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Published by the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States • 3535 College Road • Suite 101 • Fairbanks, AK 99709

Chronicles of the NSF Arctic Sciences Program Winter 2000/2001, Volume 8 Number 2

Ozone Losses Increase Possible UV Impacts in the Arcticby Cathy Cahill and Elizabeth Weatherhead

Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) satellite measurements indicate that total ozone amountshave decreased in the Arctic over the past two decades. The average total ozone in March 1997 is 21%lower than the pre-1990s March average (figure courtesy of NASA).

Eskimo sunglasses made of wood, bone,or leather have been found in the

archaeological assemblages of several arcticcultures. The narrow slats over the eyesprotect the wearer from snowblindness.These widespread and ancient artifactsindicate that arctic indigenous people haveknown for generations about the harmfuleffects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation.Although the sun never rises far above thearctic horizon, reflections from ice andsnow surfaces can allow damaging levels ofUV to reach unprotected eyes and verticalsurfaces such as faces, trees, and shrubs.

Ozone (O3) in the stratosphere shieldsthe Earth from much of the destructiveUV radiation, but recent measurementsin the Arctic show long-term decreases inthe amount of ozone overhead—the totalcolumn ozone. Researchers have alsonoted a downward trend in total columnozone over the mid-latitude areas of theNorthern Hemisphere in all seasons.

Before 1996, most studies of arcticozone showed rather small impacts incomparison to the very large ozone lossesrecorded over Antarctica; during the win-ters of 1995–96 and 1996–97, however,researchers found evidence of major ozonelosses over the Arctic (see figure).In addition, more frequent episodes ofextremely low ozone levels, particularlyduring the springtime, have been reported.The interrelated issues of ozone depletionand UV exposure in the arctic environ-ment present interesting research chal-lenges and are likely to have serioushuman and ecosystem impacts.

The Polar “Ozone Holes”In 1985, a team of British investigators

reported unusually low ozone levels overAntarctica. Research into the cause of the“ozone hole” implicated halocarbonsgenerated by human activities, particularlychlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), in ozonedepletion. The effects of CFCs have beenconcentrated above Antarctica, wherepolar stratospheric clouds (PSCs, see page14) provide surfaces on which benignforms of chlorine are converted intoreactive forms. These reactive forms ofchlorine then rapidly destroy ozone in thepresence of sunlight. In the Antarctic, thevery cold conditions that allow PSCs to

form persist through winter into spring,maintaining high levels of the reactivechlorine compounds as sunlight returns tothe region. In addition, PSCs removenitric acid and other nitrogenous com-pounds from the stratosphere that wouldotherwise moderate ozone depletion byreactive chlorine compounds.

Because the stratosphere over the Arc-tic isn’t as cold as it is over the Antarctic,the formation of PSCs is more limited,and until recently, investigators assumedthat a similar ozone hole was unlikely overthe Arctic. Monitoring by a polar orbitingsatellite, however, documented a decrease

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ARCTIC

2

Feature Article

in total column ozone over the Arctic in1993. Significant decreases continued, butwith considerable interannual variability,in the Arctic into the 1990s.

The different dynamics of the arcticand Antarctic atmospheres also prevent thearctic ozone hole from reaching the mag-nitude of the Antarctic ozone hole. Becausethe southern hemisphere has very littletopography, the flow of air around theAntarctic is primarily west to east. Thepolar vortex—the region of strong westerlywinds that surrounds the Antarctic ozonehole—keeps the air over that continentfrom mixing with warmer air from mid-latitudes and causes the air in the center ofthe vortex to become cold enough for PSCformation. The topography of the Arcticgenerates more north to south air flow,promoting the mixing of warmer air intothe polar air mass and introducing more ofthe nitrogen species that slow the destruc-tion of ozone. The location of the polarvortex is determined by this flow. Warmertemperatures mean that PSCs rarely formwithin the arctic polar vortex during theperiod when the sun rises over the polarregion. When PSCs are present at the“polar sunrise,” as occurred in March1997, the destruction of ozoneaccelerates, and a deeper ozone hole forms.

From November 1999 through March2000, U.S., Canadian, European, Japa-nese, and Russian researchers collaboratedon the biggest field campaign yet to mea-sure ozone levels and changes in the arcticstratosphere. The NASA-sponsored SAGEIII Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment(SOLVE) and the E.U.-sponsored ThirdEuropean Stratospheric Experiment onOzone (THESEO) made most of themeasurements near Kiruna, Sweden.Additional data came from satellites anda network of high-latitude stations.

At the altitude where PSCs occur(10–25 km), ozone levels declined approxi-mately 60% between January and mid-March 2000. In addition, PSCs persistedsignificantly longer in the winter of 1999–2000 than in previous winters. Severallines of evidence suggest that these resultsmay be related to the effects of greenhousegas emissions (e.g., carbon dioxide, meth-ane, nitrous oxide). Although accumula-tion of these gases low in the atmospherewarms the Earth’s surface, their presenceat higher stratospheric altitudes actually

lowers temperatures and thereforeenhances formation of PSCs.

Levels of UV Radiation in the ArcticWhile stratospheric ozone fluctuations

are now closely monitored, mesoscale fluc-tuations in UV radiation at the surface areless well understood. Accurately estimatingvariations in UV irradiance at the surfaceis particularly challenging in the Arctic,where UV levels are currently beingmonitored at approximately 20 locations.

How much UV reaches the surface iscontrolled by the amount of ozone in theatmosphere overhead, primarily in thestratosphere and to a lesser extent in thetroposphere. At the low sun angles typicalof high latitudes, sunlight traverses anextended path through the troposphere.UV irradiance also varies with local meteo-rological and surface physical conditionsincluding cloud cover, aerosol extinction,and ground reflectivity or “albedo.” Forexample, measurements and radiativetransfer model values of UV exposure aredramatically enhanced where the surfacehas a high UV albedo (e.g., snow) and inthe presence of partial cloud cover; thiscombination sets up multiple reflectionsbetween clouds (with a very high UValbedo) and the surface. Aerosols (e.g., par-ticulate carbon and sulfur) also change theamount and relative proportion of directand diffuse solar (including UV) radiation.Because UV levels are strongly affected byfactors such as clouds and albedo, climatechange alone will alter incident UV levels.

Impacts of UV Radiation on Humansand the Arctic Environment

The hypothesized impacts of UV radia-tion have not been thoroughly investigatedin the Arctic. Elevated UV exposure has well-known effects on humans (e.g., sunburn,snowblindness, immune suppression).Health problems related to long-term UVexposure include cataracts, skin cancer,and a number of related skin diseases.

Arctic ecosystems are particularly vul-nerable to the effects of UV in spring,when ozone depletion is greatest as youngorganisms are developing. UV effects canaffect individual species—particularlythose at the base of the food web—as wellas the relative abundance of species.

Certain phytoplankton species areespecially sensitive to UV, and changes in

their populations can ramify through ma-rine ecosystems (see page 15). Cod, her-ring, pollock, salmonids, and other fishspecies spawn in shallow waters, where lar-vae can be fully exposed to ambient radia-tion. Elevated UV levels can damage theselarvae, and a reduction in the number oflarvae reaching maturity can have drasticeffects on ecosystems and fisheries.

The few studies that have examinedmultiple impacts of other environmentalstressors (e.g., pollutants, climate change,and water availability) on arctic organismsand ecosystems indicate that the effects ofthese combined with increased UV radia-tion may be much more severe than theindividual impacts. Many of these stressors(e.g., climate change) are expected toremain significant or increase in the Arcticin the coming years.

For example, recent investigationsshow that UV radiation enhances the tox-icity of certain chemical compounds, par-ticularly those associated with oil spills orpetroleum contamination. “Photo-enhanced toxicity” can seriously injureor kill sensitive species. Results show, forinstance, that 100% of shellfish embryosthat were exposed to three-day-old spillwater under UV light were killed. By con-trast, only 40% of the embryos exposed tothe same water under fluorescent light(with low UV output) suffered fatalities.

Expectations for the FutureAlthough more than 160 nations

subscribe to the 1987 Montreal Protocoland subsequent amendments mandatingreductions of ozone-depleting chemicals,several models indicate that stratosphericozone levels will decrease further over theArctic for the next 10 to 20 years. Becauseozone depletion in the Arctic is a functionnot only of man-made chemicals, but alsoof climate change, it is unclear whether ornot, under current international legislation,arctic ozone levels will return to normal.

For more information, see relevantNASA (http://toms.gsfc.nasa.gov andhttp://see.gsfc.nasa.gov/edu/SEES), andNOAA web sites (www.ozonelayer.noaa.gov and www.arctic.noaa.gov/).

Cathy Cahill is an assistant professor ofchemistry at the University of AlaskaFairbanks. Elizabeth Weatherhead is a researchassociate at the University of Colorado.

3

ARCSS Program

In September 2000, NSF personnel metwith representatives from the Arctic

System Science (ARCSS) Program inArlington, Virginia to share experiencesand identify new opportunities for indi-vidual components and projects, and forthe entire ARCSS Program as it movesinto the more integrative, thematicapproach outlined in Toward Predictionof the Arctic System (ARCUS 1998). TheARCSS Summit brought together repre-sentatives of the Arctic System Science(ARCSS) Committee (AC), componentScience Steering Committees, ScienceManagement Offices, Project Offices,and data management entities to discuss:• integration among current ARCSS

research efforts and with relevant NSFinitiatives, including Biocomplexity inthe Environment (see Witness Spring/Autumn 1999) and InformationTechnology Research;

• data management issues, including waysto recover older data and improvecoordination in data sharing (see box);

• organizational structures;• meeting coordination;• education and outreach efforts; and• emerging interagency and international

programs pertinent to ARCSS researchactivities.

Summit participants will be workingtogether to streamline communication andcoordination on these issues, in part byincreasing their use of Internet resources.

Following the ARCSS Summit, the ACmet to advance planning for the ARCSSAll-Hands meeting, tentatively scheduledfor 20–23 February 2002 in Seattle. TheAC discussed ways to evaluate ARCSSProgram accomplishments, identifyimportant questions that are not currentlyaddressed in ARCSS, and articulate emerg-ing research issues. The resulting report ofARCSS accomplishments and needs willguide the organization of the All-Handsmeeting, with the goal of integratingresults and questions across researchcomponents.

Working with the Science SteeringCommittees, Science ManagementOffices, and Project Offices, the AC isdeveloping this progress report on theARCSS Integration web site

ARCSS Committee Plans for 2002 All-Hands Meeting

ARCSS Data Center Facilitates Access

(www.arcus.org/arcss_allhands/). Thisevolving web site consists of:• idea maps outlining the relationships

among variables and key questions,• status reports of progress on measuring

and extrapolating variables, and• a relational grants database linking spe-

cific ARCSS projects with variables.

For more information, see the ARCSSweb site (www.nsf.gov/od/opp/arctic/system.htm) or contact Program DirectorMike Ledbetter (703/292-8029; fax 703/292-9082; mledbett@nsf.gov) or ACChair Jack Kruse (413/367-2240; fax 413/367-0092; jkruse@geo.umass.edu).

Following a 1993 recommendation of the ARCSS Committee, a centralARCSS Data Coordination Center (ADCC) was established to oversee the sub-

mission, archives, access, and exchange of data generated by ARCSS-fundedresearch. The ADCC has been located at the National Snow and Ice Data Center(NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado, since 1994 (see Witness Spring 2000).

Principal investigators (PIs) funded through the ARCSS Program develop a datamanagement plan in collaboration with the ADCC and retain exclusive use of theirdata for one year from its collection. After one year, the ADCC releases the data toother ARCSS investigators. Two years after collection, data become available to allother science users through the ADCC.

The Joint Office for Science Support (JOSS), at the University Corporation forAtmospheric Research, complements the ADCC by coordinating data collection andexchange efforts for selected ARCSS field programs, including SHEBA (see page 7),ATLAS (see page 5), and NATEX (see page 6), during and immediately after thefield activities. JOSS (www.joss.ucar.edu/arcss) provides interim project data archiveaccess and coordinates the transfer of data to the final archive at ADCC.

In recent months, ADCC staff have processed a backlog of more than 50 pend-ing Directory Interchange Format (DIF) for ARCSS data sets, allowing the data tobe accepted for publication on the Global Change Master Directory web site (http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov), administered by NASA. Other new developments at theADCC include:• upgrades for the ADCC web and data server hardware that will enhance data

retrieval and on-line data storage capacity,• a redesigned searchable on-line data catalog, and• a searchable ARCSS Address Book, with information on over 400 ARCSS investi-

gators.Data sets recently added to the ADCC archive include:

• SCICEX hydrographic data (see Witness Spring 1998),• Previously classified optical band reconnaissance imagery of the SHEBA field site

(see page 7),• R-ARCTICNET, a regional hydrological data network from around the Arctic

(available on CD-ROM).In addition, the ADCC staff is exploring ways to use Geographic Information

Systems (GIS, see page 17) to:• georeference archived data sets,• visualize data set locations and patterns,• spatially combine and subset data sets, and• integrate multiple themes inherent in the data.

For more information, see the ADCC web site (http://arcss.colorado.edu), orcontact ADCC Manager Rudy Dichtl in Boulder, CO (303/492-5532; fax 303/492-2468; dichtl@kryos.colorado.edu).

4

Along history of bilateral collaborationbetween Russia and the U.S. in the

paleosciences derives from a shared interestin the history of the Beringian subconti-nent. Scientists working on both sides ofthe Bering Strait took immediate advan-tage of the changing politics of the late1980s and early 1990s to develop jointprojects. An earlier component of theARCSS Program, Paleoclimates from Arc-tic Lakes and Estuaries (PALE; see WitnessSpring 1998), was involved from its incep-tion in cooperative studies with RussianQuaternary scientists, including work onthe ecosystem, climate, and glacial histo-ries of northeastern Siberia (westernBeringia). These investigations have con-tributed both formally and informally toseveral international programs, such asBIOME 6000 (the Global PaleovegetationProject, an IGBP effort) and its arcticcomponent PAIN (a joint European-Russian-U.S. research project co-funded byPaleoenvironmental Arctic Science[PARCS]), and CircumArctic Paleo-Environ-ments (CAPE; the circumarctic element ofIGBP-PAGES; see Witness Autumn 1998).

All of these efforts seek to achieve anintegrated circumarctic data set, which isvital to conceptual and numerical model-ing of both climate change and the likelyresponses of terrestrial and marine systems.Three projects are currently underway innortheastern Siberia, funded through theNSF Earth System History (ESH) Pro-gram under the PARCS or RAISE (seepage 5) initiatives.

Lake El’gygytgyn (Lake E)In 1998, Russian, U.S., and German

collaborators retrieved the longest lacus-trine sediment record in the Arctic to date(400,000 years) from Lake El’gygytgyn.Lake E lies in an impact crater in north-eastern Siberia, outside glacial limits inuplands above present treeline. Initialseismic data indicate approximately 370 mof sediment in the basin, suggesting apossible Plio-Pleistocene age.

Field studies in 2000 have provideddata important to the interpretation of the1998 core. Detailed studies of the

sedimentology and modern and down-core studies of the pollen, diatoms, andgeochemistry are in progress. The pollenrecord clearly indicates interglacial andfull-glacial extremes, but also showsperiods (e.g., mid-late Pleistocene) ofintermediate conditions. Further, varioustime-series suggest that there may becorrelation with the Greenland Ice SheetProject 2 (GISP2) ice-core data (seeWitness Spring 1997), and hence possibleteleconnections with the North Atlantic.

The pollen record of the last intergla-cial maximum, considered to be a particu-larly warm period in the Arctic, is notcharacterized by tree pollen, suggestingthat summer conditions were relativelycool in north-central Chukotka.

Participants: J. Brigham-Grette, M. Nolan,and C. Cosby (U.S.); O. Glushkova, P. Minyuk,A. Smirnov, and G. Federov (Russia); F. Niessen,B. Wagner, C. Kopsch, and M. Apfelbaum (Germany).

Paleoclimate and Paleovegetation ofWestern Beringia

This U.S.-Russia collaborative projectexamines the spatial and temporal patternsof change in late Quaternary vegetationand climates with the aim of understand-ing the evolution of the modern vegeta-tion-climate system and the regional-to-global scale mechanisms responsible forpast climate changes. An important contri-bution of this project is the integration ofdata from Russia and eastern Beringia(Alaska). At this larger scale, there areclearly heterogeneous patterns in regionalclimates and in the response of terrestrialecosystems across Beringia to hemisphericor global-scale climatic change during thepast 21,000 years. Such regional variationssuggest that we should expect neither auniform response across the Arctic tomajor climate forcings, nor even similaritywithin a single watershed, given the hugeextent of many Beringian river systems.

