Witness the Arctic | Spring 1996

Synthesis Efforts Advance ARCSS Research Goals

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Arctic System Science (ARCSS) Program, in response to recommendations from the ARCSS Advisory Committee (AAC), expects to emphasize support for proposals that deal with Synthesis, Integration, and Modeling Studies (SIMS) across the five major programs of ARCSS or with other large Arctic research programs.

As of 1 January 1996, the ARCSS Program has two target dates for proposal submission: 1 June and 15 December. The AAC has recommended the SIMS emphasis for proposals submitted for the 1 June 1996 Arctic Research Program (NSF 95-113) deadline. The complete recommendation prepared by the AAC is available from ARCUS.

Guidelines for ARCSS modeling efforts developed by the Modeling Working Group and AAC resulted in an ARCSS Modeling workshop, held in Boulder in January 1996. Over 50 participants from within and outside the ARCSS community summarized the status of Arctic modeling. They recommended that the ARCSS modeling effort:

• Should be inclusive with broad overlap between programs;
  
• should emphasize studies aimed at gaining insight into and making predictions about the Arctic system;
  
• should culminate in development of models that can be used to extrapolate knowledge over broad areas; and
  
• should yield quantitative and qualitative information about the future response of the Arctic system to change.
  

Recommendations from the workshop will be forwarded toNSFin support of the SIMS emphasis. Publication of the modeling report is planned for May 1996.
Researchers engaged in the first seven years of ARCSS research will come together 1-3 May 1996 in Snowbird, Utah at the first ARCSS All-Hands Workshop. There, multidisciplinary groups will work together to plan future research priorities.

Invited participants include ARCSS principal and co-investigators, post-doctoral researchers, and graduate students. Investigators from other major national and international Arctic research programs, as well as representatives of federal agencies conducting Arctic research, will also attend.

NSF and ARCUS have placed a high priority on involving young investigators; targeting graduate students and post-doctoral researchers for available travel funds. Contact ARCUS for travel, lodging, and workshop information. The advisory committee, at its February 1996 meeting in Seattle, developed a set of themes around which All-Hands participants will report on current research and identify problems requiring further work. The major theme, Variability of the Arctic System: Manifestations and Mechanisms, and related sub-themes, will call for highly integrated, interdisciplinary approaches to planning.

Recommendations from All-Hands working groups will form much of the updated ARCSS plan, Arctic System Science: A Plan for Integration. Work on the revised plan is underway; publication will follow the ARCSS workshop. Recognizing that data coordination is essential to a successful multidisciplinary research effort, the Data Management Working Group has submitted data-protocol recommendations to the AAC for review. Further discussion regarding ARCSS data policies will take place at the All-Hands Workshop.
Planning for the Human Dimensions of the Arctic System (HARC) initiative is now underway. An October 1995 meeting advanced the initial advisory committee recommendations (1993); futher development of science priorities will occur at All-Hands.

In November 1995, W. Berry Lyons, a geochemist with extensive experience in both polar research and leading multi-disciplinary projects, was named chair of the AAC. Under his leadership, the AAC continues to review ongoing ARCSS programs, plan for coordinated data management, develop and guide the modeling efforts, and address potential new initiatives and priorities. The AAC and the two working groups will meet next at the All-Hands Workshop. Meetings of all three groups are planned for Fall 1996 as well.

For more information, contact AAC chair, W. Berry Lyons (205/348-0583; fax 205/348-0818; blyons@wgs.geo.ua.edu) or ARCUS .