of a major transformation, with the Pacific Arctic sector and Alaska experiencing some of the most profound changes in ice cover anywhere in the Arctic. With impacts on Arctic coastal communities and increases in maritime activities, both observations of changes underway and predictions at the scale of less than a week to several months out are of importance to the research community and those living and operating in ice-covered seas. The presentation will explore key benefits or hazards deriving from sea ice, and explore the types of information and predictions most relevant to sea ice users, with a focus on Alaska coastal environments. Specifically, use of coastal land fast ice by Indigenous communities and industry serves to illustrate the importance of stakeholder input and guidance in defining the research problem and types of observations and predictions needed. The presentation will explore how the combination of surface-based observations, Indigenous and local knowledge, and remote sensing is particularly effective in addressing a hierarchy of issues of deriving from rapid changes in coastal ice environments.