Another key finding is that during thelate Pleistocene (Karginskii) interstade—the interglacial period ca. 50,000–30,000before present—rapid fluctuations be-tween tundra and forest occurred in west-ern Beringia, suggesting that the intervalwas characterized by climatic “flickering.”

Although the chronology is currentlynot adequate to make a definite correla-tion with rapid climate change, theseresults and those from Lake E imply thatthere have been similar rapid climatechanges in the North Pacific. This work hasbeen supported by the Russian Foundationfor Fundamental Research, PALE/PARCS,and the National Geographic Society.

Participants: P.M. Anderson, L. Brubaker, C. Mock,and P. Bartlein (U.S.); A. Lozhkin, O. Glushkova,O. Grinenko, A. Kotov, and M. Trumpe (Russia).

The Glacial and Sea Level History ofWrangel Island, Northeast Siberia

The presence of a marine-based EastSiberian Ice Sheet (ESIS) during the lateQuaternary is controversial, but such anice sheet has been included in the ice-coverdata used in many paleoclimate modelsimulations of the last glacial maximum.Modeling sponsored by PALE/PARCSconfirms that an ESIS would have had asignificant effect on downwind climate(e.g., in the area of the Bering LandBridge). To date, there has been littleinvestigation of glacial geology and sea-level history along the proposed ice sheet’seastern margin that would confirm orrefute its past existence. Detailed fieldinvestigations will provide the firstnumerical chronology of glaciation andsea-level fluctuations. During the 2000field season, researchers collected morethan 85 samples for radiocarbon, aminoacid, cosmogenic isotopes, pollen, andmicro- and macrofaunal identification.Marine sediment, up to 40 m above sealevel and 15 km inland, was recognized onthe northern tundra and may correlatewith the northwestern Alaska sea-leveltransgressions.

Participants: L. Gualtieri, P.M. Anderson, J.Brigham-Grette (U.S.), S. Vartanyan (Russia).

For more information, see the PARCSweb site (www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/parcs/index.html), or contact Mary Edwards inTrondheim, Norway (+47/7359-1915; fax+47/7359-1878; mary.edwards@svt.ntnu.no) or Mike Retelle in Lewiston, ME(207/786-6155; fax 207/786-8334;mretelle@bates.edu).

International Collaboration in the Paleosciences:The Beringian Connection

ARCSS Program

5

ARCSS Program

RAISE Takes Steps to Improve U.S.-Russian Collaboration

The annual meeting of the Russian-American Initiative on Shelf-Land

Environments in the Arctic (RAISE)International Steering Committee andPrincipal Investigators convened inNovember 2000 in Seattle, Washington.The objectives of the meeting were:• to provide information on existing and

planned U.S.-Russian collaborativeresearch in the Russian Arctic to theMinistry for Industry, Science, andTechnologies and the Academy ofSciences, agencies that empower arcticscience in Russia;

• to provide information necessary forAmerican scientists to gain permissionfor cooperative research in the RussianArctic, arrange logistics, and addresssafety and financial requirements. Thegoal is to establish clear protocols forAmerican and Russian scientists to easeaccess, logistics, and transport of sam-ples for joint scientific programs; and

• to take stock of the achievements andscience directions of RAISE-fundedscientists, evaluating the potential tointegrate their research.The chairs of the Steering Committees

of the major ARCSS projects were invited,and Terry Chapin (ATLAS/LAII; see boxthis page), Jackie Grebmeier (SBI; see page9), and James Morison (SEARCH; seepage 8) were able to attend the meeting.Russian participants were Vasily Zhivago(Head of the Division of Science of Earthand the World Ocean; Ministry of Indus-try, Science, and Technologies of the Rus-sian Federation); Vladimir Yakukhin(Chief Expert of the Arctic, Antarctic andMarine Department, of Roshydromet);and Boris Levin (Earth Sciences Depart-ment Chief of the Russian Foundation forBasic Research). Marianna Voevodskayaprovided information on the programs ofthe U.S. Civilian Research and Develop-ment Foundation.

Lee Cooper was elected to serve as thenew Chair of the U.S. part of the RAISEInternational Steering Committee. OtherU.S. members are Steve Forman, SirpaHakkinen, Bruce Peterson, AndreyProshutinsky, Vladimir Romanovsky, andLarry Smith. Russian members of theCommittee are Igor Melnikov (Co-Chair),

Sergey Pryamikov (Co-Chair), VladimirPitulko, Nikolai Romanovskiy, and IgorSemiletov. Two positions are still vacant.

Russian members of the Steering Com-mittee are organizing the ECOARCTIC-2001 international expedition to the west-ern Russian Arctic in August 2001 aboardthe polar research vessel AkademikFedorov. Subsequent expeditions areplanned for 2002 and 2003. Interested

institutions and scientists are invited toparticipate (see www.aari.nw.ru/ecoarctic2001/program.html).

For more information about RAISE,contact Lee Cooper in Knoxville, TN(865/974-2990; fax 865/974-3067;lcooper1@utk.edu) or Vladimir Roman-ovsky in Fairbanks, AK (907/474-7459;fax 907/474-7290; ffver@uaf.edu).

LAII Management Emphasizes Synthesis

An important goal of the Land Atmosphere Ice Interactions (LAII) Program Science Management Office (SMO) is to promote cross-synthesis among its

extended family of arctic research projects. The current major LAII projects are:• Arctic Transitions in the Land-Atmosphere System (ATLAS), and• the North American portion of the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX;

see page 6).The LAII SMO will now assist in the management of the Russian-American

Initiative on Shelf-Land Environments in the Arctic (RAISE; see article this page) aswell as smaller terrestrial projects that have been funded independently of these largerprograms to investigate a range of topics relevant to LAII goals (see www.laii.uaf.edu).

The next LAII All-Hands meeting will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah 14–17November 2001. This meeting will coincide with a meeting of the ARCSS Ocean-Atmosphere-Ice Interactions Program (see page 7), so that researchers from both pro-grams can participate in joint discussions about topics such as land-ocean hydrologiclinkages. The first two days of the LAII meeting will be devoted to separate meetingsof ATLAS, ITEX, and RAISE researchers; scientists from independently fundedprojects will join one of these groups. During the second half of the four-day meet-ing, LAII researchers will meet in plenary to hear and discuss synthesis reports fromeach group and to plan for the future, including:• preparation for the Arctic System Science (ARCSS) All-Hands meeting scheduled

for February 2002,• planning for LAII synthesis, and• planning for the next edition of the LAII Science Plan.

As the ARCSS Program shifts from a series of research components and projectsto a more thematic approach (see page 3), the arctic research community will beaddressing broader, more interdisciplinary issues, such as:• biogeochemical and hydrologic feedbacks to the climate system,• arctic-global connections,• detection of change in the Arctic, and• human interactions with the arctic system.

The November 2001 LAII All-Hands meeting will be an important opportunityfor LAII scientists to discuss:• how best to integrate and synthesize current research funded under LAII, and• how terrestrial-atmospheric research can best contribute to Arctic System Science

in the future.For more information, contact Patricia A. Anderson in Fairbanks, AK (907/474-

5415; fax 907/474-6722; patricia@iarc.uaf.edu; www.cgc.uaf.edu).

6

ITEX Builds on First Decade, Renews Direction

Abisko Accord(25 September 2000)

Further to discussions at the 10th ITEX meeting in Abisko, Swedish Lapland, between 23-25September 2000, the meeting participants hereby reaffirm our commitment to

the continuation and further development of the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX).

We agree that:• The original ITEX Resolution drafted at the Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State

University, USA, on 4 December 1990 remains valid.• This Accord therefore supplements and extends (but does not replace) the 1990 Resolution.• ITEX is a working, viable, and dynamic international program.• We will regularly re-evaluate the methods and goals of ITEX relative to current research

developments and, where necessary, respond by modifying our activities accordingly.• The scope of ITEX includes the tundra biome in general; it is not, therefore, restricted to

arctic tundra but rightfully incorporates alpine and Antarctic tundras (inter alia theconnection between ITEX and Regional Sensitivity to Climate Change in AntarcticTerrestrial and Limnetic Ecosystems (RiSCC).

Key facets of ITEX after ten years include:• the successful development and maintenance of an international network of research sites

in the tundra biome;• the continued use of common experiments and protocols to improve understanding of

global change impacts upon biological processes in tundra ecosystems;• the training and international exchange of young researchers (graduate and undergraduate);• a continued focus upon biological responses to environment at the level of the species and

functional group;• increasing emphasis upon population and community dynamics and medium- to longer-

term system responses to change;• increasing emphasis upon meta-analytical techniques, development of databases, and

ecological modelling; and• initiation of advisory activities in relation to international monitoring networks and

scientific agencies (such as Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna [CAFF] of the ArcticCouncil [see Witness Spring/Autumn 1999] and the Newsletter of the Global Change inTerrestrial Ecosystems Core Project of IGBP (International Geosphere-BiosphereProgramme [GCTE News]).

We are committed to:• retaining a flexible approach that allows for development of new research initiatives,

but with a core of manipulation and monitoring activities at individual sites;• exploring the relationship between species-specific responses to environmental change,

and how these are modulated by community and site characteristics, and feedbacks onfurther change;

• evaluating ITEX investigations within the context of broader spatial scales, longer temporalscales, and higher trophic levels;

• exploring pragmatic approaches to long-term monitoring and measurement, designedto quantify and distinguish between (i) inter-annual variability in system state, and(ii) longer-term directional changes;

• development and implementation of an appropriate protocol for the exchange of ITEX dataamong participants and the broader community;

• development of thematic groups focused upon specific aspects of climate change impacts;• development of procedures for sample collection, sharing and/or common analysis;• regular meetings (yearly or biennial) with specific themes and progress reports;• dissemination of data and research results to the broader community;• development of a strong and active Steering Committee that will provide leadership and

continuity and that will conduct business according to a set of by-laws.

ARCSS Program

The International Tundra Experiment(ITEX) held its tenth All-Scientists

Workshop, ITEX in the New Millennium,in Abisko, Swedish Lapland in September2000. Following progress reports and post-ers describing ten years of ITEX research,participants took the opportunity to assessthe need and nature of continuing researchdirections. They addressed current issuesincluding experimental methods, databasemanagement and data sharing, scaling up,and the relationship between ITEX andother international initiatives and funding.

The plenary coordination of these ses-sions, led by ITEX Chair Philip Wookey(University of Uppsala), resulted in theAbisko Accord (see box). This accordbuilds on the ITEX Resolution from thefounding meeting of ITEX held in Michi-gan in December 1990 (Arctic and AlpineResearch 23[1]:125). The new accord isseen as a blueprint and a platform forfuture developments in the program.

The Abisko workshop was organizedby a committee chaired by Ulf Molau(Göteborg University) and hosted byTerry Callaghan, Director of the AbiskoScientific Research Station.

While at Abisko, the U.S. members ofITEX met with Program Officers TomPyle and Michael Ledbetter from the NSFOffice of Polar Programs to discussprogress within NATEX (North AmericanTundra Experiment) and to stress the needfor archiving and sharing of data. NATEXheld an ITEX synthesis workshop on plantcommunity change in Boulder, Coloradoin February 2001. For more information,see www.lter.uaf.edu/~becru/ITEX_Workshop_Welcome.html.

The 11th meeting of ITEX is sched-uled for 28 September–1 October 2001at Finse in alpine Norway. Ørjan Totland(Agricultural University of Norway) willhost the meeting. For more information,see www.nlh.no/ibn/itex2001.

For more information about ITEX,see the web sites at the Secretariat at theDanish Polar Center (www.dpc.dk/NSNITEX/Start.html) and Göteborg Uni-versity (www.systbot. gu.se/research/ITEX/itex.html).

7

ARCSS Program

OAII

In the past six months, OAII has scheduled the next All-Hands meeting, updatedthe OAII Prospectus and Science Plan, and made considerable progress on the

Shelf-Basin Interactions (SBI) project (see page 9), the Surface Heat Budget of theArctic Ocean (SHEBA) project (see article this page), and the Study of Environ-mental Change (SEARCH; see page 8).

SEARCH has grown to become a trans-ARCSS program and is developing intoa large interagency international program. The SEARCH Science Plan is available,and several workshops are scheduled, including two that have been funded as incu-bation activities under the NSF Biocomplexity Initiative.

The updated OAII Prospectus and Science Plan is undergoing final editing. It isposted on the OAII web site to allow for community input before publication inearly 2001. The web-site version of the report will continue to be updated as com-ments are received.

In October 2000, the OAII Science Steering Committee (SSC) met and agreed:• to increase outreach activities; and• to show how aspects of OAII research could fit under NSF’s Biocomplexity

and Information Technology initiatives.The next OAII All-Hands meeting will take place 14–16 November 2001

in Salt Lake City, Utah. The agenda includes:• summaries of recent results of OAII and companion programs; and• identification of gaps in knowledge of how the arctic system responds to

and influences climate change.This meeting will also provide information for the 2002 ARCSS-wide All-Handsmeeting. Both meetings will play a crucial role in reorganizing the structure of theARCSS Program to accommodate its growth with attention to cross-cutting the-matic research questions.

New members of the OAII SSC are Hajo Eicken, Robie Macdonald, and TomDelworth, replacing Don Perovich, Tom Weingartner, and Andrew Weaver.

For more information, see the OAII web site (http://arcss-oaii.hpl.umces.edu),or contact Lou Codispoti or Jane Hawkey at the University of Maryland’s HornPoint Laboratory (410/221-8479; fax 410/221-8490; codispot@hpl.umces.edu,hawkey @hpl.umces.edu).

SHEBA Phase III Applies Field Data to Climate Models

In 1997–98, the Surface Heat Budget ofthe Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) conducted

a year-long field experiment in the ArcticOcean, resulting in a comprehensive dataset that documents the upper ocean, seaice, and atmosphere in a single column ofthe arctic climate system (see WitnessSpring 2000). The goals of SHEBA are:• to improve simulations of the Arctic

in global climate models, and• to improve our capability to monitor

arctic climate using satellite remote-sensing data.Phase II of SHEBA (1997–2000) saw

the establishment and initial analysis ofthe field data. These data are available

from the Joint Office for Science Support(JOSS; see page 3).

Publications resulting from SHEBAPhases I and II have appeared in the Jour-nal of Geophysical Research, EOS, Journalof Climate, and the Bulletin of the Ameri-can Meteorological Society. Manuscripts arenow under review for a special volume ofthe Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceansthat emphasizes SHEBA Phase II studies.Publication is planned for 2001.

The final phase of SHEBA began inSpring 2000. Phase III consists of 17 multi-investigator projects, focused on using theSHEBA data sets to study climate feed-back processes and mechanisms in the

Arctic, and applying the new knowledge toimprove global climate models and climatemonitoring by satellite remote sensing.

Phase III principal investigators (PIs)met at the National Center for Atmo-spheric Research in Boulder, Colorado inOctober 2000 to consider how the 17projects and the existing data sets wouldachieve the overall goals of SHEBA. ThePIs identified opportunities to accelerateprogress and enhance results, including:• create integrated data sets to support

modeling experiments;• seek additional data sets to fill a few gaps

that have been identified;• collaborate on model intercomparison

studies and single-column (ocean-atmo-sphere-ice) model experiments over theannual cycle;

• collaborate on case studies drawn fromthe SHEBA experimental period (e.g.,the late-July storm event, cloud/bound-ary layer/radiation case studies usingatmospheric models);

• continue and enhance PIs’ efforts toserve as ambassadors to communityclimate modeling programs, such asthe Community Climate System Model(CCSM) Project and the Arctic RegionalModel Intercomparison Project(ARCMIP), to assure that SHEBAresults are incorporated into the leadingclimate models; and

• develop collaborative papers forpublication.SHEBA PIs will meet again in early

Summer 2001 in Boulder. SHEBA datahave already made important contributionsto global models. The sea-ice and atmo-sphere components of the CCSM havebeen evaluated and modified partly on thebasis of SHEBA data, through the activitiesof the CCSM Polar Climate WorkingGroup (see www.ccsm.ucar.edu). SHEBAdata are also being used in the GEWEXCloud System Study (see http://paos.colorado. edu/~curryja/wg5/home.html)and the ARCMIP (see http://cires.colorado.edu/lynch/arcmip).

