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Dr. Walt Meier, sea ice scientist from the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, puts into context the recent dramatic summer sea ice minimum in the Arctic, along with the winter sea ice maximum in the Antarctic.

Vladimir Romanovsky is a Professor of Geophysics at the Permafrost Laboratory at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Prof. Romanovsky gives a brief overview of how permafrost is warming and the consequences on infrastructure and the carbon cycle as well as the importance of the IPY ‘Thermal State of Permafrost’ research project in providing new data sets.

Paula Kankaanpää is the Director of the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland. Prof. Kankaanpää offers a brief description of the new EU Arctic Information Centre initiative she is coordinating.

Konrad Steffan, Director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Studies (CIRES) at the University of Colorado at Boulder, underlines why it is important to monitor the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans and describes how feedbacks accelerate warming in the Arctic. He also emphasizes the importance of scientists to communicate their findings to policymakers.

Jean-Claude Gascard is an Emeritus Research Director at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris. He was the coordinator of the DAMOCLES project under FP6 and is now coordinator of its follow-up project, ACCESS under FP7. Prof. Gascard gives an overview of the ACCESS project in this interview.

Arctic Futures Symposium, John Farrell, Executive Director of the US Arctic Research Commission, talks about the role of the agency he works for and the importance of doing Arctic research.

Tom Barry is the Executive Secretary of the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working group of the Arctic Council. Mr. Barry talks a bout the work CAFF does, the Artic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA), the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP), how CAFF monitors various species, and the benefits CAFF delivers to policymakers and industries such as fisheries.

Lawson Brigham is a Distinguished Professor of Geography and Arctic Policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and chaired the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA) the Arctic Council released in 2009. Prof. Brigham was able to describe the current situation of maritime transport in the Arctic, what’s being done to improve infrastructure, and reasons for increased interest in shipping in the region.

Anders Leverman, Professor of Dynamics of the Climate System at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, discusses his work looking at the dynamics of the global climate system, tipping points, and the consequences of a warming Arctic on the global climate system.