The application deadline is 15th September 2018 at 16:00 CEST: https://sios-svalbard.org/AccessCall2018

INTAROS has circulated this invitation:

I am now pleased to announce the opening of the INTAROS questionnaire to the external collaborators! You can access it through the INTAROS web page (www.intaros.eu).

This survey addresses Arctic in-situ observations of the ocean, atmosphere, terrestrial sphere and cryosphere, retrieved through established networks/observing systems as well as individual large projects.

Scope of the survey
To collect the information needed to assess the existing Arctic in-situ observing systems in terms of data delivery chain, accessibility, and spatial-temporal coverage.

Why is important?
The repository of the answers will enhance the visibility of the assessed data, and will facilitate data discovery for stakeholders and data users.

Roberta Pirazzini
PhD, Scientist
Meteorological Research Unit
Finnish Meteorological Institute
P.O. Box 503
FI-00101 Helsinki, Finland

Call for Community Input Arctic Observing Summit 2018

Deadline: 15 February

The Executive Organizing Committee for the Arctic Observing Summit 2018 is seeking input on the topics under discussion at the Summit in the form of brief statements. More details on the AOS process and specific guidance on input sought are provided below. The theme for the Summit is The Business Case for a pan-Arctic Observing System.

The Arctic Observing Summit is a biennial summit that aims to provide community-driven guidance for the design, implementation, coordination, and sustained operation of an international network of Arctic observing systems. The AOS provides a platform to address urgent and broadly recognized needs of Arctic observing across all components of the Arctic system. The AOS 2018 will focus on pressing issues in the implementation and support of sustained observations that can be addressed through a business-case lens.

Community input can highlight important data, management, or logistical needs or gaps, explore emerging opportunities, address a current challenge, present new initiatives or technology that can contribute to Arctic observing (including global programs), or review on-going observing activities or issues that are relevant for the development, application, operation, or support of a sustained Arctic observing network.

For more detailed information on themes and submissions, please visit the AOS website. Instructions for short submissions are available here.

P.S. Early-bird registration and accommodation are open for Polar2018!

The Strategy for SAON was approved January 2018

During the meeting, it was agreed to establish a working group focused on enabling federated search between and among polar data centers and catalogues.  This would build on the Arctic Data Committee's "Metadata Elements" initiative, work that SCADM has done for many years, and would be very relevant to the emerging GEO Community Portal. During that meeting it was mentioned that Halldór Jóhannssonn and his team at Arctic Portal may be able contribute significant resources towards this effort.  Halldór has confirmed the availability of these resources in the form of a new postdoc who has recently joined their team. 

A preliminary meeting of the joint ADC-IARPC Vocabularies and Semantic working group  (https://arcticdc.org/activities/core-projects/vocabularies-and-semantics-wg) will be held on October 17th at 14:00 EST.  This group is open to all and is in its formative stage, all are encouraged to join. Please contact group co-leads Øystein Godøy () or Ruth Duerr (). 

Detailed minutes will be available here. 

Breakout session on scales of Arctic Earth Observations at the 2017 Arctic Circle Assembly on 14^th October

The 2017 Arctic Circle Assembly is convening in Reykjavik, Iceland, on 13-15 October.

The Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the Sustaining Arctic Observation Networks (SAON), the European Polar Board (EPB), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) are organizing a breakout session on Saturday, October 14^th, at 17:30-19:00. 

The session, entitled Scales of Observations –Connecting Arctic Data, Information and People, highlights the importance of sustained Arctic observations across both temporal and geographic scales to maximise their societal benefits and usefulness in advising decision-making. 

The session starts with flash presentations that introduce participants to the range of Earth observation projects, networks and organisations. These are followed by a panel discussion focusing on integration and interoperability of arctic observations from remote sensing and ground-based observations to Indigenous-Knowledge -driven monitoring and community-based observing initiatives.

Session Programme (14^th October at 17:30-19:00, room Skarðsheiði)

Introduction
Barbara Ryan, Secretariat Director, Group on Earth Observations

Flash presentations
Árni Snorrason, Director, Icelandic Meteorological Office: Large-scale Arctic climate observations (WMO)

Jan René Larsen, SAON Secretary, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme: International coordination of Arctic monitoring (SAON)

Yubao Qiu, Associate Professor, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Integrating Scales of Observations – an Example from High Mountain Asia (GEOCRI)

Noor Johnson, Research Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado Boulder & The Fletcher School, Tufts University: Community-based monitoring and Indigenous knowledge as/in Arctic observing systems

Panel

Hannele Savela, Research Coordinator, Thule Institute, University of Oulu (INTERACT)

Anders Oskal, Director, International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry (ICR)

Ola Gråbak, Applications Engineer, European Space Agency (ESA)

Stein Sandven, Research Director, Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (INTAROS)

Maribeth Murray, Executive Director, Arctic Institute of North America (AINA)

Chair: Peter Pulsifer, Research Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center CIRES, University of Colorado