For additional information, see theSHEBA web site (http://sheba.apl.washington. edu) or contact Richard Moritzin Seattle, WA (206/543-8023; fax 206/616-3142; dickm@apl.washington.edu).

8

ARCSS Program

Development of the Study of Environmental Arctic Change

(SEARCH) Program has continued onseveral fronts, including completion of theSEARCH Science Plan, preparation ofinteragency plans for SEARCH-relatedactivities in 2001 and 2002, and develop-ment of relations between SEARCH andinternational and national programs.

SSC ActivitiesThe SEARCH Science Steering Com-

mittee (SSC) met in July and December2000 to make organizational changes andwork on the Science Plan (see http://psc.apl.washington.edu/search/index.html).The SEARCH SSC membership nowincludes Vera Alexander (University ofAlaska), Lou Codispoti (Horn PointLaboratory, Maryland), Tom Delworth(Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory,New Jersey), Bob Dickson (Centre forEnvironment, Fisheries, and AquacultureScience, U.K.), Hajo Eicken (University ofAlaska), Jackie Grebmeier (University ofTennessee), Jack Kruse (University ofMassachusetts and University of Alaska),Jamie Morison (University of Washing-ton), Jim Overland (Pacific Marine Envi-ronmental Laboratory, Washington),Jonathan Overpeck (University of Ari-zona), Peter Schlosser (Lamont-DohertyEarth Observatory, New York), MarkSerreze (University of Colorado), and JohnWalsh (University of Illinois).

Interagency Working GroupThe SEARCH Interagency Working

Group (IWG; see Witness Spring 2000)has been meeting monthly to developcooperative agency arrangements forSEARCH research in FY 2001 and 2002.Because overall budgets are essentiallyfixed for these years, the agreements focuson coordinating existing research activities,with some funds earmarked for new plan-ning activities. The IWG meeting in Janu-ary 2000 focused on an interagency planfor new research in 2003. ARCUS pub-lished a SEARCH brochure for the IWG.

Links to National Programs/InitiativesThe U.S. component of the Climate

Variability and Predictability Program

(CLIVAR) has formally approved makingSEARCH an element of CLIVAR. ACLIVAR-SEARCH Working Group isbeing formed, and a description ofSEARCH has been included in theCLIVAR implementation plan.

An NSF award for the SEARCHBiocomplexity Incubation activity will aidSEARCH planning efforts in the areas ofbiology and human dimensions. A steeringgroup met in January 2001 to plan thefirst of two workshops focusing on rela-tionships among the changing arcticenvironment, ecosystems, and society. Inaddition to members of the SEARCHSSC, the steering group includes TerryChapin (University of Alaska), Glen Cota(Old Dominion University), and PatWheeler (Oregon State University).

Links to International ProgramsMark Serreze and Jamie Morison

attended the September 2000 ArcticHydrology workshop in Santa Barbara,California. The hydrology research planemerging from this effort will complementSEARCH activities and provided materialfor the SEARCH Science Plan.

Several members of the SEARCH SSCand IWG attended the Arctic and Subarc-

tic Ocean Fluxes (ASOF; see page 23)meeting in Norway in September 2000.ASOF efforts to monitor the fluxesthrough the major straits connecting theArctic Ocean to the Atlantic and Pacificwill contribute to SEARCH objectivesrelated to understanding the controls onglobal thermohaline circulation.

In October 2000, Mark Serreze andJamie Morison attended the Arctic Cli-mate System/Climate in the Cryosphere(ACSYS/CliC) meeting in Kiel, Germany.ACSYS/CliC, backed by the World Cli-mate Research Program, shares many goalswith SEARCH, vis a vis the relation of thearctic environment to global change.While ACSYS/CliC is more general, it hasa focus on the cryosphere and shares withSEARCH the need for long-term observa-tions. SEARCH and ACSYS/CliC haveagreed to establish an agreement to coop-erate to avoid duplication of effort, whileensuring that the important facets ofchange in the Arctic are observed.

For more information, see theSEARCH web site (http://psc.apl.washington.edu/search), or contact JamieMorison in Seattle, WA (206/543-1394;fax 206/616-3142; morison@apl.washington.edu).

SEARCH Research Opportunities Emerging

The Arctic Oscillation (AO) is the dominant pattern of atmospheric variability of the Northern Hemisphere. The leftpanel shows conditions associated with a high AO index, while the right shows the low index state. The AO index, whichis highly correlated with surface air temperatures over the hemisphere, has been rising since the mid-1960s. Developing afurther understanding of the AO as an arctic-wide phenomenon of decadal and/or global change is a major objective ofthe SEARCH program (figures courtesy of D. Thompson, M. Wallace, and K. Dewar).

cold

cold

less cold stratosphere

weakertradewinds

warm, wet

STORMS

colder stratosphere

strongertrade winds

cold dry

9

The overall goal of the Western ArcticShelf-Basin Interactions (SBI) project

is to improve understanding of thephysical and biogeochemical connectionsamong the arctic shelves, slopes, anddeep basins that could be influenced byglobal change.

SBI is moving into the final year ofretrospective, modeling, and opportunisticsampling studies in the Chukchi andBeaufort seas. Results of SBI Phase I thatwill direct the Phase II field effort include:• Spatial and temporal gradients in water

column chlorophyll, nutrients, zoo-plankton, and benthic fauna indicateseasonally high standing stock valuesin spatially concentrated regions whichmay be impacted by varying processesassociated with changing ice conditions.

• Identified sources and pathways forthe transfer of organic matter from thewestern shelves to arctic basins includedissolved organic carbon from rivers,transformations of shelf-derived carbonby sediments and subsequent releaseinto halocline waters, and shelf-derivedparticulate and dissolved organic carbonadvected from shelf to basin.

• Likely key physical processes for shelf-basin exchange include local transportacross the shelf, eddies, currents alongthe slope boundary, and transportthrough canyons.

• Paleoceanographic studies of coresindicate significant variability in carbonproductivity and deposition at the outerslope region during the past 1,000 to10,000 years, indicating changes inseawater and pack-ice conditions.

• Modeling indicates that dense water iscarried primarily by small-scale eddies,steered by currents and bathymetry,across the shelf and slope of theChukchi Sea. Models also suggest pastand future shifts in ice/ocean conditionscoincident with varying sea-levelpressure associated with ArcticOscillation events.

• The observed interannual variability inmonthly mean winter density in theBering Strait corresponds to a variabilityof the equilibrium depth of the Pacificwater within the Arctic Ocean haloclineof 80 m.

ARCSS Program

in the food web that would result fromice cover and hydrographic changesaffecting remineralization of organicmatter, changes in recycling efficiency,and biogeochemical fluxes.The SBI Phase II Field Implementation

Plan outlines a combination of time-seriesmoorings and seasonal hydrobiochemicalsurveys in support of the major seasonalbiogeochemical, biological, and physicalprocess studies, as well as modeling efforts,at appropriate time and space scales.Mesoscale, interdisciplinary survey, andprocess studies conducted across the shelfand slope regions during various seasonswill be critical for understanding bio-geochemical and physical processes occur-ring over time and space scales relevant tointerpreting annual and interannualchanges in the system.

The SBI II field program will includefour process-oriented cruises in May/Juneand July/August 2002 and 2004. Alternateyears, 2003 and 2005, will includereduced field programs for critical time-dependent measurements essential forinterpreting processes relevant to shelf-basin interactions and ecosystem response.Annual mooring turn-around/surveycruises will occur in September.

For more information, see the SBIweb site (http://utk-biogw.bio.utk.edu/SBI.nsf), or contact SBI Project OfficeDirector Jackie Grebmeier in Knoxville,TN (865/974-2592; fax 865/974-3067;jgreb@utkux.utk.edu).

SBI Phase I Data will Guide Phase II Field WorkSBI Principal Investigators convened

an open meeting in February 2001 inAlbuquerque, New Mexico (see http://utk-biogw.bio.utk.edu/SBI.nsf), just beforethe American Society of Limnology andOceanography meeting.

More than 70 people attended thesecond international SBI pan-arctic meet-ing in Callaway Gardens, Georgia, inNovember 2000. The meeting included:• short science presentations of topics

relevant to the overall goals of SBI;• group discussion on cross-cutting

themes for pan-arctic SBI issues andlogistical needs; and

• discussion of current and future nationaland international SBI studies.

The meeting agenda and abstracts areposted on the SBI web site.

An Announcement of Opportunity(AO) for SBI Phase II field work on theouter shelf-slope of the Chukchi andBeaufort seas as well as the Bering Straitregion was released in early 2001 (see fig-ure and www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf0178). Proposals are due 30 May 2001.

Through integrated field and modelingefforts, Phase II will investigate the effectsof global change on production, cycling,and shelf-slope exchange of biogenicmatter, both seasonally and spatially. Fivestudy objectives include understanding:• the relative importance of various

physical processes in the transport,transformation, and fate of biogenicmatter, water masses, and tracersthrough the Bering Strait, across theshelf, and into the basin interior;

• physical processes and circulationanomalies on the shelf and/or slope thatsupport high local concentrations ofbenthic and pelagic biota;

• water column and ice primary produc-tivity in relation to the biomass anddiversity of primary and secondaryconsumers in both the water columnand benthos;

• the relative importance of top-downvs. bottom-up controls in regulatingpelagic-benthic coupling, bioticcomplexity, and the partitioning ofcarbon between lower and highertrophic levels; and

• model predictions of potential changes

Dark blue indicates the SBI intense study area, withupstream/downstream regions in lighter blue (figurecourtesy SBI project office).

ALA

65˚ N

75̊ N

18

0˚

160

˚W

Beaufort Sea

Chukchi Sea

East Siberian

Sea

140˚W

300m

1000m

3000m

Bering

Strait

Bering Sea

Western Arctic Shelf-Basin

Interactions (SBI) Study Site

SBI mooring Network

Single

Multiple

Cooperative

SBI Transect lines

Process/Core

Cooperative

100m

Nome

RUSSIA

Alaska, U.S.A.

Barrow

Arctic Ocean

10

Arctic Social Sciences Program

Archaeologists who are studying theconvergence of environment, history,

and culture among the Labrador Inuit areworking to overcome the limitations ofdata sets with widely different time scales.An increased awareness of the richness ofLabrador’s detailed ethnohistoricalrecords, and recent advances that haveyielded North Atlantic paleoenviron-mental records at an annual resolution,now afford archaeologists the opportunityto use both ecological and social data onthe same time scale. Research in Labrador,however, is severely hampered by thepaucity of well-dated archaeological sites.

Archaeologists from the Arctic StudiesCenter at Bowdoin College and dendro-chronologists from the Tree Ring Labora-tory (TRL) at the Lamont-Doherty EarthObservatory are now collaborating to:• improve the ability of archaeologists

to date their sites, and• extend the paleoenvironmental record.The researchers are applying the scienceof tree-ring analysis to the dating of woodfrom Inuit sod house sites in Labrador.

In Summer 2000, archaeologists anddendrochronologists, working togetherin the field, returned with a profoundlyaltered and enriched sense of the landscapeand its history. Archaeological work andconversations with Inuit and settlers alsoyielded insights into ways that humanshave used wood along the coast, and howintensive harvesting may have affected thenorthern range of the tree line.

More than 80 samples were collectedfrom living trees (by coring), dead treesand stumps, and sod house walls. Analysisof disks from 25 trees at the DEG site, ininner Napaktok Bay (11 samples thus far)

has extended TRL’s records for the regionback more than 100 years to AD 1459.Nearly all of the trees analyzed to datedied between 1870 and 1890.

The archaeologists’ work includessurveying the ethnohistorical literature fordescriptions of intensive wood harvesting.This research is calling attention to thepotential value of documenting wood-collecting practices in Nain, a Labradorcommunity where harvesting of wood isstill an important seasonal activity.

This collaborative research is co-spon-sored by the NSF Arctic Social SciencesProgram and the Paleoclimate Program.Additional funds are provided by the Arc-tic Studies Program, Bowdoin College.

For more information, contact SusanKaplan in Brunswick, ME (207/725-3289;fax 207/725-3499; skaplan@bowdoin.edu),or Rosanne D’Arrigo and Brendan Buckleyin Palisades, NY (845/365-8617; fax 845/365-8152; druidrd@ldeo.columbia.edu;bmb@ldeo.columbia.edu).

Tree Rings Improve Dating of Inuit Sites in Labrador

In June 1997, a Yup’ik woman fromGambell on St. Lawrence Island,

Alaska, spoke cheerfully about her lifeas her hunter sons tramped in and out ofanother part of the house. Lucianna (nother real name), then in her 50s, describedherself as one of the last in the communityto have had an arranged marriage, alludedmodestly to her work as a communityhealth aide, and spoke enthusiasticallyabout the formative years of her marriage,her family, and her domestic tasks.

Carol Jolles (Indiana University-Purdue University) interviewed Luciannaand more than 10 others as part ofa project funded by the Arctic Social Sci-ences Program to compare Yup’ik womenand families from Gambell, Alaska anda related community in Sireniki, Russia.

Because narratives of women’s liveshad barely penetrated the domain ofYup’ik life histories, Jolles focused on:• the training of women for a variety

of tasks;

Yup’ik Interviews Feature Women

Arctic Social Sciences Program

The NSF Arctic Social Sciences Program supports research on the dynamiccultures, economies, and social organization of northern populations, often in

close collaboration with northern residents. Approximately 40 ASSP-funded projectsare now studying prehistoric, historic, or modern arctic worlds. Many projects focuson the relationships between humans and environment.

For more information, see the ASSP web site (www.nsf.gov/od/opp/arctic/social.htm), or contact Program Manager Fae Korsmo in Arlington, VA (703/292-8029;fax 703/292-9082; fkorsmo@nsf.gov).

• their contributions within their nataland marriage families, and in the largercommunity; and

• their work with men—in the workplace, as family members engaged insubsistence work, and as their husband’swork partners.Jolles, often working with elder Elinor

Oozeva as her research partner, audio-taped narrative life history interviews thatare free-ranging and woven through withtraditional stories. The result is a series ofintimate descriptions of life in the villagefrom the late 1930s through the 1990s.Earlier, Jolles had found that, regardless ofthe level of their engagement in commu-nity life, women tended to concentrate onthe years before marriage when they werelearning about subsistence tasks from theirmothers and grandmothers. Only withencouragement did they describe theirlives after marriage more fully. Jolles urgedthe women, for instance, to complementtheir narratives with detailed drawings ofall the homes in which they had lived, aprocess which elicited further descriptions,many of which document the moderniza-tion of family life and the community.

As the research concludes, transcriptswill be returned to the individuals whowere interviewed. The most complete anddynamic life histories will also be editedfor community use.

For more information, contact CarolZane Jolles in Indianapolis, IN (317/278-2307; fax 317/274-2347; cjolles@iupui.edu).

11

Arctic Social Sciences Program

View from the 2000 to 4000 year old Aleut village ofAdamagan east to the field camp, Big Lagoon,Morzhovoi Bay, and Mt. Frosty (photo by R. Holmer).

The Aleut have lived on one of theworld’s most dynamic landscapes for

at least 10,000 years. In some of the largestvillages ever recorded for hunter-gatherersocieties, they intensively used marineresources, developing a complex social andpolitical fabric that is well preserved in thearchaeological record. These factors makethe southern Bering Sea and greater NorthPacific region one of the most importantareas for studying human-landscape inter-actions in northern regions. The NSF Arc-tic Social Sciences Program first fundedthe Lower Alaska Peninsula Project(LAPP) in 1996 to investigate the poten-tial for using geographic information sys-tems (GIS), remotely sensed images, andaerial photography to support archaeologi-cal and geomorphological reconnaissanceof the southern Bering Sea region. Theproject uses multidisciplinary approachesand integrated, cross-disciplinary hypoth-eses to investigate both environmental andsocial change.

Principal investigators Herb Maschner(Idaho State University) and Jim Jordan(Antioch New England Graduate School)began by creating a spatial database of thewestern end of the Alaska Peninsula thatincluded Landsat images, black and whiteand color infrared aerial photographs,and topographic and hydrographic data.A 1:63,360-scale digital elevation model(DEM) was generated and refined withlow-altitude photography.

By 1998, Maschner and Jordan hadcompleted an archaeological survey of theproject area, including the Bering Seashoreline, Izembek and Moffet lagoons,and the north end of Morzhovoi and Coldbays on the Pacific margin of the westernAlaska Peninsula. Jordan also completeda study of the coastal geomorphology ofthe region, while project member TinaDochat investigated the glacial history.

