The NSF Arctic Research Support and Logistics (RSL) program is hosting a workshop on strategies and recommendations for arctic research support and logistics. The workshop is planned for 2.5 days, 7-9 October 2013 in the Washington, D.C. area and will be organized by the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS).

Witness the Arctic | 2013 | Article | Image
Researchers install a new satellite antenna for the NASA-U Automatic Weather Station on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Photo by Jim Pottinger (PolarTREC 2011), Image courtesy of ARCUS

The RSL program supports the field component of research projects as well as activities that have benefits for the arctic research community. Services from the RSL program are available to projects funded by science programs in the Arctic Sciences Section and in some cases projects funded by other programs at NSF and other agencies.

Workshop Organizing Committee Members

Peter Griffith, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Office
James Morison, Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory-University of Washington
Steven Oberbauer, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University
Sophia Perdikaris, Anthropology and Archaeology, The City University of New York
Jackie Richter-Menge, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratoy
Matthew Shupe, University of Colorado and NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
Craig Tweedie, University of Texas at El Paso

NSF conducted two previous planning processes to solicit guidance on arctic research support and logistics needs, with resulting reports in 1997 and 2003. These reports had major impact on arctic research support; the 1997 report resulted in the creation of the NSF RSL program and the 2003 report catalyzed implementation of the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) and the Arctic Observing Network (AON). Since the last report, the research and research support landscapes have evolved considerably. As such, the NSF RSL program is convening a workshop that gathers representatives of the science community and agencies to discuss changing logistics support needs due to current and emerging scientific developments. The resulting report will inform the development of arctic research support to advance arctic research from the perspective of the research community.

Understanding that not everyone can participate in person, an online survey circulated prior to the workshop will gather input from the broader arctic science community to feed into the workshop discussion. All workshop updates will be announced via ArcticInfo.

For more information, please contact: Helen Wiggins (helen [at] arcus.org) or Kristina Creek (creek [at] arcus.org) at ARCUS, or Renée Crain (rcrain [at] nsf.gov) or Pat Haggerty (phaggert [at] nsf.gov) at the NSF RSL Program.