Witness the Arctic | Autumn 1998

These are exciting times for arctic science. This was abundantly clear during the arctic science sessions at the recent American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting. We saw significant new data from both collaborative and individual investigator experiments, learned about increasingly comprehensive models of large-scale arctic physical phenomena, and enjoyed seeing the interplay between experiment and theory spark the development of new understandings.

My colleagues in the NSF Office of Polar Programs (OPP) take pride in the accomplishments of the arctic research community and the role we have played in helping to make them possible. Our sense that the community is on the leading edge of important new science derives partly from the fact that data pointing to important new phenomena in--and interdependencies among--the physical, biological, and social sciences are now becoming available from a wide variety of platforms, instruments, and projects. The vitality and enthusiasm of the arctic research community, so evident at the AGU sessions, will inevitably push these scientific frontiers forward. Increases in NSF's 1999 Arctic Science budget will allow exploration of forefront problems, previously inaccessible because they required extensive logistics support.

Logistics involves not only research platforms and instruments, but the means to link researchers with Arctic communities. Last year NSF requested a doubling of funding for arctic logistics, and the Congress, clearly recognizing the importance of the Arctic, more than doubled the requested increase.

The opportunities afforded by these developments also present challenges to NSF and to the community. Together, we need to strike balances between support for researchers and research platforms and between support for individual investigators and large groups. We must invest our logistics funds to gain the greatest scientific return over the long term while taking advantage of arising opportunities. Most importantly, we must work together to assure a continuing flow of new talent into our enterprise. It was obvious at the AGU meeting that the arctic science community has been successful at this, and I will strongly encourage NSF's contribution to those efforts.

I believe our excellent team in OPP will meet these challenges successfully. Dr. Tom Pyle, a geologist and oceanographer who heads our Arctic Sciences Section, came to NSF three years ago with extensive experience as a sea-going researcher and as a manager of large, complex scientific and logistics programs. His experience and ability will be invaluable in charting our course through this time of growth in arctic science. Dr. Maryellen Cameron, who joined OPP as Executive Officer last year, has an outstanding two-decade-long research career in academia. This, along with the savvy gained directing programs in NSF's Directorate for Geosciences, enable her to play a key role as we respond to our new opportunities.

I'm sure I speak for all of us at NSF in saying we are delighted to be part of the efforts to advance our knowledge of the Arctic. We look forward to working with the arctic community--researchers and residents--as we tackle these challenges together. The best is yet to come!

Karl A. Erb

Physicist Karl A. Erb became the Director of NSF's Office of Polar Programs in November 1998. Erb has served as Senior Science Advisor at NSF since 1993.

Back to Witness the Arctic, Autumn 1998 Contents