Glaciers receded from the regionapproximately 12,000 to 13,000 years ago.Since then, isostatic rebound (regionalrebound of the earth’s crust relieved of theweight of glaciers), global sea-level rise,earthquakes, volcanism, and climate haveshaped the coastal landscape. Four paleo-shorelines are presently recognized in theregion. A barrier beach uplifted 25 m

above modern sea level marks the marinelimit; this was deposited more than 9,000years ago. Subsequent shorelines are docu-mented at 16 m (6,000 to 9,000 yearsold), 5–6 m (2,100 years old), and 2–3 m(500 to 1,000 years old).

Izembek Lagoon is a 200 km2

embayment on the Bering Sea margin ofthe study area that supports a large portionof Alaska’s migratory waterfowl. It wasformed less than 400 years ago with thedeposition of a narrow barrier dune sys-tem, illustrating how rapidly changes innear-shore sedimentation can affect coastalevolution. Over the past 12,000 years, vol-canic eruptions also influenced terrestrialand coastal sedimentation rate and prob-ably controlled vegetation patterns andsuccession both locally and regionally.Maschner and Jordan are now conductingpalynological work on peat bogs in theproject area to better understand postgla-cial climate and vegetation change.

The Aleuts established massive villagesin the south Bering Sea region during thelast 5,000 years, some covering nearly asquare kilometer with 500 to 900 surfacedepressions. AMS radiocarbon datingindicates that some villages may havesupported nearly 1,000 people. The sitesurvey, together with analysis of bird, fish,and mammal remains and investigation ofhousehold organization, point to majorshifts in demography, subsistence, andsettlement location throughout this period.

By integrating settlement and subsis-tence data into the GIS and adjusting itfor changing sea levels and associatedintertidal zones, Maschner and Jordanwere able to predict the locations of mostvillage sites for a given time period.Coastal geomorphology and environmen-tal change have played important roles inthe distribution of prehistoric settlements.Human impacts on the landscape arebeing investigated through studies of plantand small mammal communities at largevillage sites. Faunal analysis has generateda large and important paleoecologicaldatabase for fish, birds, and mammalsin the region.

Episodic and dramatic cultural changein the southern Bering Sea region has beenfollowed by long periods of relative stasis,

much like punctuated equilibrium in evo-lutionary theory, or self-organized critical-ity in complex systems research. Theresearchers have, therefore, modeled thepotential interactions of natural events(e.g., earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic erup-tions, rapid climate change) and socialtransformations (e.g., migration, warfare,disease, technological innovation, demo-graphic changes). They have, for instance,documented evidence of a large earth-quake that caused subsidence of the west-ern Alaska Peninsula approximately 2,100years ago. GIS modeling indicates that thisprobably inundated sockeye salmon rear-ing lakes on coastal lowlands of the penin-sula and established a channel between theBering Sea and the Pacific Ocean at thehead of Morzhovoi Bay. At this time,residents abandoned villages that had beenestablished on salmon streams and concen-trated at a few massive villages that werestrategically located to intercept migratingsalmon and sea mammals.

The village of Adamagan (see photo)is the focus of the current four-year grant,which supports investigations of prehis-toric adaptations to rapid environmentalchange in the southern Bering Sea. Theresult of this work will refine models ofhuman-landscape interactions in the pastand, more broadly, will provide a betterunderstanding of the effects of rapid andgradual environmental change on theecology of southern Beringia.

For more information, contact HerbMaschner in Pocatello, ID (208/282-2745; fax 208/282-4944; maschner@isu.edu) and Jim Jordan in Putney, VT (802/869-2060; fax 603/357-0718;jwjordan@sover.net).

Aleut Responses to Catastrophic Environmental Change

12

Arctic Natural Sciences Program

The dynamics and thermodynamics ofsea ice are key variables in polar eco-

systems. Global change modelingrequires an adequate understanding of themechanical, electromagnetic, optical, andthermal properties of sea ice, as well as itscapacity to transfer solutes through the icesheet, to support biological activity, andto entrain and transport contaminants.The manner in which sea ice forms pro-duces a characteristic microstructure anda unique and complex flaw structure,both of which exert major influences onall of these characteristics and processes.

In late 1999, NSF’s Arctic NaturalSciences Program funded David Cole(Cold Regions Research and EngineeringLaboratory), and Lewis Shapiro and HajoEicken (University of Alaska Fairbanks)to study the Microstructural Features andBrine Drainage Networks in First-YearSea Ice. The researchers are investigatingthe very small-scale processes that occurduring the formation and weathering ofsea ice which exert a powerful influenceon polar and ultimately global environ-ments. Their three-year project focuses onthe field collections of quantitative dataon the flaw structure of the ice,theoretical considerations, and modeling.

Research on the deformation and frac-ture of sea ice shows a clear relationshipbetween the details of its microstructureand its larger-scale behavior. The flawstructure, which consists primarily ofliquid brine inclusions, affects:• the permeability of the ice,• its ability to absorb and propagate

energy,• its capacity to host biological activity,

and• its capacity to entrain and transport

contaminants.Sea-ice sheets typically consist of crys-

tals with their c-axis—that is, the axis ofhexagonal symmetry—oriented horizon-tally. Freezing proceeds dendritically,trapping liquid brine along specific planeswithin each crystal. This produces crystalsthat are “anisotropic”—they exhibit prop-erties with very different values whenmeasured along different axes. Under-icecurrents give a growth advantage tocrystals with their c-axis aligned with

Physical Properties and Permeability of First-Year Sea Ice

the direction of flow. As a result, largeareas of aligned ice develop, and the indi-vidual crystal anisotropy is reflected in thelarge-scale mechanical, electromagnetic,and optical properties of the ice. Further-more, because brine in the ice is mobile,the flaw structure evolves as the brineresponds to temperature changes. Featuresaffected in this way must be quantified as afunction of time and temperature history.Features of interest to Cole, Shapiro, andEicken include:• details of the crystal structure (grain size

variations, brine plane spacing, andc-axis fabric development in relation tounder-ice currents);

• the size and shape distributions ofbrine and gas inclusions;

• brine drainage networks in threedimensions; and

• changes in permeability throughthe year, and related impacts on heatand mass transfer through the ice.

The small-scale inclusions and brinedrainage features range in size fromapproximately 10-4 m to the full thickness

of the ice sheet (see figure). In additionto the usual salinity, density, grain size,and fabric measurements, specializedobservations include:• the permeability measurements and

associated detailed observations ofdrainage pathways;

• sets of orthogonal micrographs (whichyield size distributions of small-scaleinclusions in three dimensions);

• detailed observations of drainagepathways and their impact on the three-dimensional thermal regime; and

• vertical sections through the entirethickness of the ice sheet.

The latter provide an unparalleled view oflarger-scale features such as brine drainagenetworks and horizontal banding. A meth-odology has recently been developed formeasuring the in situ permeability at vari-ous depths within the ice sheet. Thesemeasurements are complemented withdirect optical examination of the flawstructure that supports the brine flux.

Cole, Shapiro, Eicken, and UAF grad-uate student Karoline Frey are conductingseveral field trips per year to track theevolving properties of land-fast ice sheetsat sites near Barrow, Alaska. One siteapproximately 1 km from the old NavalArctic Research Laboratory (see WitnessSpring/Autumn 1999) and another innearby Elson Lagoon are instrumented tomonitor the thermal regime during thegrowth and melt seasons; under-icecurrents are measured periodically.

The researchers have benefited greatlyfrom support provided by the Barrow Arc-tic Science Consortium (BASC; see page25). In addition to serving as a base forfield operations (e.g., providing officespace and field equipment), BASC’s per-sonnel have been available to collect datathroughout the year and to relay informa-tion on the ice conditions which is keyto optimizing the timing of principalinvestigators’ field trips.

For more information, contact DavidCole in Hanover, NH (603/646-4217; fax603/646-4640; dmcole@crrel.usace.army.mil) and Lewis Shapiro and Hajo Eickenin Fairbanks, AK (907/474-7558; fax 907/474-7290; lews@gi.alaska.edu; hajo.eicken@gi.alaska.edu).

The figure shows a full-thickness slab of first-year sea icetaken from the Chukchi Sea (left), a vertical thin sectionshowing the transition from granular to columnar icenear the top of the sheet (top right), and a vertical micro-graph (bottom right). The micrograph shows some inter-esting brine inclusions found at the granular/columnartransition. The index marks on the full thickness slab areat 0.1 m intervals, the large-scale divisions on the thinsection photograph are 10 -2 m, and the scale divisions onthe micrograph are 10 -4 m (figure by D. Cole).

13

Scientists have long understood thatglaciers grow by addition of snow on

their upper surfaces. What few anticipatedis that glaciers also can grow low in theirablation areas by addition of ice totheir bases.

In research funded by the NSF ArcticNatural Sciences Program, Ed Evenson(Lehigh University), Dan Lawson (ColdRegions Research and EngineeringLaboratory [CRREL]), Grahame Larson(Michigan State University), RichardAlley (Pennsylvania State University), andmany students have demonstrated theoccurrence of glaciohydraulic supercool-ing and basal freeze-on at the MatanuskaGlacier in Alaska. At a year-round facilitymaintained at the glacier by CRREL inconjunction with the three universities,the researchers have been gathering dataon ice velocity, water and sediment dis-charge, water and ice-isotopic composi-

Matanuska Glacier Adds Ice and Debris at its Basetion, and meteorological conditions. Theyhave also conducted summer and winterdrilling, dye-injection studies, and geo-physical investigations aimed at determin-ing ice thickness, subglacial topography,the extent and thickness of freeze-on iceand sediment, and the nature and develop-ment of the subglacial hydrologic system.

The thermodynamics of freeze-onrequire high water discharge and a slope ofthe ground beneath the glacier bed that issufficiently steep and contrary to the slopeof the glacier surface. Under these condi-tions, basal water is forced to flow upward.As pressure decreases, the melting tempera-ture rises, and supercooling, freeze-on,and associated debris entrainment occur.

Interesting observations at theMatanuska Glacier include:• Supercooling and freeze-on occur in the

summer when air temperatures remainconstantly above freezing.

• Ice grows beneath the glacier as well asin front of it, producing debris-rich basalsequences and large terraces each sum-mer that usually melt only when basalmeltwater discharge decreases in the Fall.

• Thermometers suspended in wateremerging from beneath the glacierrecord slightly subfreezing temperatures,and are often ice-covered when removed.

• Debris-rich basal ice sequences severalmeters thick have accreted to the bottomof the glacier in the past 50 years.

• Debris content of up to 50% by weightis common in the basal ice sequences.

• Supercooling is occurring at the Mala-spina and Bering glaciers in Alaska, atseveral Icelandic glaciers, and elsewhere.

Arctic Natural Sciences Program

While this explanation solves a long-standing puzzle about debris-rich basal iceand summer terraces at the Matanuska, italso provides insights well beyond this onevalley in Alaska. Other work has shownthat, in many regions, glaciers are the mostimportant erosive agents and producers ofglobally significant sediment and chemicalfluxes. The beautiful strings of lakes left inmany glacial valleys show that glacierscommonly erode overdeepenings withadverse slopes, such as the one beneath theMatanuska Glacier. Theory and observa-tion thus indicate that, in altering the landsurface, many or even most glaciers attimes experience Matanuska-type basalsupercooling and freeze-on of debris-ladenice. This phenomenon may help explainhow Laurentide glaciers entrained andmoved the voluminous debris found inthe Heinrich layers of the NorthAtlantic, and it may have operated inmany of the over-deepened basins of theLaurentide and Scandinavian ice sheets,contributing to their deposits.

The next phase of research focuses on:• determining the thickness and distribu-

tion of basal freeze-on ice using shallowgeophysical techniques, in conjunctionwith Greg Baker (SUNY at Buffalo);

• dating the basal ice more accuratelyusing 3H/He, in conjunction withThure Cerling (University of Utah);

• determining the geometry and evolutionof the subglacial drainage system usingdye injection into boreholes;

• identifying other glaciers exhibitingthis freeze-on behavior; and

• assessing the importance of this freeze-on behavior in understanding glacialdynamics, glacial erosion and sedimen-tation, mountain-belt evolution, andglobal biogeochemical cycling.For more information, contact Ed

Evenson in Bethlehem, PA (610/758-3659; fax 610/758-3677; ebe0@lehigh.edu), Dan Lawson in Ft. Richardson, AK(907/384-0510; fax 907/384-0519;dlawson@crrel.usace.army.mil), GrahameLarson in East Lansing, MI (517/353-9485; fax 517/353-8787; larsong@pilot.msu.edu), or Richard Alley in UniversityPark, PA (814/863-1700; fax 814/865-3191; ralley@essc.psu.edu).

Arctic Natural Sciences Program

The NSF Arctic Natural Sciences Program supports disciplinary research in theatmospheric sciences, biological sciences, earth sciences, glaciology, and ocean-

ography. The program also coordinates arctic research with the NSF Directorates forGeosciences and Biological Sciences, and helps facilitate multidisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, and polar projects funded by the Office of Polar Programs (OPP).

For more information, see the ANS web site (www.nsf.gov/od/opp/arctic/natural.htm), or contact Program Directors Neil Swanberg and Jane Dionne inArlington, VA (703/292-8029; fax 703/292-9082; nswanber@nsf.gov; jdionne@nsf.gov).

Although freeze-on was long suspected at the MatanuskaGlacier in south-central Alaska, it was first proved withthe discovery of bomb-produced tritium in the sediment-laden basal ice. In a March 2000 field conferencesponsored by NSF and the Geological Society of America,ANS researchers brought 21 scientists from around theglobe to see first-hand the evidence for basal freeze-onand debris entrainment (photo by Ed Evenson).

14

Arctic Natural Sciences Program

The second layer of the Earth’s atmo-sphere, the stratosphere, contains

high concentrations of UV-absorbingozone. In much of the stratosphere, whichextends from approximately 10 to 50 kmabove the surface of the Earth (dependingupon latitude, season, and weather), tem-perature changes little with altitude, theair is dry and stable, and clouds do notform. The stratosphere over polar regions,however, deviates slightly from this pic-ture. Because of the extreme cold, cloudsdo form occasionally, and these clouds setthe stage for chlorine-catalyzed ozone lossas Spring arrives.

These clouds, called polar stratosphericclouds (PSCs), are unusual because they:• exhibit the colors of mother-of-pearl,• occur in the stratosphere at tempera-

tures above that at which ice forms—the ice point, and

• provide the surfaces for a reaction thatconverts anthropogenic chlorine froma benign to a reactive state.PSCs, through the chemical reactions

they support, are precursors to the annualdestruction of polar ozone (see featurestory) and are required for it to proceed.

To better understand the phenomenonof ozone depletion, the NSF Arctic

Natural Sciences Program has fundedTerry Deshler (University of Wyoming) tocollaborate with scientists from Germany,France, Italy, and Denmark to investigatethe nature of PSCs. They are asking:• What is the chemical composition

of these cloud particles?• Are the particles liquid or solid?• What temperatures are required for

the different particle types to form?• How large are the particles?• How much surface area is available

for the conversion of chlorine to anactive form?Today we know that PSC particles can

be ice, mixtures of nitric acid (HNO3) and

water (H2O), or hydrates of nitric acid and

water. Hydrates are solid particles withfixed molecular ratios for water and theother molecule (e.g., solid nitric acidtrihydrate [NAT] is one molecule of nitricacid and three of water).

Initial theoretical work in the 1980ssuggested that PSCs were composed ofnitric acid and water. Laboratory simula-tions then demonstrated that the solid tri-hydrate, NAT, was stable at stratosphericpressures and temperatures. Thus, PSCsthat occurred above the ice point werethought to be NAT.

By the early1990s, however,additional work castdoubt on thishypothesis. Fieldobservations indi-cated that PSCswere often com-posed of liquiddroplets rather thansolid hydrates.Laboratory experi-ments indicatedthat NAT wouldnot form initiallyuntil the tempera-ture was severaldegrees below theice point, eventhough, onceformed, NAT willnot evaporate untilthe temperature is6° C above the ice

point. Because there is so little water vaporin the stratosphere, the ice point is quitelow—below -80° C. Since temperatures inthe arctic stratosphere are rarely this low,the composition of many observed PSCsremained a mystery.

