Witness the Arctic | Volume 18, Number 3 - Fall

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently sponsored the "DataViz Hackathon for Polar CyberInsfrastructure," a workshop designed to build bridges between the polar research community and the cyberinfrastructure (CI) and data visualization communities. The workshop convened on 3-4 November 2014 at the Parsons New School for Design in New York City.

The Advanced Cooperative Arctic Data and Information Service (ACADIS) team requested input from NSF funded principal investigators (PIs) to help create a list of research that utilized data housed in ACADIS. Thus far, the ACADIS staff has complied over 300 publications in this effort. Further contributions from the community are welcome. To contribute a list of publications, please the ACADIS Publication Reference Submission website.

As the buffalo is to the Plains Indians and the bowhead whale is to the Inuit, so too is the caribou (vadzaih) to the Gwich'in people of northeast Alaska and northwest Canada. In 2011 a team of Gwich'in linguists affiliated with the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks began to document traditional knowledge of caribou anatomy under a grant from the National Science Foundation Arctic Social Sciences Program. The project coordinator is Craig Mishler, and the lead research associate and elder is Kenneth Frank, of Venetie and Arctic Village, now residing in Fairbanks. Between 2011 and 2014 Mishler and Frank conducted field interviews in Arctic Village, Venetie, Fort Yukon, and Fairbanks, Alaska, and Old Crow, Yukon.

By Laura Raines, U.S. Arctic Research Commission staff member


To a greater extent than ever before, scientists and researchers, politicians and policy makers, captains of industry and conservationists are recognizing the significance of the Arctic. However, in the minds of many people living south of the Arctic Circle, the region is often perceived as remote and disconnected from their lives. To address this cognitive gap, the U.S. Arctic Research Commission (USARC) and The Arctic Institute have launched an initiative

By Torge Martin, Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, now at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany; Michael Steele, Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington; and Jinlun Zhang, Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington

Over the past decades arctic sea ice thickness and extent shrank dramatically, which has gained major scientific and public attention. Sea ice inhibits the exchange of heat, moisture, and gases between the atmosphere and the ocean. Our NSF

The Arctic Council's working group on Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna [CAFF)published it's hitherto largest analysis of "Status and trends in Arctic biodiversity" in the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) in 2013. In this 674 page book, 253 Arctic scientists evaluate the current situation for species and ecosystems in the Arctic and give a multitude of recommendations on better management and conservation in the Arctic as well as abroad—the latter regarding anything from climate change and contaminants to the living conditions for migratory species when spending the wintertime spread over almost all parts of the globe.

Science and policy are inextricably linked: science informs decisions we make at local to international levels, and policy determines the budgets and priorities that drive research. As an ecology PhD student interested in societal issues, I am compelled to complement my scientific graduate training with an understanding of science policy. The American Meteorological Society (AMS) Summer Policy Colloquium offers one such opportunity--an introduction to science policy in Washington D.C. The colloquium is an immersive ten-day experience that gives participants an understanding of the policy process and arms them with tools to engage with decision makers.

Timo is a Research Professor and the Director of the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law for the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland. He is also a Docent of International Law for the Faculty of Law, Economics and Business Administration at the University of Eastern Finland, and for the Faculty of Law at the University of Turku.

Howie is a Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Environmental Sciences, as well as a co-Director of the College Science Scholars Program, at the University of Virginia. He received his PhD in Ecology from Colorado State University in 1997 and conducted postdoctoral research at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado Boulder. He took his current position at the University of Virginia in 1998.

I am pleased to welcome five new members to the ARCUS Board of Directors. Our new members were elected by the ARCUS membership earlier this fall along with Jay Gulledge, who was elected for a second three-year term. Carolina Behe, Craig Dorman, Gunnar Knapp, Maribeth Murray, and Audrey Taylor bring a wide range of experience and perspective to the board as we work to implement our new vision and mission statements.

Below are brief biographical sketches of the new ARCUS board members.

Carolina Behe is the Traditional Knowledge/Science expert for the Inuit Circumpolar Council-Alaska [(ICC

The major news for SEARCH since the Witness issue earlier this year is that the proposal to the NSF Division of Polar Programs’ Arctic Sciences Section to develop a new SEARCH structure and activities has been funded. The new structure and activities have several departures from SEARCH’s focus in the past.