The Arctic Collaborative Environment (ACE) is an internet-based, open-access, Arctic-focused, information exploitation, environmental research and decision-support system that integrates data from existing remote sensing assets, products from existing and new environmental models, and in-situ reporting to provide monitoring, analysis, and geo-referenced visualization based on earth observation data and modeling. These products may be layered within tailored map projections and integrated into a community-based public or private collaborative communication and coordination environment, available to anyone with access to the public Internet. ACE was developed to enable local, regional, and international cooperation and coordination on long-term environmental planning and near-term actions in response to climatic, environmental and situational changes occurring in the Arctic Region.
A Technical Review and Interchange Meeting (TRIM) to introduce and train users to confidently utilize this system will be convened at the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on September 9 & 10, 2013.
The major objectives of the ACE TRIM will be to:
- Provide general background for the ACE Project
- Familiarize the user community with the current system and capabilities of the ACE tool
- Provide adequate training for individual users to apply the system for their specific analyses
- Stimulate discussions on potential applications to support research user communities
- Stimulate initial discussions on potential applications to support Arctic related educational activities and proposal opportunities
- Establish a collaborative forum for discussion of potential proposal topics for research using the ACE tool
- Identify specific potential new partners for collaborative investigations, proposal opportunities and timeframes for action
- Identify and prioritize new and enhanced capabilities and data sets desired by the research and education user communities
Participation will be limited to 40 individuals. Registration for the ACE TRIM is available here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/7774067445
No funds are available to provide participant travel or per diem support; however, there will be no cost for attendance.
This meeting is hosted by IARC and the University of Alaska Arctic Region Supercomputing Center (ARSC). ARSC is a high-performance computing (HPC) research unit of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. IARC is an international focal point for synthesis of our understanding of the Arctic system and the application of this understanding to prediction of the evolution of the Arctic system over the next century. Our goal is to reduce the uncertainty in predictions of Arctic change. In order to do so, we must understand ongoing changes. Understanding, in turn, requires attribution in terms of characterizing and quantifying linkages among system components. IARC’s strategy for synthesizing our understanding and predictive capabilities is to entrain the international Arctic research community into activities that are essential for scientific progress and that are not often amenable to support through conventional funding channels.
To help address some of these Arctic challenges and opportunities, the U.S. Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC)representing 13 Federal agencies, departments, and officeshas crafted the FY 2013-2017 Arctic Research Plan. This plan provides a blueprint for effective Federal coordination of Arctic research for the next half-decade to help maintain a U.S. focus on Arctic stewardship for many years to come. Because the Arctic is geographically remote and environmentally harsh, advancing regional knowledge and understanding requires specialized research platforms, instruments and cyberinfrastructure. The Arctic Collaborative Environment (ACE) tool was identified in this Arctic Research Plan as potentially offering a virtual network cyberinfrastructure capability for use in facilitating online communication, collaboration and scientific discovery among researchers with an emphasis on Web-based visualization, analysis and interpretation of diverse datasets and information.
Additional information on ACE is available at https://ace.arsc.edu/
Additional information on IARC is available at http://www.iarc.uaf.edu/
Additional information on ARSC is available at http://www.arsc.edu/arsc/