To address some of the uncertaintiesregarding PSCs, scientists from five coun-tries combined their instruments onto oneballoon gondola to provide a comprehen-sive PSC observation. Support for this col-laboration was provided by the EuropeanCommission; the German, French, Italian,and Danish national agencies for scientificresearch; and the NSF Arctic Natural Sci-ences Program. The instrumented gondolawas first flown at the end of January 2000,at which time two flights were made (seephoto). Measurements included:• particle composition using a particle

mass spectrometer (German),• optical properties using backscatter-

sondes (Italian and Danish),• water vapor mixing ratio using a frost

point hygrometer (French), and• aerosol size distributions using optical

particle counters (U.S.).These measurements have provided the

most complete characterization of a singlePSC to date. Similar measurements areplanned to continue during the arcticwinters of 2001 and 2002.

Although much of the data are stillunder analysis, the composition measure-ments show clearly that at least some ofthe PSC particles were NAT. These mea-surements are the first direct evidence thatthese solid particles occur in the strato-sphere as well as in laboratory simulations.

For more information, see Voigt et al.,2000, or contact Terry Deshler inLaramie, WY (307/766-2006; fax 307/766-2635; deshler@uwyo.edu).

ReferenceVoigt, C., J. Schreiner, A. Kohlmann,

P. Zink, K. Mauersberger, N. Larsen,T. Deshler, C. Kröger, J. Rosen, A.Adriani, F. Cairo, G. Di Donfrancesco,M. Viterbini, J. Ovarlez, H. Ovarlez,C. David, and A. Dörnbrack. 2000.Nitric acid trihydrate (NAT) in polarstratospheric cloud particles. Science 290(5497): 1756-1758.

Clouds in Arctic Stratosphere Catalyze Ozone Loss

To address some of the uncertainties regarding polar stratospheric clouds (visibleoverhead), scientists from Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, and the U.S. launched aballoon gondola with their combined instruments twice near Kiruna, Sweden inJanuary 2000 (photo by Darin Toohey, University of Colorado).

15

Arctic Natural Sciences Program

Depletion of ozone in the stratosphereand associated increases in ultraviolet

radiation (UVR) are greatest at high lati-tudes. While extensive studies during thepast 15 years have investigated the effectsof UVR on marine plankton in the Ant-arctic, few studies have addressed theeffects in the Arctic. Findings cannot beextrapolated from one region to the other,since both oceanographic conditions andthe composition of plankton species differconsiderably.

The NSF Arctic Natural SciencesProgram has funded field research on theeffects of UVR on plankton in the watersaround the Lofoten Islands of northernNorway, in collaboration with theEuropean Union-sponsored program “TheInfluence of UVR and Climate Condi-tions on Fish Stocks: A Case Study of theNortheast Arctic Cod.” Osmund Holm-Hansen (Scripps Institution of Oceanogra-phy) joined Hans Christian Eilertsen(University of Tromsø, Norway) and oth-ers aboard Norwegian research vessels inSpring-Summer 2000. The major focus ofthe combined research was to evaluate thepotential impact of increased UVR on thefood reservoirs available to grazing zoo-plankton and to commercially importantfishery resources. Because the Lofoten Is-land area harbors the world’s highest con-centrations of spawning arctic cod (Gadusmorhua), a thorough understanding isneeded of the dynamics of the food chainthat supports cod in this area, includingthe effects of UVR on arctic plankton.

In general, the sensitivity of phyto-plankton to UVR is related to the lightconditions experienced by the cells priorto the experimental incubation period.Photosynthetic rates of phytoplanktonsampled from a deeply mixed (>50 m) wa-ter column are inhibited by very low levelsof UVR radiation (<1 Watt/m2). By com-parison, photosynthetic rates of Antarcticphytoplankton are generally inhibitedwhen UVR reaches ~10 to 15 Watts/m2.

Data from two cruises in 2000 lead tothe following observations:• The ozone layer was substantially

thicker in March than in May.• Phytoplankton stocks were comparable

at all samplings (i.e., typical Spring

UV Radiation Lowers Productivity of Arctic Phytoplankton

diatoms Chaetoceros socialis, C. debilis,Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii, and thehaptophycean Phaeocystis pouchetii).

• Clear sky conditions correlated withhigh frequencies of malformed Calanusfinmarchicus nauplii and acute mortalityin cod eggs and larvae maintainedwithin a few meters of the surface.

• Bloom conditions in March 2000 exhib-ited high chlorophyll-a concentrations(up to 10 mg/m3) evenly distributedfrom the surface to >30 m depth. ByMay-June 2000, bloom conditionsexhibited low chlorophyll-a concentra-tions (1–2 mg/m3) and depleted nutrientsin the upper mixed layer (~20 m depth).

• Phytoplankton were more sensitive toUVR in March than in the May–Juneperiod, with UV-A (320–400 nm) ac-counting for more of the inhibition thanUV-B (280–320 nm) radiation.

• In situ incubations of experimentalsamples from the relatively shallow up-per mixed layer (20 m) during the May–June period showed no detectable effectof UVR below 4 m depth.These results are interpreted as photo-

acclimation of the phytoplankton toelevated UVR as summer, with its longdays and higher incident radiation,

progresses. Ongoing studies and fieldplans for 2001 will focus on:• the degree to which UVR-induced

damage can be repaired or reversedby metabolic processes;

• the relative importance of direct DNAdamage by UV-B radiation compared tophotodynamic effects of photoproducts(e.g., reactive oxygen species) that maybe generated by UV-A radiation;

• the importance of mycosporine-likeamino acids as protective UVR screens;

• seasonal changes in column ozone levelsand impact of associated increases inUV-B radiation on phytoplankton fromlate winter to midsummer, particularlyas it affects the food resources of grazingzooplankton and fish larvae;

• differential sensitivity of phytoplanktonspecies to UVR and the ensuing impacton food web dynamics; and

• ecosystem effects of UVR (phytoplank-ton-zooplankton-fish larvae-benthos).For more information, contact

Osmund Holm-Hansen in La Jolla, CA(858/534-2339; fax 858/534-7313;oholmhansen@ucsd.edu), or Hans Chris-tian Eilertsen in Tromsø, Norway (+47/7764-4540; fax +47/7764-6020;hanse@nfh.uit.no).

R/V Jan Mayen outside the entrance to Austnesfjorden, one of the main spawning sites for cod in the Lofoten Island areaof arctic Norway (photo by H.C. Eilertsen).

16

VECO Polar Resources Provides Arctic Logistics

At the end of November 2000, VECOPolar Resources (VPR) completed its

first year as NSF’s contractor for ArcticResearch Logistics Support Services

(ARLSS). VPR support for scientistsin Greenland, Alaska, Canada, and nearthe North Pole in 2000 has included:• installing a wireless Local Area

Network (LAN) with full-time internetconnectivity at Summit Camp,Greenland;

• operating a camp for about 20researchers at Council (see photo); and

• providing extensive aircraft support forresearchers working in remotelocations in Alaska.

VPR is currently supporting a winter-overteam of four at the Summit Camp andplanning for the second contract year.Plans for 2001 include:• further enhancements to the Arctic

Program’s field communicationscapabilities;

• expansion of VPR’s range of support toinclude several Russia-based projects;

• development of a field safety program;• major enhancements to VPR’s web site.

The VPR team is comprised of VECO,an Alaska-based engineering and construc-tion company; SRI International, a techni-cal scientific communications and researchcompany; and Polar Field Services, Inc., a

Arctic Research Support and Logistics

Logistics Working Group Reviews Community Input

scientific logistics project managementgroup whose personnel have experiencewith the NSF Office of Polar ProgramsAntarctic Program. In collaboration witharctic researchers, other logistics providers,and local organizations, VPR offers fieldcamp engineering services, constructionand operations support, aircraft support,use of field equipment (e.g., vehicles, tents,power systems, radios, satellite telephones),and services for engineering and installingradiated media field communications sys-tems.

Until October 1999, the Snow and IceResearch Group at the University ofNebraska-Lincoln operated the Polar IceCoring Office (PICO) under contract toOPP. Under this contract, PICO providedboth science support and ice coring anddrilling services. Under the new contract,ice coring services will be provided by theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison (www.ssec.wisc.edu/A3RI/icds/).

For more information, see the VECOweb site (www.veco.com/vpr), or contactVECO Project Manager Jill Ferris inEnglewood, CO (720/344-5619; fax 720/344-6514; jill.ferris@veco.com).

Near Council on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska, MarkBegnaud and Larry Levine (background) erect aWeatherport in June 2000 for scientists supporting theIntegrated Sounding System (ISS) for the NationalCenter for Atmospheric Research (photo by Jay Burnside).

The Arctic Research Support andLogistics Working Group (RSLWG)

is supported by NSF to update and expandupon the accomplishments of the firstARCUS Logistics Working Group, spon-sored by the U.S. Arctic Research Com-mission (see page 20) and NSF.

The major task for the RSLWG is toupdate the 1997 report, Logistics Recom-mendations for an Improved U.S. ArcticResearch Capability, by gathering informa-tion and recommendations from the arcticresearch community.

The RSLWG met at Lamont-DohertyEarth Observatory in September 2000 toadvance the development of the newreport based on the results of an on-linecommunity survey and discussions at anarctic logistics town meeting held in May2000 (see Witness Spring 2000).

Working group members are currently

developing the updated report. A draftwill be available for communityreview in early Fall 2001 and published inlate Spring 2002.

Additional discussions at the Septem-ber meeting included:• logistics issues related to emerging

research initiatives,• other relevant arctic planning and logis-

tics efforts, and• progress on the improved Arctic Logis-

tics Information and Support (ALIAS)web site.ALIAS (www.arcus.org/alias) serves as

a primary access point to help the researchcommunity acquire support and logisticsinformation for the Arctic. When fullyimplemented, ALIAS will be a compre-hensive information source for:• assessing the feasibility of working in

a particular area,

• planning the conduct of research,• viewing current research in a given area,

including maps and publications, and• making support and collaboration con-

tacts for both science and logistics.ALIAS, still under development, will be

an interactive, database-driven site, allow-ing users to conduct complex criteria-based searches to gather information onresearch sites and logistics resources. Users,including researchers, research site manag-ers, and logistics providers, will be able tosubmit updated site and resource informa-tion to ALIAS through an online survey.

For more information, see the ARCUSweb site (www.arcus.org/rslwg/) or contactRSLWG co-chairs Peter Schlosser (845/365-8707; fax 845/365-8155;peters@ldeo.columbia.edu) and TerryTucker (603/646-4268; fax 603/646-4644; wtucker@crrel.usace.army.mil).

17

Arctic Research Support and Logistics

GIS Workshop Targets Improvementsin Circumpolar Data Sharing

Arctic Modeling Focuses on Collaborative Efforts

Modeling of the arctic atmosphere,ocean, ice, and terrestrial systems

has progressed significantly over the pastdecade, driven in part by the movement toaddress research questions that appear tobe keyed to global and interdisciplinarydynamics, such as:• Why is the arctic sea ice thinning

and shrinking?• What is causing the warmer Atlantic-

layer water in the Arctic Ocean?• How will the regional climate, perma-

frost, and vegetation in the Arcticrespond to predicted global warming?To ensure continuing progress in arctic

modeling, several recent workshops high-light the need for collaboration betweenobservational programs (e.g., field work,remote sensing) and the state-of-the-artmodeling efforts that are applying the fielddata to simulations:• Arctic Regional Climate Model

Intercomparison Project (ARCMIP)investigators met in September 2000at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.They will perform high-resolutionatmospheric simulations and comparetheir results, in hopes of improvingtheir models.

• Sea Ice Model Intercomparison Project(SIMIP) investigators also met in Sep-tember 2000 in Fairbanks. They willcompare thermodynamic ice modelsimulations with observed data toimprove their models.

• Investigators involved with Phase 3 ofNSF’s Surface Heat and Energy Budgetof the Arctic (SHEBA) program (seepage 7) met in October 2000 in Boul-der, Colorado. In order to improve arc-tic climate simulations, they are address-ing collaboration between the scientistsat the field camp and the modelers whowill use the data for model validationand forcing. SHEBA investigators col-lected, and are making available, oneterabyte of data from the field, fromsatellites, and from analyses.Progress in arctic modeling has

increased the demand for computationalresources. For instance, the 18 km-resolution arctic ice-ocean model from theNaval Postgraduate School requires 2,400processor-hours for a 100-year simulation

on a massively parallel supercomputer.There are approximately 20 parallelsupercomputers in U.S. centers that canperform these experiments. The ArcticRegion Climate System Model (ARCSyM)requires 600 hours for a single-year simu-lation on a more common high-end work-station. To adequately address the mostpressing climate issues, significantly morecomputer resources will be required thanare presently available to the arcticmodeling community.

Supercomputing centers in the UnitedStates (largely within the Departments ofEnergy and Defense) have increased theircomputing power tenfold in the past fiveyears by acquiring large parallel computersystems. Adapting models to use parallelcomputers, however, requires considerabletime and special programming skills. This

has been most restrictive for individual,university-based arctic modelers, whooften rely on graduate-level researchers.Some arctic modelers have made use ofnew atmosphere, ocean, and ice modelsdeveloped for (or adapted to) parallelcomputers by groups associated with thelarger computing centers (e.g., Los AlamosNational Laboratory, Argonne NationalLaboratory, the National Center forAtmospheric Research).

Progress in arctic modeling will con-tinue as these new parallel architecturesmature and are made accessible to a widercommunity that is expanding its expertise.

For more information, contact JohnWeatherly in Hanover, NH (603/646-4741; fax 603/646-4644; weather@crrel.usace.army.mil).

The rapidly evolving capabilities ofGeographic Information Systems

(GIS) provide broad new approaches tospatially related research questions. TheArctic Research Support and Logistics Pro-gram (see Witness Spring 2000) sponsoredARCUS to host an Arctic GIS Workshopin Seattle, Washington in January 2001,to gather input from the arctic researchand GIS technology communities. Morethan 100 international researchers from avariety of scientific disciplines, representa-tives of state and federal agencies, and GISprofessionals met to assess current issuesand discuss and prepare recommendationsto improve the use of GIS in support ofarctic research.

Little of the existing georeferenced datafor the Arctic is widely available to aca-demic and agency researchers, planners,and the public, and even less is usable formanipulation and analysis. Recentadvances in GIS technology, software, andinternet compatibility make it feasible toshare georeferenced data and associatedmetadata over the internet to allow mapviewing, data manipulation, and analyses.

Improved spatial data sharing willbenefit researchers by facilitating newinterdisciplinary collaborations, innovativeanalyses, and enhanced outreach. Work-shop participants agreed that a cooperativeeffort among agencies, researchers, techni-cal experts, and nations will be needed todevelop a geographic information infra-structure (GII) supporting arctic researchby consistently documenting metadata,using internationally accepted data stan-dards, and making data accessible to otherusers. The data standards already in placethrough the Federal Geographic DataCommittee (FGDC) and the experienceof individuals and agencies cooperating inthis effort will contribute to establishingan extensive GII for arctic research.

A summary of the workshop recom-mendations is available on the ARCUSweb site (www.arcus.org/gis/index.html).A more detailed report will be developed,circulated to the arctic research and GISprofessional communities for comment,and published later this year. For moreinformation, contact Renée Crain atARCUS (renee@arcus.org).

18

AICC Sees the USCGC Healy through Successful Trials

Activities of the Arctic Icebreaker Coor-dinating Committee (AICC) during

Spring and Summer 2000 were dominatedby the cold water science systems testingfor the new U.S. Coast Guard CutterHealy. Jack Bash and John Freitag of theUniversity-National Oceanographic Labo-ratory system (UNOLS; see Witness Spring2000) coordinated the efforts of UNOLStechnical specialists to evaluate each pri-mary science system on the ship. Ice trialsin April and May 2000 between Canadaand Greenland put the Healy throughincreasingly heavy icebreaking. The vesselmet or exceeded icebreaking specifications;there is not excessive milling of the ice bythe props, and the vessel is responsive andmaneuvers well in the ice.

The cold-water science systems testsin May-July 2000 were especially valuablebecause of the enthusiastic joint participa-tion of the Coast Guard personnel whowill be supporting the systems, technicalexperts from the UNOLS community,and seagoing scientists. Tests included:• science acoustic equipment (e.g.,

SeaBeam 2112 swath mapping system,ADCPs, Bathy2000 and Knudsenbathymetry systems);

• the XBT system;• the science data network;• the uncontaminated seawater system;• the thermosalinograph and fluorometer;• scientific towing with a MOCNESS

multiple opening and closing net andenvironmental sampling system;

• the CTD/rosette system;• winch control systems;• laboratory environmental controls;• communications systems;• scientific mooring deployment and

recovery; and• coring and dredging capabilities.Most science systems proved ready for useon funded science cruises. Plans weremade to address the few deficient systemsand test them with science oversight be-fore funded science cruises begin in 2001.

