The annual meeting of the AAAS Arctic Division, taking place 1-3 October in Anchorage, Alaska, will focus on the region's near-shore zones and estuaries — which are increasingly important and vulnerable as climate change opens trade and commerce routes.
The 2015 Arctic Science Conference will be held at the University of Alaska Anchorage and will bring together researchers in the physical, life, and social sciences, as well as educators, artists, and members of the local community. All conference sessions are open to the public, and a special discounted general admission registration fee for the public is available.
AAAS's three regional divisions — Pacific, Arctic, and Caribbean — serve as regional networks for scientists, organizing meetings on regional issues, and promoting publications from scientists active within the division.
Founded in 1951 as the Alaska Division, the Arctic Division was established to foster scientific communication in the then-rather-isolated Arctic territory. The name was changed to Arctic Division in 1982 to reflect the membership's growing interest in high latitudes outside of Alaska. Most of the Division members reside in Alaska and Canada's Yukon, Northwest Territory, and Nunavut, but any AAAS member who has an interest in the Arctic may join.
The meeting program includes presentations on remote sensing in the Arctic region, mortality trends of stranded marine mammals, juvenile salmon rearing, resiliency in resource boom towns of Alaska, and more. Other meeting highlights follow.
Thursday, 1 October:
- 5:00 pm Welcome and Introductions
- 5:20 pm Keynote speaker Alex Antypas, Central European University, Anticipating the Paris climate agreement: politics and expectations at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
- 6:20 pm Poster Exhibit and Reception
Friday, 2 October:
- 9:00 am Plenary speaker Daniel Schindler, University of Washington, Sculpin matter
- Sessions that day will cover estuaries; STEM education; large landscape/seascape conservation; art and the Northern environment; and more.
Saturday, 3 October:
- 9:00 am Plenary speaker Ed Farley, NOAA/ NMFS, The potential impact of loss of sea ice on Alaska's sub-Arctic and Arctic large marine ecosystems.
- The lecture will be followed by sessions on Arctic social science, policy and culture, and Southwest Alaskan salmon habitat.