Dear Colleague Letter from SEARCH
NASA Solicitations
Dear Colleagues,
The Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) Science Steering
Committee (SSC) encourages members of the arctic research community to
respond to three relevant NASA Research Announcements: (1)
Interdisciplinary Research in Earth Science (NASA Solicitation
NNH12ZDA001N-IDS), (2) Sea Level Rise (NNH13ZDA001N-SLR), and (3)
Cryospheric Science (NNH13ZDA001N-CRYO), with particular emphasis on
those SEARCH science goals and objectives that overlap with the focus of
the solicitations. We would like to highlight a few resources that may
be useful in linking proposal topics to identified priorities from the
science community, including those referenced in the “Arctic Research
Plan: FY 2013-2017” recently released by the Interagency Arctic Research
Policy Committee (IARPC).
INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN EARTH SCIENCE (NNH12ZDA001N-IDS)
Notices Of Intent Due: 1 March 2013
According to the NASA Solicitation, research investigations will meet
the following criteria: a) offer a fundamental advance to our
understanding of the Earth system; b) be based on remote sensing data,
especially satellite observations, but including suborbital sensors as
appropriate; c) go beyond correlation of data sets and seek to
understand the underlying causality of change through determination of
the specific physical, chemical, and/or biological processes involved;
d) be truly interdisciplinary in scope by involving traditionally
disparate disciplines of the Earth sciences; and e) address at least one
of five specific themes:
- Understanding Earth System Vulnerabilities to Climate Extremes
- Impacts of Changing Polar Ice Cover
- Water and Energy Cycle Impacts of Biomass Burning
- Impacts of Population growth on watersheds and coastal ecology
- Role of Permafrost in a Changing Climate.
For further information on this solicitation, please go to:
http://tinyurl.com/NASA-InterDiscEarthScience.
SEA LEVEL RISE (NNH13ZDA001N-SLR)
Proposals Due: 31 May 2013
This solicitation calls for proposals to support the following:
- Interdisciplinary research required to improve the accuracy and
spatial resolution of current and future sea level change estimates;
- Development of a web portal to serve as a central hub for the
effort, including communicating results in a simplified manner to
the scientific community and general public; and
- Establishment of the NASA Sea Level Change Team (N-SLCT) to foster
this work.
For further information on this solicitation, please go to:
http://tinyurl.com/NASA-SeaLevelRise.
CRYOSPHERIC SCIENCE (NNH13ZDA001N-CRYO)
Proposals Due: 17 June 2013
This solicitation calls for proposals to understand the mechanisms of
change in ice in the polar regions and their implications for global
climate, sea level, and the polar environment. Proposed studies should
use space-based, aircraft based, and other remote sensing techniques to
understand the factors controlling the retreat and growth of the world’s
major sea- and land-based ice sheets and their interactions with the
ocean, atmosphere, solid earth, and solar radiation. To this end, NASA
is soliciting studies of (a) the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets to
understand the controls on their mass balance, and (b) the northern and
southern hemisphere ice-covered oceans to determine their response to
climate change. Field studies are considered only if closely tied to
remote sensing efforts.
For further information on this solicitation, please go to:
http://tinyurl.com/NASA-CryosphericScience.
Much of the focus in these solicitations align with SEARCH’s
interdisciplinary approach as well as the four SEARCH science goals,
which are:
-Improve Understanding, Advance Prediction, and Explore Consequences
of Changing Arctic Sea Ice
-Document and Understand How Degradation of Near-Surface Permafrost
Will Affect Arctic and Global Systems
-Improve Predictions of Future Land-ice Loss and Impacts on Sea
Level
-Analyze Societal and Policy Implications of Arctic Environmental
Change
The full text of the goals and objectives, as well as framing science
questions, can be found at: http://www.arcus.org/search/goals.
A SEARCH white paper outlining approaches to “Understanding Arctic
Change” can be found at: http://www.arcus.org/search/understanding.
Note that this letter does not represent NASA or other agency positions.
These SEARCH resources can facilitate ideas and potential partnerships
to strengthen proposals. Please do not hesitate to contact members of
the SEARCH SSC
(http://www.arcus.org/search/sciencecoordination/ssccommittee.php) to
further explore these topics and identify areas where we can help.
Inquiries may also go to Helen Wiggins, Arctic Research Consortium of
the U.S. (ARCUS), at: helen [at] arcus.org.
Sincerely,
Hajo Eicken, SEARCH SSC Chair
Helen Wiggins, SEARCH Project Office, ARCUS
ArcticInfo is administered by the Arctic Research Consortium of the
United States (ARCUS). Please visit us on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.arcus.org/
At any time you may:
Subscribe or unsubscribe by using the web form located at:
http://www.arcus.org/arcticinfo/subscription.html
To be removed from the list at any time send an email to:
arcticinfo-unsub [at] arcus.org
To resubscribe send an email to:
arcticinfo-sub [at] arcus.org
Subscribers to ArcticInfo will automatically receive the newsletter,
Witness the Arctic.If you would prefer not to receive Witness the Arctic,
specify on the web form.
Subscribe and unsubscribe actions are automatic. Barring mail system
failure you should receive responses from our system as confirmation to
your requests.
If you have information you would like to post to the mailing list send
the message to: list [at] arcus.org
You can search back issues of ArcticInfo by content or date at:
http://www.arcus.org/arcticinfo/arcticinfo_search.html
If you have any questions please contact the list administrator at:
list [at] arcus.org
ARCUS
3535 College Road, Suite 101
Fairbanks, AK 99709-3710
907-474-1600
907-474-1604 (fax)
ArcticInfo is funded by the National Science Foundation as a service to
the research community through Cooperative Agreement ARC-0618885 with
ARCUS. Any information, opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are those of the information
sources and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science
Foundation or ARCUS.