All of Healy’s passengers have comeaway impressed with the professionalism,support, interest, and friendliness of theentire ship’s company. Five teachers fromNSF’s Teachers Experiencing Antarcticaand the Arctic (TEA) program thoroughlyenriched the test cruises. They brought theice trials and science systems tests to thepublic, via the internet, with accuracy,breadth, humor, and insight (see page 26).

Healy’s commissioning ceremony tookplace in August 2000 in Seattle. TheAICC is now working to advise NSF andthe Coast Guard regarding arctic sciencemissions on the three Coast Guard ice-breakers (Healy, Polar Star, and Polar Sea),especially regarding the panoply of logisticconsiderations that are much clearer to theAICC now that testing is completed. The2001 field season will include the firstpaid-science cruises for the vessel.

Ship costs for the use of Healy (and thetwo polar-class icebreakers) are no longercontained in NSF proposal budgets. Ship-use requirements must be made clear inaccompanying documentation (e.g., Form831, and NSF/OPP’s logistical supportform for arctic research). NSF proposalsto use the icebreakers should be submittedby 15 February of the year preceding theproposed cruise.

Lisa Clough succeeded James Swift asAICC Chair in January 2001.

For more information, contact LisaClough at East Carolina University inGreenville, NC (252/328-1834; fax 252/328-4178; cloughl@mail.ecu.edu), or theUNOLS Office (office@unols.org).

Arctic Research Support and Logistics

The 7,466-acre Barrow EnvironmentalObservatory (BEO) and neighboring

lands and waters encompass hundreds ofresearch sites used for past and presentstudies, including ecological, geomorphic,cryospheric, atmospheric, and archaeo-logical research. The Barrow Arctic Sci-ence Consortium (BASC) is now catalog-ing this history of research and developinga long-term master plan to guide thefuture scientific use of the BEO.

The BEO Science Management Com-mittee (SMC), in collaboration with theArctic Ecology Laboratory at MichiganState University (MSU), has begun tolocate and mark significant research siteswithin and close to the BEO. In Summer2000, MSU wildlife student Frank Leperalocated 323 research sites from 23 projects

using post-corrected differential GPS, andmarked 223 of these with individuallylabeled survey caps. These registered sitesinclude approximately 150 InternationalTundra Experiment (ITEX; see page 6)experimental and control chambers and30 ARCSS/CALM (Circumpolar ActiveLayer Monitoring) plots. Additional sites(e.g., from other federal and North SlopeBorough projects) are also being added tothe database. The arctic community willbe asked to review the inventory of sitesand suggest additions.

To enhance the operational efficiency,integrative management, and researchpotential of the BEO, a new metadata-base of past and present research activityin the vicinity includes:• contact and professional details of

researchers affiliated with the BEO,• project and site information, and• publications resulting from research.This web-accessible database will be linkedto a GIS resource and an archive ofresources (e.g., aerial photography, topog-raphy, soils, vegetation, wildlife).

The Ukpeagvik Iñupiat Corporation(the Barrow village corporation) estab-lished the BEO in 1992 for the purpose ofprotecting an area for long-term research(see Witness Autumn 1997). BASC man-ages the preserve under a cooperativeagreement with NSF.

For more information, seewww.arcus.org/basc/index.html or contactBEO SMC Chair Jerry Brown in WoodsHole, MA (508/457-4982; fax 508/457-4982; jerrybrown@igc.org).

Research Site Registration is Underway at Barrow

19

NSF News

President Bush Requests 1.3% Increase for NSF Budget

Although NSF received a 13% increasein its budget in FY 2001, President

Bush’s FY 2002 NSF budget request is$4.5 billion, just $56 million or 1.3%above FY 2001. The expected rate ofinflation for FY 2002 is 2.6%, an effectivedecrease in the NSF budget of 1.3%. TheResearch and Related Activities accountwould decline 0.5%, with a major cut(17.5%) in Integrative Activities, includ-ing Major Research Instrumentation.

The proposed budget for the Office ofPolar Programs totals $276.57 million,increasing 1.2% over FY 2001. The U.S.Polar Research Programs budget wouldincrease 1.5%, or $3.17 million, from$210.8 to $213.97 million, including:• the Arctic Research Program would

increase 6.4%, from $31.14 to $33.14million;

• the Arctic Research Support and Logis-tics budget would remain level at$23.96 million;

• the Arctic Research Commission budgetwould increase 1.4%, from $1.00 to$1.02 million;

• the Antarctic Research Grants Programbudget would increase 2.1%, from$36.5 to $37.25 million;

• the budget for Operations and ScienceSupport would increase 0.3%, from$118.2 to $118.61 million.The budget document describes two

FY 2002 priorities for the Arctic ResearchProgram:• the Study of Environmental Arctic

Change (SEARCH) program (see page8), and

• support for merit reviewed oceano-graphic research using the U.S. CoastGuard Cutter Healy (see page 18).The budget request proposes to

expand NSF’s education activities, includ-ing the President’s new Math and SciencePartnership Initiative, funded at $200million. The bulk of this funding ($110million) would be redirected from existingNSF education programs. The budget forEducation and Human Resources (EHR)would increase by 11% overall. In thisbudget scenario, graduate student stipendswill increase from an average of $18,000per year to $20,500 per year for the aca-demic year 2002–03.

Congressional ActionsSeveral recent actions by Congress

indicate that the final FY 2002 budgets forthe basic science agencies may increaseover the President’s proposed budget. By abipartisan voice vote, the Senate on April 5approved an amendment to the SenateBudget Resolution (H.R. 83), whichwould increase the funding for some basicscience agencies by $1.44 billion. This voteis an important indication of whatCongress may do later this year when itconsiders the FY 2002 appropriations bills.

Senate Amendment 211 was sponsoredby seven senators led by Christopher Bond(R-MO) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)and would increase funding for:• NSF by $674 million,• DOE by $469 million, and• NASA by $518 million.

The amendment would increase theNSF budget by 15.3%, keeping the agencyon track for the proposed doubling of itsbudget by 2005, supported by a bipartisangroup of 41 senators last year.

In related action in the House ofRepresentatives, 13 Republican andDemocratic members of the ScienceCommittee wrote to AppropriationsCommittee Chairman Bill Young (R-FL),asking him to consider making funding forthe science agencies a high priority,especially that for NSF. BudgetCommittee member Rush Holt (D-NJ)attempted to increase general sciencefunding in the House Budget Resolutionbut was unsuccessful, as the House votedalong party lines. Rep. Eddie BerniceJohnson (D-TX), the ranking minoritymember on the Research Subcommittee,introduced legislation on April 4 toauthorize the doubling of the NSF budgetover the period 2001–05. This bill (H.R.1472) provides for a 15% annual increasefor NSF from FY 2002–05. The Johnsonbill, which has 16 Democratic cosponsorsfrom the House Science Committee, wasreferred to that committee for furtherconsideration.

Administration Reviewing NSF NeedsThe Administration intends to review

the needs and opportunities facing NSFover the next five years to determine

whether future NSF budget increases arewarranted. Results of the review, which isunderway and involves a variety of differ-ent studies, will be factored into thepreparation of the FY 2003 budget. Thestaffs of NSF and the Office of Manage-ment and Budget (OMB) will have pre-liminary results for review by Fall 2001.

A random survey of academic institu-tions and individual investigators thathave received NSF grants will begin inJune. The survey, considered by NSF andOMB staff to be key to future NSF fund-ing increases, is expected to result in therecommendation that average NSF grantsize and duration be increased.

Details of the OMB/NSF review canbe found in the “General Science, Space,and Technology” section of the main bud-get document, under the heading “Man-agement Reforms” (pages 33–35). Follow-ing are some excerpts:• For 2003, the Administration will

undertake a budgetary review to deter-mine how best to support the NSF’sbudget in a sustained manner over time.

• With the assistance of U.S. academicresearch institutions, NSF will developmetrics to measure the efficiency of theresearch process and determine the‘right’ grant size and duration for thevarious types of research the agencyfunds.

• NSF will develop a plan for costing,approval, and oversight of major facilityprojects, and also will enhance its capa-bility to estimate costs and provideoversight of project development andconstruction.

• NSF will develop a five-year strategicplan for the work force and informationtechnology needs of the agency in timefor consideration of the 2003 budget.For more information, see the

following web sites: NSF (www.nsf.gov),the American Association for the Advance-ment of Science (www.aaas.org/spp/R&D), the American Institute of Physics(www.aip.org/gov), the Association ofAmerican Universities (www.aau.edu), theOMB (www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2002/budget.html), or the U.S.Congress (http://thomas.loc.gov).

20

U.S. Arctic Research Commission Plans Visit to ANWR

U.S. Arctic Research Commission

Polar Research Board

Enhancing NASA’s Contributions to Polar Science:New PRB Report Available

For scientists who study climate change,the Arctic and Antarctic are prime

laboratories. Data that document changerange from the thickness and movement ofentire ice sheets and glaciers, to the timingof cloud cover, distribution of precipita-tion, concentrations of atmospheric gases,past weather patterns, ocean temperatures,sea levels, and salinity patterns. To trackchanges, such data must be gathered overperiods of years. Observations at the poles,however, are extremely difficult to make—these are among the most remote, harsh,and inhospitable environs on the planet.

The National Atmospheric and SpaceAdministration (NASA) is responsible fora number of satellites and remote sensingprograms that measure conditions in theearth’s polar environments. NASA com-piles its raw data into polar geophysicaldata sets that are available to scientistsstudying these regions. How these datasets can be made more useful to scientistsis the subject of a new report—EnhancingNASA’s Contributions to Polar Science: AReview of Polar Geophysical Data Sets, from

a committee of the National ResearchCouncil’s Polar Research Board (PRB).

After approximately a year of study anddeliberations, including a survey of morethan 100 polar scientists who use polargeophysical data in their day-to-dayresearch, the committee:• identified gaps between the data

available and data needed; and• made specific recommendations for

additional air, water, and land measure-ments that NASA should collect toenhance existing records.

In addition, the committee made thefollowing recommendations:• in some cases, aircraft, automated

underwater vehicles, and ground-basedtechnologies may be more appropriatethan satellites for collecting data;

• make available NASA’s data-setarchives, some of which extend backas far as 20 years;

• make a greater effort, for comparativepurposes, to integrate NASA data setswith data collected in other parts ofthe world; and

• better publicize the availability of datasets, make them as user-friendly as pos-sible, and provide web links to sites thatoffer additional relevant information.This study was requested and spon-

sored by NASA’s High Latitudes Office.Authors include John Walsh, Chair(University of Illinois), Judith Curry(University of Colorado, Boulder), MarkFahnestock (University of Maryland),David McGuire (University of AlaskaFairbanks), William Rossow (GoddardInstitute for Space Studies), Michael Steele(University of Washington), CharlesVorosmarty (University of New Hamp-shire), and Mahlon Kennicutt (TexasA&M University). The report is availablein limited quantities from the PRB in pre-publication format. The published volumewill be available in May 2001 fromNational Academy Press (800/624-6242;www.nap.edu) for $31.

For more information, contact PRBDirector Chris Elfring in Washington, DC(202/334-3479; fax 202/334-1477;celfring@nas.edu).

The 2001 edition of the U.S. ArcticResearch Commission (USARC)

Report on Goals and Objectives 2001 waspublished in January and will be availablesoon on the USARC web site. The threemajor goals outlined in the report are:• support for the SEARCH Program (see

page 8), to enhance the study of changein the Arctic,

• a multiagency integrated research pro-gram for the Bering Sea (see WitnessSpring 1998), and

• a two-part health of arctic residents pro-gram, including principal causes of mor-bidity and mortality and environmentalhealth concerns and recommendations.In 2001, the Commission met in:

• Dillingham, Alaska in November to dis-

cuss issues including improved coordi-nation in fisheries research, fish andwildlife research needs, and distanceeducation;

• La Jolla, California in January for atour of the U.S.S. Salt Lake City, a LosAngeles class submarine, and discussionsof how to carry forward SCICEX research(see Witness Spring/Autumn 1999).

• Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, prior to Arc-tic Science Summit Week (see page 22),including the USARC’s first meetingwith the Canadian Polar Commission(see Witness Spring 2000).The Commission also:

• conducted a workshop, in collaborationwith the Navy, on Navy responses todecreased ice cover in the Arctic, and

• discussed opportunities for arctic logis-tics cooperation with staff from theCanadian Polar Continental ShelfProject (see Witness Spring 1998), theCanadian Department of Fisheries andOceans, and the Office of Polar Programs.The Commission plans to visit the Arc-

tic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) inearly June. They will visit Svalbard andTromsø, Norway following a meeting inArlington, Virginia on June 22.

For more information, see the USARCweb site (http://www.uaa.alaska. edu/enri/arc_web/archome.htm), or contactUSARC Executive Director Garry Brass inArlington, VA (800-AURORAB or 703/525-0111; fax 703/525-0114;g.brass@arctic.gov).

21

Arctic Policy

Finland Assumes Chair of Arctic Council for Two Years

U.S. Under Secretary of State forGlobal Affairs Frank Loy chaired

the second biennial meeting of the ArcticCouncil in October 2000 in Barrow,marking the culmination of the two-yearperiod of U.S. leadership of the Counciland the beginning of the Finnish chair-manship. Participants included:• Ministers from the eight arctic member

states of the Council;• presidents of the four arctic indigenous

peoples’ organizations that havePermanent Participant status on theCouncil—the Aleut InternationalAssociation, the Inuit CircumpolarConference, the Russian Association ofIndigenous Peoples of the North, andthe Saami Council; and

• representatives of the Council’saccredited Observers.

New Participants, Observers WelcomedThe Barrow delegates approved two

new Permanent Participants—the ArcticAthabaskan Council and the Gwich’inCouncil International; both indigenousgroups have U.S. and Canadian members.France joined Germany, the Netherlands,Poland, and the United Kingdom as anObserver country. The ministers alsoapproved eleven new Observer organiza-tions, bringing the total number ofObservers to 21. The eleven new Observerorganizations are:• the North Atlantic Marine Mammal

Commission,• the Nordic Council of Ministers,• the Advisory Committee on the

Protection of the Sea,• the Association of World Reindeer

Herders,• the Circumpolar Conservation Union,• the International Arctic Social Science

Association,• the International Federation of Red

Cross and Red Crescent Societies,• the International Union for

Circumpolar Health,• the International Union for the

Conservation of Nature,• the Standing Committee of Parliamen-

tarians of the Arctic Region, and• the World Wide Fund for Nature.

U.S. Concludes Chair; New Agenda SetAccomplishments of the Arctic Council

during the U.S. chairmanship include:• finalization of a framework document for

the Council’s Sustainable DevelopmentProgram,

• progress on the U.S.-led projects ontelemedicine and cultural and eco-tourism,

• progress on the Canadian-led project onthe Future of Children and Youth in theArctic, and

• progress on the Denmark/Greenland-ledSurvey of Living Conditions in theArctic.

The United States also contributed to theCouncil’s Human Health Effects Programin the Arctic Monitoring and AssessmentProgram and helped fund a new assessmentof contaminants in the food supply of Rus-sian indigenous communities in the Arctic.

The October 2000 Ministerial meetingset the Arctic Council agenda for 2000–02.Topping the agenda is the Arctic ClimateImpact Assessment (see page 22), acomprehensive study of the impact ofclimate change in the Arctic. The Councilwill also pursue a number of projects underthe newly established Arctic CouncilAction Plan to Eliminate Pollution of theArctic (ACAP; see Witness Spring 2000),including:• the second phase of a project to reduce

PCB use in Russia, and• a plan to reduce mercury releases from

arctic states.The Ministers also approved proposals

to develop an International CircumpolarSurveillance system for infectious diseasesand to initiate projects on sustainable rein-deer husbandry and development in north-ern timberline forests. The Ministers rec-ommended that the Council pay particularattention to proposals from the PermanentParticipants directed at improving humanhealth in indigenous communities.

Ministers held a series of roundtablediscussions on:• the impact of climate variability on

arctic communities and ecosystems;• health, education, and economic

opportunities of arctic communities;• the threat of contaminants in the Arctic

and opportunities for collective action

to address the problem; and• how to improve cooperation between

the Arctic Council and the manyorganizations and initiatives witha northern focus.The North Slope community, includ-

ing school classes, observed the Councilproceedings and joined in an eveningpanel discussion on contaminants andthe impact on human health in thearctic environment.

