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About

Witness the Arctic provides information on current arctic research efforts and findings, significant research initiatives, national policy affecting arctic research, international activities, and profiles of institutions with major arctic research efforts. Witness serves an audience of arctic scientists, educators, agency personnel, and policy makers. Witness was published biannually in hardcopy from 1995-2008 (archives are available below) and is currently published online 3-4 times annually, depending on newsworthy events.

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Witness the Arctic Volume 13, Number 4 Cover

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With the Spring 2009 issue, ARCUS changed the format of Witness the Arctic. To provide more frequent updates and reduce printing and mailing costs and associated environmental impacts, the newsletter is now distributed online in three or four shorter issues per year, depending on newsworthy events.

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If you have a question or idea for a Witness article, contact Kristina Creek at creek [at] arcus [dot] org.

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Witness the Arctic | Volume 13, Number 4

Feature Article

2010 State of the Arctic Conference: At the Forefront of Global Change
State of the Arctic 2010 Website
The State of the Arctic Conference, to be held 16–19 March 2010 in Miami, Florida, will be a major milestone for arctic science, providing an international forum to review current knowledge of the arctic system in a time of rapid environmental change and point to future research, resource...
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Articles

Arctic Research Support and Logistics

Toolik Field Station elevation drawing.
Planned Upgrades Will Expand Toolik Field Station’s Winter Capacity
Toolik Field Station (TFS), located on Alaska's north slope and administered by the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has operated year-round since 2006. Plans are underway for a new year-round-capable kitchen and dining facility, which will increase the "winter-...
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Interagency Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH)

"Understanding Arctic Change" Task Force Members
SEARCH and ARCSS Form Joint “Understanding Arctic Change” Task Force
Over the past few years, the SEARCH (Study of Environmental Arctic Change) and ARCSS (Arctic System Science Program) communities have discussed the increasing need for improved integration and coordination between the two programs and their respective planning processes. Recently, the SEARCH...
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Sea Ice Outlook: 2009 Summary Reports and Plans for 2010
The Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) Sea Ice Outlook (SIO) is an international effort to provide a community-wide summary of the expected September arctic sea ice minimum at pan-arctic and regional scales. Several activities have been completed or are underway to summarize the 2009...
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AON Design and Implementation Task Force Formed
The interagency Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) is organizing the first phase of a rapid planning process to provide guidance to NSF and other governmental agencies, the scientific community, and others engaged in arctic environmental observations on how to best achieve a well-...
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International News

Second Phase of SAON Underway
The Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) initiative has now begun a second phase, and the Arctic Council (AC) together with the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the World Meteorological Organization have formed a steering group (SAON SG) to lead its development.
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ASSW 2010 Hosted by Greenland
The 12th Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) will be held in Nuuk, Greenland, on 15−19 April 2010. The purpose of the summit, which is organized by the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and other scientific organizations, is to provide opportunities for international coordination,...
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Arctic Natural Sciences Program

Geophysical Institute Permafrost Lab (GIPL) model
Project Integrates Permafrost Science and Climate Change Modeling
Permafrost thaw, a result of ongoing high latitude warming, has a number of consequences ranging from infrastructure damage to accelerated release of carbon and methane to the atmosphere. Despite the important role of permafrost in the geological, ecological, engineering, and climate change...
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U.S. Arctic Research Commission

USARC Appoints Cheryl Rosa as Deputy and Alaska Office Director
The U.S. Arctic Research Commission (USARC) recently appointed a new deputy director and reopened their Anchorage office. The commission's biennial Report on Goals and Objectives for Arctic Research is also in the final stages of review.
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A Note From the ARCUS Executive Director

Witness the Arctic Editor Alison York Joins UAF's Center for Alaska Native Health Research
After 12 years of service, Alison York has left ARCUS for a position at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR). Alison served as Witness the Arctic editor since 1998, investigating a wide range of arctic research issues and initiatives and working...
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Member Insert

Photo courtesy of Dartmouth College.
Arctic Research at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College has a long tradition of research and teaching in northern and polar studies. Originally founded in 1769 for the education of Native Americans, Dartmouth is the ninth oldest college in the U.S. Enrollment is approximately 1,800 graduate and 4,100 undergraduate students and includes...
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Photo by Meredith Kelly.
Department of Earth Sciences
In the Department of Earth Sciences (www.dartmouth.edu/~earthsci/), research and teaching emphasize watershed processes, environmental geochemistry, glaciology, geomicrobiology, structural geology and geophysics, sedimentology, paleontology, and remote sensing. A number of faculty specialize in low...
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Collecting soils on a south-facing slope in West Greenland.
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program
The Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~biology/eeb/index.html) encompasses all areas of ecology, evolutionary biology, and related disciplines.
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Thayer School of Engineering
The three main research areas at the Thayer School of Engineering (http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/) are engineering in medicine, energy technologies, and complex systems. Thayer faculty work on many aspects of ice physics and engineering. Thayer supports advanced instrumentation to characterize...
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Department of Physics and Astronomy
The Department of Physics and Astronomy has a strong program in theoretical and experimental space physics (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~physics/research/space.physics.html). Faculty members Jim LaBelle, Kristina Lynch, and Robyn Millan have a long history of rocket and balloon studies of the solar...
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Undergraduate Elizabeth Parker
Undergraduate Fellowships for Arctic Research
Part of Dartmouth's commitment to undergraduate education includes getting students involved in the research process early on—the Institute of Arctic Studies awards Stefansson Fellowships to undergraduate students whose research requires travel to arctic locations. Supported projects span the...
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Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879–1962), a Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist.
Art and Artifacts of the North
The Dartmouth College Library (http://library.dartmouth.edu/) houses rare research collections in polar studies that range from the latest scientific journal articles to historical photographs and manuscripts in the Stefansson Collection on Polar Exploration in the Rauner Special Collections...
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Institute for Applied Circumpolar Policy
The University of the Arctic's Institute for Applied Circumpolar Policy (IACP; http://iacp.dartmouth.edu/), a collaboration with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, was established in 2008 and is located at the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth. The mission of IACP is to...
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Graduate Education in Polar Environmental Change
In 2008, Dartmouth's Dickey Center for International Understanding was awarded a five-year NSF Interdisciplinary Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) grant to develop a Ph.D. program in polar environmental change (www.dartmouth.edu/~igert/). The U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and...
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Executive Director: Susan E. Fox ARCUS is a nonprofit organization consisting of institutions organized and operated for educational, professional, or scientific purposes. Established by its member institutions in 1988 with the primary mission of strengthening arctic research, ARCUS activities are funded through cooperative agreements with NSF and the National Park Service, grants from NSF, a contract with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and membership dues. Witness the Arctic is published periodically by ARCUS. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF. Editor: Sarah Behr Contributors: M. Abels, V. Alexander, B. Barnes, M. Bret-Harte, K. Creek, H. Eicken, J. Farrell, S. Fox, L. McDavid, J. Overland, V. Rachold, O. Rogne, V. Romanovsky, C. Rosa, J. Walsh, H. Wiggins.
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