FrontierScientists @FrontierSi attended the annual American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting where Earth and Space scientists share their findings December 14-18, 2015. We were pleased to present about techniques for #sharingscience; science communication is a vital part of how science fits into and benefits society.
During the presentation we were joined by Nagruk Harcharek, featured in FrontierScientists video ‘‘ giving his perspective. Nagruk Harcharek is the Operations Manager at UIC Science in Barrow, Alaska. In the video he talks about multi-year ice: “Growing up there would just be fields of this stuff. Not anymore… I haven’t come across it in a number of years. All of the ice that is formed and is right offshore now that we are actively whaling off of, or will be within the next couple weeks, is all first year ice, when previously it would be multi year ice.”
You can experience some #AGU15 #science from home – catch video sessions on the AGU Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/AGUvideos/videos, and remember the AGU provides virtual options from their website http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2015/virtual-options/.
Visit NOAA’s 2015 Arctic Report Card for this year’s report on a changing Arctic http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/. Even if your home is far from the North, remember: ‘What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic’.
Growing recognition of the Arctic’s importance has more organizations getting more people involved. Check out IARPC Collaborations, the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee organizing site. Scientist or interested member of the public, you can ask to join a collaboration team. Also see their account on Twitter @IARPCCollab.
Of course there’s also the organizing force that is ARCUS, @ArcticResearch, the U.S.’s Arctic Research Consortium. Their newest Arctic Sounder article tackles a facet of the ongoing sea ice saga, describing SEARCH’s (Study of Environmental Arctic Change) ongoing effort to coordinate a sustained Arctic observing system to help us measure and record what’s happening to ice at the top of the world.
As always I also want to link to ARCUS’ PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) @PolarTREC because exploring the accounts of teachers who join in on field science then bring that science to their classrooms is a lot of fun.
We heard a talk by student Mia Bennett whose blog Cryopolitics.com covers Arctic topics. Sample her article COP21: No chance of turning down the heat on the Arctic and check her out on Twitter @miageografia.
Soundwise, we were introduced to PolarSeeds.org. You can listen to sonification, the transformation of data into an acoustic signal, so that you can hear the change as Greenland ice melts.
For astounding and striking visuals, see Repeat Photography of Alaskan Glaciers by Bruce Molnia of the U.S. Geological Survey. These images illustrating glacial change really spark a gut reaction. http://www.usgs.gov/climate_landuse/glaciers/repeat_photography.asp
Laura Nielsen 2015