Priorities of the Finnish ChairFinland now assumes the chair of the

Arctic Council until October 2002. Finn-ish Minister of Justice Johannes Koskinenoutlined his country’s priorities as chair,emphasizing increased contacts withinternational bodies such as the UnitedNations and the European Union.

Finland will also work toward activepolitical implementation of conclusionsdrawn from technical reports of the ArcticCouncil working groups, specifically onissues such as climate change, long-rangetransportation of contaminants, andUV radiation.

Finland plans to evaluate the structureof the Arctic Council and its workinggroups, expand the use of informationtechnology (such as in the University ofthe Arctic and telemedicine projects), andpromote eco-tourism. The Finns will alsoconcentrate on transportation infrastruc-ture, capacity building, gender equality,and in the words of Justice MinisterKoskinen, “bringing capital closer tothe Arctic Circle . . . without forgettingthe need to increase sensitivity towardindigenous affairs.”

The next meeting of the Senior ArcticOfficials (SAO) will take place inRovaniemi, Finland, 10–13 June 2001.Future SAO meetings will be held inHelsinki in November 2001 and Ouluin April 2002. The next Ministerial-levelmeeting will be held in September 2002in Inari (Saariselkä).

For more information, see the ArcticCouncil web site (www.arctic-council.org), or contact Hale VanKoughnett atthe Department of State in Washington,DC (202/647-4972; fax 202/647-4353;vankoughnetthc@state.gov).

22

Lead Authors Outline Arctic Climate Impact Assessment

The Arctic Council is conducting aninternational Arctic Climate Impact

Assessment (ACIA) to evaluate and syn-thesize knowledge on climate variability,climate change, increased ultraviolet radia-tion, and their consequences (see WitnessSpring 2000). The aim is to provide usefuland reliable information to the govern-ments, organizations, and peoples of theArctic on policy options to meet suchchanges.

At an October 2000 workshop inSeattle, Washington, the ACIA SteeringCommittee prepared an extended outlinefor the assessment with the help of lead

authors appointed for each of the assess-ment chapters. The report outline andlead authors are as follows:The Arctic System—Gunter Weller (U.S.)The Arctic as Part of the Global ClimateSystem—Gordon McBean (Canada),Petteri Taalas (Finland), Erland Källén(Sweden), Vladimir Kattsov (Russia), andBetsy Weatherhead (U.S.).• The Climate System and the Roles of

Ozone and UV Processes on the Arcticand the Planet

• Past and Present Changes of Climateand UV Radiation

• Future Changes of Climate and UV

Radiation—Modeling and Scenarios forthe Arctic Region

Physical and Biological Systems andTheir Response to Climate Change—John Walsh (U.S.), Terry Callaghan (Swe-den), Jim Reist (Canada), and HaraldLoeng (Norway).• The Cryosphere and Hydrological

Variability• Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecosystems• Arctic Freshwater Ecosystems• Oceanic and Marine EcosystemsImpacts of Climate and UV Changes onHumans and Their Activities—HenryHuntington (U.S.), David Klein (U.S.),Mark Nuttal (U.K.), Glenn Juday (U.S.),Arne Instanes (Norway), Jim Berner(U.S.), and fisheries lead author HjalmarVilhjalmsson (Iceland).• Indigenous Perspectives on Climate

Change• Wildlife and Conservation Issues• Subsistence Hunting, Fishing, Herding,

and Gathering• Fisheries and Aquaculture• Forests, Land Management, and

Agriculture and Land Use• Engineered Structures• Human HealthContributing authors for each chapter willbe identified in the near future. The ACIAis scheduled to be completed by 2004.

For more information, contactGunter Weller in Fairbanks, AK (907/474-7371, fax 907/474-6722;gunter@gi.alaska.edu).

International News

The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) again invited all arcticscience organizations to hold their organizational meetings at the annual

Arctic Science Summit Week, 22-29 April 2001, in Iqaluit, Nunavut, the capital ofCanada’s newest territory. The purpose of the summit, held each year in late April, isto provide opportunities for coordination, collaboration, and cooperation in all areas ofarctic science and to combine science and management meetings to optimize travel andtime. The summit is comprised of a series of meetings of circumarctic organizations,structured around a Joint Science Day. The focus of the third annual ASSW ScienceDay was “Science and Technology for Sustainable Communities,” focusing on bothterrestrial and marine resources. The Science Day and other venues provided opportu-nities for researchers, students, and others to discuss issues of common concern.

The first ASSW took place in April 1999 in Tromsø, Norway; the second inCambridge, UK (see Witness Spring 2000).

For more information, see the IASC web site (www.iasc.no/) or contact IASCExecutive Secretary Odd Rogne in Oslo, Norway (+47/2295-9900 fax +47/2295-9901; iasc@iasc.no).

IASC Convenes Arctic Science Summit Week

International Arctic Coastal Dynamics Drafts Science Plan

In October 2000, the InternationalArctic Science Committee (IASC)

sponsored an international Arctic CoastalDynamics (ACD) workshop in Potsdam,Germany. Eleven participants fromCanada, Germany, Norway, Russia, andthe United States reviewed results fromthe November 1999 workshop held inWoods Hole, Massachusetts (see WitnessSpring 2000) and developed a phased five-year Science and Implementation Plan. Theoverall objective of the plan is to improveunderstanding of the dynamics of the

200,000-km circumarctic coastal margin,where permafrost and sea ice play keyroles, under the influence of environmen-tal changes and geologic controls.

The plan consists of two interrelatedcomponents:• a series of coordinated activities to assess

and synthesize existing information; and• proposed focused research projects and

long-term observations.This research will serve as a basis forgenerating and updating maps and modelsfor predicting coastal sensitivity.

The IASC Council will consider theplan for approval at its April 2001 meeting(see article this page). The ACD SteeringCommittee is pursuing coordination withrelated programs and seeking funds.

For more information, see the ACDweb page (www.awi-potsdam.de/www-pot/geo/acd.html), or contact Jerry Brownin Woods Hole, MA (508/457-4982; fax508/457-4982; jerrybrown@igc.org) orVolker Rachold in Potsdam, Germany(+49/331-288-2144; fax +49/331-288-2137; vrachold@awi-potsdam.de).

23

The NSF Office of Polar Programs isassessing community interest and

pursuing discussions toward developing aCircumarctic Environmental ObservatoryNetwork (CEON) to maximize sharing ofand access to scientific observations in thedata-poor arctic environment. The CEONinitiative would be an agreement to mea-sure the same things, at the same time, inthe same way—as much as possible—andto use the internet to share results in nearreal time. The measured variables wouldbe defined by scientists; station managersand agency officials would be involvedonly in implementation and funding.

The proposed CEON network focuseson terrestrial sites (see figure), becausemany such research stations already existand because the Forum of Arctic ResearchOperators (FARO; see Witness Spring/Autumn 1999) working group recom-mended restricting initial efforts to landstations. The CEON approach, in con-cept, also applies to ocean observatories.Programs such as ASOF (see above) and

NSF Pursues Initiative to Coordinate Arctic Measurements

SEARCH (see page 8) will likely use simi-lar approaches for ocean observatories.

For CEON to become a reality, coun-tries with arctic interests would have toinvolve their own stations and contributeto maintaining or reopening selected Rus-sian stations. Both the U.S. National Oce-anic and Atmospheric Administration andNSF are interested in such joint researchstation programs. Germany has alreadymade significant contributions to the infra-structure of the Arctic and Antarctic Re-search Institute in St. Petersburg.

NSF has asked ARCUS to work withthe international arctic research commu-nity to assess interest through an onlinesurvey process and discussions at severalarctic meetings and to coordinate the U.S.community’s contributions to CEON’sdevelopment. There is strong interest incollaborating with ENVINET, the Euro-pean Network for Arctic-Alpine Multidis-ciplinary Research. ENVINET (www.npolar.no/envinet/index.html), funded bythe European Union and managed by the

International News

Sverdrup Symposium Focuses on Arctic/Subarctic Oceans

Potential sites for a Circumarctic EnvironmentalObservatory Network (illustration prepared by S.Mitchell).

Approximately 70 international scien-tists assembled for the H.U. Sverdrup

Symposium at the Polar EnvironmentalCentre in Tromsø, Norway in September2000. The Norwegian Polar Institute(NPI) and the Fram Committee hostedthe symposium commemorating the Maudexpedition to the Arctic, which concluded75 years ago. Professor H.U. Sverdrup,who later became director of ScrippsInstitution of Oceanography and of theNorwegian Polar Institute (see MemberInsert), was responsible for the scientificaspects of the Maud expedition.

The symposium provided a currentassessment of the role of ocean/sea-ice/atmosphere interaction in polar and sub-polar climates. Presentations included:• mixing and exchange processes,• fluxes,• deep water formation, and• shelf processes.The proceedings will be published in PolarResearch in late 2001.

A workshop on Arctic/Sub-ArcticOcean Fluxes (ASOF) followed theSverdrup Symposium. The ASOF pro-gram is an international effort to measureclimatically important oceanic exchangesbetween the arctic and subarctic seas (seeWitness Spring 2000). Working groupsaddressed the following topics:• ocean fluxes,• shelf-basin interactions,• deep sea processes,• sea ice, and• paleoclimate.Participants also discussed methods andplatforms for measurements (e.g., satellites,available ice-going vessels, new technolo-gies) and ways of achieving internationalfunding cooperation.

The workshop was organized by OlavOrheim of Norway; the workshop reportis available on the ASOF sections of theNPI (www.asof.npolar.no) and the Uni-versity of Washington (http://psc.apl.washington.edu/search/ASOF.html) web

sites. The workshop established the ASOFInternational Science Steering Group,chaired by Bob Dickson of the U.K. TheSteering Group is purposely organizedinto two groups—ASOF-West and ASOF-East. Members of ASOF-West includePeter Rhines (Deputy Chair), JohnCalder, Eddy Carmack, Tom Haine, MarkJohnson, Craig Lee, Cecilie Mauritzen,Mike McCartney, Rich Pawlowicz, SimonPrinsenberg, Sergey Pryamikov, Tom Pyle,Peter Schlosser, and a to-be-determinedrepresentative from Japan. Members ofASOF-East are Jens Meincke (DeputyChair), Harry Bryden, Eberhard Fahrbach,Bogi Hansen, Edmond H. Hansen, PeterHaugan, Michael Karcher, Harald Loeng,Jochem Marotzke, Bill Turrell, Ian Vassie,and Richard Wood.

For more information, see the NPIweb site (www.npolar.no), or contact OlavOrheim in Tromsø (+47/7775-0620; fax+47/7775-0501; olav.orheim@npolar.no).

Norwegian Polar Institute, is an environ-mental research network of 17 researchstations in Northern Europe.

For more information, contact ArcticScience Section Head Tom Pyle at NSF inArlington, VA (703/292-8029; fax 703/292-9082; tpyle@nsf.gov).

Barrow

Summit

Kangerlussuaq

Abisko

Kilpisjärvi

KevoTromsø

Zackenberg

Longyearbyen

Resolute

Toolik

Tuktoyaktuk

Thule

Ny-Ålesund

Cherskii

24

International News

Education News

NSF Renews Funding for Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative

In September 2000, NSF funded theAlaska Rural Systemic Initiative (AKRSI)

for a second five-year set of initiatives.This work, which is also supported by theAlaska Federation of Natives, began inNovember 2000 with guidance from Eldersand support from communities, educators,and organizations across the region.

In Phase II, each of Alaska’s fivecultural regions will have an opportunityto implement five initiatives that werevery successful in Phase I:• Elders and Cultural Camps, emphasiz-

ing the Academy of Elders;• Indigenous Science Knowledge Base,

emphasizing the Cultural Atlas;• Culturally Aligned Curriculum,

emphasizing Cultural Standards;• Native Ways of Knowing/Teaching,

emphasizing Parent Involvement; and• Village Science Applications,

emphasizing Alaska Native Scienceand Engineering Society camps.For more information, see the Alaska

Native Knowledge Network web site(www.ankn.uaf.edu) or contact SeanTopkok in Fairbanks, AK (907/474-5897;fax 907/474-5615; sean@arcus.org).

Geography Shapes Ways of Knowing

In October 2000, the Scott PolarResearch Institute (SPRI) formed a new

research group to examine socio-technicalchanges in the Arctic and Antarctica. Thenew Science and Development Groupaspires to examine how the interfacebetween social and natural sciencestructures both:• methods of inquiry, and• the terms in which the polar regions

are broadly conceived.Researchers at the Science and Devel-

opment Group have strong disciplinaryallegiances to geography, history of sci-ence, and anthropology. They are pursu-ing comparative studies of scientific andtechnological practices in different

political regions of the Arctic to betterunderstand the cultural basis of:• research ethics,• processes of cross-cultural consensus

building, and• the long-term prospects for sustainable

management of research environments.The roles that mapping and communica-tions technologies—including remotesensing imagery—play in development areconsidered pivotal to understanding thechanging political configurations andregimes of environmental management.

The group incorporates historicalstudies (e.g., the history of fieldwork in thenatural and social sciences, the formationof scientific disciplines, geographical

concepts of the region) into its analysis ofknowledge claims and development issues.Historical precedents can be used tounderstand new controversies over topicsas diverse as the Icelandic human genomeproject or the conservation of Lake Vostokin Antarctica.

For more information, contact MichaelBravo in Cambridge, UK (+44/1223-336561; fax +44/1223-336549; mb124@cus.cam.ac.uk).

In Phase II of AKRSI, each of Alaska’s five cultural regions will have an opportunity to implement five initiatives thatwere very successful in the project’s first five years (illustration by Paula Elmes with Ray Barnhardt).

25

Publications Education News

In September 2000, the Barrow ArcticScience Consortium (BASC) hosted 29

journalists from across the U.S. on a three-day Barrow Science Communicators Tour.The tour, cosponsored by BASC (seeWitness Spring/Autumn 1999) and theAlaska Press Women, preceded a conven-tion of the National Federation of PressWomen in Anchorage, Alaska. NSF pro-vided airfare between Anchorage and Bar-row, and ARCUS provided financial andlogistical support.

Most of the participants were sciencewriters with interests ranging from wildlifebiology to languages, Native knowledge,health, and domestic construction. BASCscheduled tours and presentations thatcovered the broad spectrum of researchtaking place in Barrow, as well as opportu-nities to interview local specialists andengage local high-school students. Thewriters toured:• the U.S. Department of Energy’s

Atmospheric Radiation Measurementsite (see Witness Autumn 1998);

• NOAA’s Climate Monitoring andDiagnostics Laboratory facility;

• the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory(see Witness Autumn 1997);

• the San Diego State University researchaircraft that is used to measure atmo-spheric carbon and energy fluxes;

• the Iñupiat Heritage Center;• Ipalook Elementary School and its Solar

System (see Witness Autumn 1998);• the North Slope Borough (NSB)

Department of Wildlife Managementand Arctic Research Facility;

• NSB Search and Rescue Facility; and• the Barrow Utilities and Electric Coop-

erative underground utilidor, whichdelivers water in permafrost conditions.Presentations introduced the writers to

icebreaker science; wildlife contaminantsresearch; beluga whaling, telemetry, andage estimation; snowy owl research; theuse of satellite imagery to monitor sea ice;the use of optical signals to monitor func-tional changes in the arctic ecosystem;Iñupiat language and culture; and the reli-ance of North Slope science on Iñupiattraditional knowledge.

One of BASC’s goals is to draw moreresearchers and research projects to the

Science Writers Tour Barrow Research SitesAmerican Arctic. The organization recog-nizes that “press coverage of arctic scienceprojects and science issues is an importantway to increase recognition for the Northamong potential researchers in the UnitedStates and around the world.”

For more information, contact BASCPresident Richard Glenn and ExecutiveDirector Glenn Sheehan in Barrow, AK(888/627-5724 or 907/852-4881; fax907/852-4882; basc@barrow.com).

CIRES Group gets K–12 Teachersinto the Field

Since 1996, the Cooperative Institutefor Research in Environmental Sci-

ences (CIRES) in Boulder, Colorado hasincluded an outreach group that organizesEarth science education programs forteachers using a “place-based” approach.Here, learning is through inquiry aboutthe immediate environment, and teachersand scientists work together in the field.

One of the projects run by the CIRESOutreach Program is Earthworks, aninquiry-based professional developmentworkshop for science teachers. Secondaryscience teachers work with scientists todevelop and conduct a week-long researchproject on the water, air, soils, or livingorganisms at the workshop’s mountainsite. According to Program Director SusanBuhr, “teachers gain experience with scien-tific inquiry themselves, so they are betterprepared to go back and do real inquirywith their students.”

