Report Available
"Arctic Observing Network (AON): Toward a US Contribution to
Pan-Arctic Observing"
Arctic Research of the United States, Volume 21
U.S. Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee
To download the report, please go to:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf0842/
The U.S. Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) consists
of fifteen-plus agencies, departments, and offices across the Federal
government. They all have one thing in common: they support or conduct
scientific research, or are otherwise concerned with what is happening
in the northernmost reaches of the world - Alaska's Arctic as well as the
vast circumpolar region.
Recently the agencies pooled their information about the arctic
environment in the Interagency Committee's latest report, "Arctic
Observing Network (AON): Toward a US Contribution to Pan-Arctic
Observing." The report pinpoints where and how the different Federal
agencies are collecting environmental data as part of the implementation
of the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) that aims to
understand the rapidly changing Arctic, improve predictive capability,
and identify appropriate adaptive responses to change. The agencies plan
to continue to coordinate their efforts, make the data readily available
in usable form, and work together to serve Arctic residents, involving
them in the observing and research efforts as full partners.
The development and deployment of the AON is a major contribution to the
International Polar Year (IPY), a time of intensive and coordinated
scientific activity at both poles. The new report sets forth a plan to
continue the observations in cooperation with local, state of Alaska,
and international groups.
Established by Congress through the Arctic Research and Policy Act, the
Interagency Committee is led by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The report is available online at:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf0842/
For more information on AON, please contact:
Martin Jeffries, NSF
Email: mjeffrie [at] nsf.gov
For more information on IARPC, please contact:
Fae Korsmo, NSF
Email: fkorsmo [at] nsf.gov