Date

Multiple Resources Available

  1. Newsletter Available
    The Towline
    North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management

  2. Special Issue Available
    ARCTIC - The Archaeology and Paleoecology of Alpine Ice Patches
    Arctic Institute of North America

  3. Sea Ice Freeboard, Snow Depth, and Thickness Quick Look
    NASA's Operation IceBridge
    National Snow and Ice Data Center

  4. Two Arctic Films Available
    Alaskans Sharing Indigenous Knowledge Project

  1. Newsletter Available
    The Towline
    North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management

The Spring 2012 newsletter of the North Slope Borough Department of
Wildlife Management is now available online. To view the most recent
edition of 'The Towline,' please click on the 'Spring 2012' link at:
http://www.north-slope.org/departments/wildlife/dwm_newsletters.php.

The newsletter provides information on current studies, research, and
other happenings within the North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife
Management. The purpose is to keep the public informed and to provide
contact information for subsistence hunters and concerned residents of
the North Slope.

For further information on the organization, please go to:
http://www.north-slope.org/departments/wildlife/.

To view the newsletter, please click on the 'Spring 2012' link at:
http://www.north-slope.org/departments/wildlife/dwm_newsletters.php.

  1. Special Issue Available
    ARCTIC - The Archaeology and Paleoecology of Alpine Ice Patches
    Arctic Institute of North America

The Arctic Institute of North America (AINA) is announces the
publication of a supplementary issue of ARCTIC on "The Archaeology and
Paleoecology of Alpine Ice Patches: A Global Perspective." A copy of the
publication can be obtained by completing the order form available at:
http://arctic.ucalgary.ca/files/arctic/IcePatch_OrderForm.pdf.

This special supplement of the journal brings together 12 articles in
the emerging field of alpine ice patch archaeology from North America
and Europe. Linked by their association with either caribou or reindeer
hunting or human travel in alpine environments, these articles provide a
perspective on the cryogenically preserved artifacts and biological
specimens being revealed by the melting of perennial snow and ice in
high alpine settings.

As a group, the papers in this volume suggest that the phenomenon of ice
patch hunting could exist anywhere humans and caribou or reindeer
interacted at some point in the past in an alpine environment. The
northern Rockies, Torngats, Baffin Mountains, the Pyrenees, the Altai,
the Urals, and others all seem like mountain environments with high
potential.

The supplementary issue is included in the 2012 AINA membership fee.
Non-members can purchase the issue from AINA using the Ice Patch order
form: http://arctic.ucalgary.ca/files/arctic/IcePatch_OrderForm.pdf.

  1. Sea Ice Freeboard, Snow Depth, and Thickness Quick Look
    NASA's Operation IceBridge
    National Snow and Ice Data Center

A new sea ice thickness and snow depth product over the Arctic Ocean
entitled "Sea Ice Freeboard, Snow Depth, and Thickness Quick Look" is
now available. To access the data, please click on the Sea Ice Freeboard
link at: http://nsidc.org/data/docs/daac/icebridge/evaluation_products/.

In spring 2012, NASA's Operation IceBridge undertook a coordinated
effort to provide large-scale airborne survey data that supported the
development of seasonal summer sea ice prediction capabilities.
Operation IceBridge, by design, routinely provides sea ice thickness and
snow depth data over the Arctic Ocean, initially collected in the
March/April timeframe, within a year of the field campaign
(http://nsidc.org/data/idcsi2.html). A major challenge in providing
support for predictions of the summer sea ice conditions was the need to
dramatically increase the rate of delivery of these data. Using a new
quick production method, data from the IceBridge instrument suite were
successfully processed within approximately one month after data
collection, providing a synergistic view of current sea ice properties
including sea ice thickness, snow depth, and surface roughness. Also
provided in the quick-look products are uncertainties associated with
the data, facilitating their use in models that are designed to
assimilate the data.

The products contain several geophysical parameters derived from laser
altimeter, snow radar, and digital aerial photography measurements.
Community comments related to the science are welcome, and can be
directed to Michael Studinger (michael.studinger [at] nasa.gov) and Nathan
Kurtz (nathan.t.kurtz [at] nasa.gov). The IceBridge Project Science Office at
Goddard and the IceBridge Sea Ice Science Team will jointly review the
community comments.

To access the data, please click on the Sea Ice Freeboard link at:
http://nsidc.org/data/docs/daac/icebridge/evaluation_products/.

  1. Two Arctic Films Available
    Alaskans Sharing Indigenous Knowledge Project

Two new films focused on Alaskam villages threatened by climate change
are now available. Both films are part of the Alaskans Sharing
Indigenous Knowledge (AKSIK) project, and are available online, at:
http://aksik.org.

One film, entitled 'Silageetuq,' focuses on Shaktoolik, a native village
on the northwest coast of Alaska. This documentary, by Mera Kenney,
captures the ways in which increasingly severe fall storms threaten the
village, and highlights the town's need for an evacuation road.

The other, entitled 'Aksik,' takes place in Savoonga, a village on St.
Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. By Jonathan Ignatowski, the film
explores the importance of subsistence food to the village and the
difficulties climate change is causing to maintain that culture.

AKSIK is a multiyear science and advocacy project headed up by Jon
Rosales at the St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. AKSIK
documents local knowledge of climate change in Shaktoolik and Savoonga
and their efforts to adapt to these changes; and highlights the needs of
the communities.

For further information, please go to:
http://aksik.org.

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