After her week at Earthworks, CathiKoehler (Manchester, CT) took her high-school earth science classes outside tostudy their soils, and then she took herown scientific curiosity to new extremes—to the summit of the Greenland ice sheet.The CIRES outreach group introducedKoehler to CIRES researcher Koni Steffenand graduate student Nicolas Cullen, andhelped them apply for funding fromNSF’s Teachers Experiencing Antarcticaand the Arctic Program (TEA; see page26). Koehler worked with the scientists fora month at Summit, digging snow pits andmonitoring clouds, sometimes in bitterarctic winds, to study the movement ofenergy, moisture, and reactive chemicalsbetween surface snow and the atmosphere.

The value of her field experience wasnot just personal growth for Koehler. Herdeepened understanding of how scienceworks has inspired her to take her studentsoutside to do their own field studies. Shesays she sees more links between Earth’smany systems, applies for more grants forequipment and projects, and trades ideaswith a nationwide network of creativescience teachers.

The CIRES outreach group haslearned much about what helps to involvescientists effectively in outreach:• social responsibility—an interest in

public or local education—and personalenjoyment are scientists’ main motiva-tions to participate in outreach;

• outreach roles for scientists—visitingclassrooms, mentoring, communicatingonline—must make efficient use oftheir time;

• personal connections help CIRES staffmatch scientists with appropriateopportunities; and

• visible support from others in thescience community encourages newscientists to participate in outreach.CIRES is a joint research institute of

the University of Colorado and theNational Oceanographic and AtmosphericAdministration’s Boulder labs, whoseaffiliated researchers study topics fromenvironmental chemistry to geophysics.

For more information, or for anEarthworks application, see the CIRESweb site (http://cires.colorado.edu/~k12/),or contact Tamara Palmer in Boulder, CO(303/492-5670; fax 303/492-1149; k12@cires.colorado.edu).

26

Education News

The National Science Education Stan-dards emphasize the importance of

providing inquiry-based experiences forstudents, demonstrating that science is ahuman endeavor, and underscoring therelevance of science to society. The center-piece of NSF’s Teachers ExperiencingAntarctica and the Arctic (TEA) Programis actual field work that engages K–12teachers in cutting-edge research in thepolar regions (see Witness Spring 1998).The TEA Program aims to:• immerse teachers in a research

experience as a component of theircontinued professional development;

• offer research experiences that informteaching practices, so that scienceinvestigations in the classroom modelthe real process of science;

• carry the polar research experienceinto classrooms in rich, engaging, andinnovative ways that underscore therelevance of science to society andindividuals; and

• cultivate a collaborative Polar LearningCommunity of teachers, students,administrators, researchers, and others,to build on the research experience.

What Do Researchers and Teachers Say?Kelly Falkner (Oregon State Univer-

sity, Corvallis) was the Arctic IcebreakerCoordinating Committee’s (AICC) liaisonwith the TEA Program for the new U.S.Coast Guard Cutter icebreaker Healy shiptrials (see page 18). She hosted two TEAson board and had this to say about herexperience: “Early in the planning phasesfor ice testing of the Healy, the AICC rec-ommended that an educational outreachcomponent be included. This materializedin the form of NSF support for five teach-ers to participate in various aspects of test-ing the vessel. All of the teachers lent assis-tance to the on-board science activitieswhile maintaining a web-based journal(see http://tea.rice.edu/tea_meetteachers.html#thearctic). By all accounts—fromthe Coast Guard to the scientists to stu-dents and the general public—the teach-ers’ involvement was extremely successful.Not only were they able to effectively learnabout and communicate the excitement ofpolar science to their classrooms and

others, they facilitatedgood relations on boardthe ship with a great dealof insight and goodhumor.”

Teacher Sandra Kolbworked with Terry Tucker(Cold Regions Researchand Engineering Labora-tory [CRREL]) on theHealy. She writes, “Myroles and responsibilitieswere not only to supportTerry’s team in theirresearch but also to trans-late this experience intodaily journals for the TEAweb site. I worked withstudents, teachers, and thepublic daily, addressingtheir questions and educa-tional activities by e-mail. My TEA webpage continues to be accessed by schools,and I present locally and nationally inclassrooms and for teacher workshops.The TEA challenge for me is facilitatingthe implementation of enduring instruc-tional techniques that are based on inquiryand ‘learning science by doing science.’”

AICC Chair Lisa Clough (East Caro-lina University, Greenville, NC) has alsoworked with TEAs aboard Coast Guardicebreakers. She writes, “I have benefitedfrom the perspectives that teachers bringto my project (not to mention the extrahands). I can’t tell you how many crewfamily members were thrilled to be ableto go to the TEA web page and find outwhat’s going on during a cruise. Theteachers intuitively know how to explainthe intricacies of science to the crew. Inaddition, several crew members want toexplore a teaching career when they retire,and the teachers can give them a feel forwhat that’s really going to require.”

Martin Jeffries (University of AlaskaFairbanks) has been working with TEAssince Marge Porter (Woodstock, CT) firstjoined his research team in Antarctica sixyears ago. Since then, Porter has obtainedadditional funding to continue her workwith Jeffries studying ice growth and heatflow at frozen ponds at Poker Flat, Alaska.Of his experience, Jeffries says, “I have

Teachers Convey Technical and Human Aspects of Science

enormous respect for the efforts that sheand teachers like her make to pursue pro-fessional development opportunities thatenhance their teaching strategies andenrich students’ learning experiences.I have learned much about K–12 educa-tion in general, and science education inparticular, and have a new appreciation forthe challenges that teachers face on a dailybasis. Scientific researchers have much tooffer teachers and vice versa. I recommendworking with a teacher (or teachers) fora mutually beneficial and professionallyand personally fulfilling experience.”

TEA is a partnership between teachers,researchers, students, school districts, andcommunities. The program is sponsoredby NSF’s Division of Elementary, Second-ary, and Informal Education in theDirectorate of Education and HumanResources and the NSF Office of PolarPrograms. It is facilitated by Rice Univer-sity, CRREL, and the American Museumof Natural History.

For more information, see the TEAProgram web site (http://tea.rice.edu),or contact Deb Meese (603/646-4594;fax 603/646-4644; dmeese@crrel.usace.army.mil) and NSF Arctic Social SciencesProgram Director and Science EducationLiaison Fae Korsmo (703/292-8029; fax703/292-9082; fkorsmo@nsf.gov).

Teacher Tim Buckley (ahead) and CRREL researcher Terry Tucker (behind)worked side by side on the Polar Sea in 1998. Kelly Falkner, the Arctic Ice-breaker Coordinating Committee’s liaison with the TEA program for the Healyship trials in 2000, wrote, “The teachers’ help was invaluable to the complexarray of engineering and science goals that comprised the testing program. Thevery positive impact of these educators on the Healy... has led both Coast Guardpersonnel and scientists to recommend that teacher involvement be considered forall future arctic icebreaker missions” (photo by Aaron Putnam).

27

ARCUS3535 College Road, Suite 101Fairbanks, Alaska 99709 USAPhone: 907/474-1600Fax: 907/474-1604arcus@arcus.orgwww.arcus.org

Executive DirectorWendy K. Warnick

ARCUS is a nonprofit organizationconsisting of institutions organizedand operated for educational,professional, or scientific purposes.ARCUS was established by its memberinstitutions in 1988 with the primarymission of strengthening arctic researchto meet national needs. ARCUS activi-ties are funded through a cooperativeagreement with NSF; by DOE andAFN; and by membership dues.Witness the Arctic is published

biannually by ARCUS. Any opinions,findings, conclusions, or recommenda-tions expressed in this publication donot necessarily reflect the views of NSF.Submit suggestions for the Summer2001 newsletter by 15 June 2001.

Managing Editor: Wendy WarnickEditor/Designer: Marty PealeEditors: Alison York, Sue MitchellCopy Editor: Diane Wallace

Contributors: M. Aletta-Ranttila, R. Alley,P.A. Anderson, R. Barnhardt, S. Bishop,G. Brass, M. Bravo, J. Brown, S. Buhr,J. Burnside, C. Cahill, F.S. Chapin III,L. Clough, L. Codispoti, D. Cole, L. Cooper,R. D’Arrigo, T. Deshler, J. Dionne, R. Dichtl,B. Dickson, L. Duffy, M. Edwards, H. Eicken,H.C. Eilertsen, C. Elfring, P. Elmes, E. Evenson,J. Ferris, D. Garcia-Novick, R. Glenn,H. Goldman, J. Grebmeier, O. Holm-Hansen,R. Holmer, G.S. Jacklin, C.Z. Jolles, J. Jordan,S.A. Kaplan, B. Kearney, F. Korsmo, J. Kruse,G. Larson, S. Laursen, D. Lawson, M. Ledbetter,H. Maschner, D. Meese, J. Moore, J. Morison,R. Moritz, S. Nillsen, O. Orheim, A. Putnam,T. Pyle, V. Rachold, O. Rogne, V. Romanovsky,K. Scott, L. Shapiro, G. Sheehan, S. Stephenson,N. Swanberg, J. Swift, D. Toohey, S. Vanamo,H. VanKoughnett, M. Walker, E. Weatherhead,J. Weatherly, A. Weaver, P. Webber, G. Weller

wit.ness (wit nis) n. 1.a. One who has heard orseen something. b. One who furnishes evidence.2. Anything that serves as evidence; a sign. 3. Anattestation to a fact, statement, or event. —v. tr.1. To be present at or have personal knowledgeof. 2. To provide or serve as evidence of. 3. Totestify to; bear witness. —intr. To furnish orserve as evidence; testify. [Middle Englishwitnes(se), Old English witnes, witness,knowledge, from wit, knowledge, wit.]

Calendar

May 16–20 Fourth International Congress of Arctic Social Sciences (ICASS IV), “ThePower of Traditions: Identities, Politics, and Social Sciences.” Quebec City, Canada.Contact the Organizing Committee in Quebec City (418/656-7596; fax 418/656-3023;iassa.getic@fss.ulaval.ca) or Peter Johnson in Ottawa (613/562-5800 ext 1061; fax 613/562-5145; peterj@aix1.uottawa.ca).

May 23–25 ARCUS 13th Annual Meeting and Arctic Forum. Arlington, VA. ContactDiane Wallace in Fairbanks, AK (907/474-1600; fax 907/474-1604; diane@arcus.org;www.arcus.org/annual_meeting_01/index.html).

May 28–31 Impact of Climate Change and UV in the Russian Arctic: Arctic ClimateImpact Assessment (ACIA) Workshop. St. Petersburg, Russia. Contact Odd Rogne atthe International Arctic Science Committee Secretariat in Oslo, Norway (+47/2295-9900; fax:+47/2295-9901; iasc@iasc.no; www.iasc.no) or Gunter Weller in Fairbanks,AK (907/474-7371; fax 907/474-7290; gunter@gi.alaska.edu).

June 6–8 International Symposium on Climate Change and Variability in NorthernEurope—Proxy Data, Instrumental Records, Climate Models, and Interactions. Turku,Finland. Contact Mia Ronks (+358/2333-6009; fax +358/2333-5730; miaron@utu.fi;http://figare.utu.fi).

July 10–13 Global Change Open Science Conference. Amsterdam, Netherlands. Con-tact the IGBP Secretariat in Stockholm, Sweden (+46/816-6448; fax +46/816-6405;sec@igbp.kva.se; www.sciconf.igbp.kva.se).

July 16–20 Detecting Environmental Change: Science and Society. London, U.K.Contact Catherine Stickley in London (+44/20-7679-5562; fax +44/20-7679-7565;c.stickley@ucl.ac.uk; www.nmw.ac.uk/change2001).

August 19–23 Symposium on Ice Cores and Climate. International Glaciological Soci-ety. Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. Contact the Secretary General in Cambridge, U.K.(+44/1223-355974; fax +44/1223-336543; int.glaciol.soc@compuserve.com).

August 19–21 Seventh Circumpolar University Co-Operation Conference. Tromsø,Norway. Contact the Roald Amundsen Centre for Arctic Research in Tromsø (+47/77-64-5241; fax +47/7767-6672; frits.jensen@arctic.uit.no; www.arctic.uit.no/cua/).

September 19–22 52nd AAAS Arctic Science Conference. Anchorage, AK. Contact DonSpalinger (907/267-2190; don_spalinger@fishgame.state.ak.us; http://hosting.uaa.alaska.edu/afdes/AAAS2001).

For more information, check the Calendar on the ARCUS web site (www.arcus.org/misc/fr_calendar.html).

Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group (EPPR). 1998. FieldGuide for Oil Spill Response in Arctic Waters. Environment Canada, Yellowknife, NTCanada, 348 pages. $45 CAD. Contact David Tilden (867/669-4728; fax 867/873-8185; david.tilden@ec.gc.ca; http://arctic-council.org).

Arctic Environmental Sensitivity Atlas System (CD-ROM). Environment Canada,Yellowknife, NT Canada. $45 CAD. Contact David Tilden (867/669-4728; fax 867/873-8185; david.tilden@ec.gc.ca; www.mb.ec.gc.ca/pollution/spills/ed00s00.en.html).

Stein, R. (ed.) 2000. Circum-Arctic River Discharge and its Geological Record. 2000.Special issue of International Journal of Earth Sciences 89(3). Contact Ruediger Stein(+49/471-4831-1576; fax +49/471-4831-1580; rstein@awi-bremerhaven.de;http://e-net.awi-bremerhaven.de/GEO/APARD/NewsLetter4/APARD-NL-4.html).

Enhancing NASA’s Contributions to Polar Science: A Review of Polar Geophysical Data Sets.2001. National Research Council, Polar Research Board. National Academy Press ($31;800/624-6242; www.nap.edu).

Publications

28Printed on Recycled Paper

ArcticResearch

Consortiumof the

United States

3535 College RoadSuite 101

Fairbanks, AK99709

USA

A Note From the ARCUS Executive Director

Inside

ARCSS Program 3

Arctic Social Sciences Program 10

Arctic Natural Sciences Program 12

Arctic Logistics 16

NSF News 19

U.S. Arctic Research Commission 20

Polar Research Board 20

Arctic Policy 21

International News 22

Education News 24

Calendar and Publications 27

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 957Anchorage, AK

We have taken several important stepsover the past year to improve our

ability to serve the arctic research commu-nity and would like to update you onsome of these activities. More informationis available at www.arcus.org.

ARCUS Washington, DC OfficeFor several years, both the member

institutions of ARCUS and the agenciesengaged in arctic research have encouragedARCUS to develop a presence in Wash-ington, DC to facilitate communicationwith agencies, other federal entities, andrelevant scientific organizations. InSeptember 2000, Suzanne Bishop openedthe Washington, DC office of ARCUS,representing the organization and itsmembers to agency representatives andCongress on a wide variety of issues affect-ing arctic research. Suzanne, who hasextensive experience in academic publicrelations, is available to assist arcticresearchers in their efforts to advancearctic research issues at the federal level(703/979-7461; fax 703/979-7460;bishop@arcus.org).

Award for Arctic Research ExcellenceThe winners of the Fifth Annual

ARCUS Award for Arctic ResearchExcellence reflect the quality of young

researchers working in the Arctic and thediversity of their research. The abstractsof the winning and honorable mentionstudent papers and a listing of all the 2001participants can be found on the ARCUSweb site. The 2001 winners are:

Interdisciplinary Research: ValerieBarber, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Social Sciences: Dyanna Riedlinger,University of Manitoba, Winnipeg.

Life Sciences: Tim Karels, Universityof Toronto at Scarborough.

Physical Sciences: Luke Copland,University of Alberta, Edmonton.

The winners have been invited topresent their work at the Arctic Forum andwill receive a $500 honorarium. Theannouncement and entry information forthe Sixth Annual ARCUS Award for Arc-tic Research Excellence (2002) will be dis-tributed to the community in late summer2001. We hope that you will look for itand encourage young researchers tosubmit papers to the competition.

ARCUS Annual MeetingThe ARCUS 13th Annual Meeting will

be held at the Sheraton Crystal City inArlington, VA on 23–25 May 2001. Ahighlight of the Annual Meeting is theinterdisciplinary Arctic Forum, a sciencesymposium that includes oral and poster

presentations. The 2001 Arctic Forum willfocus on interactions between physical andbiological systems in the Arctic and will beheld 24 and 25 May.

ARCUS Main Office MovesThe ARCUS office has a new address:

3535 College Road, Suite 101Fairbanks, AK 99709-3710Phone 907/474-1600Fax 907/474-1604

Email and web addresses remain the same.