The SEARCH Sea Ice Action Network constructs knowledge pyramids to make scientific information increasingly accessible to policy makers, practitioners, journalists, students, and scientists in diverse fields. These knowledge pyramids organize information to answer specific questions related to why diminishing arctic sea ice matters across a range of topics.
Concise, jargon-free science briefs reside at the apex of the knowledge pyramids, offering a bottom-line message up front. These briefs are supported by a body of knowledge (informative graphics, scientific articles, peer-reviewed literature, and technical reports) organized across several underlying tiers with increasing levels of scientific complexity and technical detail. These tiers, in descending order, include longer summaries, conceptual syntheses, technical syntheses, and, at the base of the pyramid, detailed technical resources—the scientific building blocks.
The Sea Ice Matters Knowledge Pyramids are intended to support knowledge to action—a collaborative process where scientists and "actors" (policy-makers, practitioners, arctic residents, and other stakeholders) develop a shared understanding and define an arena where science-based knowledge can inform decisions. This is an iterative process where information is synthesized, adapted, and shared with specific users, and assessed in terms of its usefulness. In this sense, Sea Ice Matters must be an adaptive and timely resource, where its relevance to real-world responses to the challenges of arctic environmental change remains just as important as the credibility and authority of the provided information.
"If wise climate policy is to be informed by the best and most up-to-date climate science, scientists have a critical role to play in communicating their findings to the wider world"
~ Somerville and Hassol 2011 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.1296)