Dear Colleague:
The report to the National Science Foundation (NSF) on "Opportunities in
Arctic Research" is now available on the ARCUS Web site
http://www.arcus.org.
These recommendations were developed during a community workshop held in
Arlington, Virginia, on 3-4 September 1998. Twenty-eight scientists
representing a wide spectrum of arctic research interests identified
critical research questions and support requirements. The discussion and
subsequent recommendations are described in "Opportunities in Arctic
Research: Final Report". The report, which was reviewed in draft form by
the workshop participants and the core organizing group, was prepared by
the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) through support
from the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement
OPP-9727899 and
was submitted to NSF in October 1998.
The NSF invited the arctic research community to engage in this effort in
order to aid the Foundation's planning process and ability to respond
rapidly to the budget increases in the FY99 Congressional appropriation.
(See http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/rd/rdwwwpg.htm for information on the
federal research budget and
http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/forum/colwell/rc80903.htm for the opening remarks
delivered by the Director of NSF at the Arctic Opportunities workshop).
The final report from the workshop was prepared under a stringent deadline
because the results of these deliberations were important for discussions
and planning processes initiated at the beginning of the federal fiscal
year (October 1998).
The report outlines current opportunities in arctic research and challenges
in arctic research support needs. A distinctive feature of this report is
that it attempts to balance inputs and perspectives provided by the
physical, biological and social science communities. While it takes into
account earlier planning exercises in arctic research, it also includes
some ideas that have not been explicitly articulated previously, such as
defining NSF's possible role in contaminant studies, the importance of
long-term observations and monitoring as a foundation for basic research in
the Arctic, and the significance of the Arctic in high atmosphere studies.
The report also stresses the need for integrated research approaches to
study change in the Arctic and to improve our understanding of the links
between physical and biological phenomena and soceoeconomic changes.
Community discussion on these recommendations will continue to be very
important and we encourage you to contact us with your thoughts on the
issues discussed in this report. The report is available on the ARCUS Web
site at http://www.arcus.org in html or pdf format.
Sincerely,
Peter Schlosser peters [at] ldeo.columbia.edu, workshop co-chair
John Walsh, walsh [at] atmos.uiuc.edu, workshop co-chair
Tom Pyle, tpyle [at] nsf.gov, Arctic Section Head, Office of Polar Programs,
National Science Foundation