This document has been archived. VOLUME 12 SPRING/SUMMER 1998 A R C T I C R E S E A R C H O F T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S 1 I N T E R A G E N C Y A R C T I C R E S E A R C H P O L I C Y C O M M I T T E E About The journal Arctic Research of the United normal editorial process, manuscripts are not ref- States is for people and organizations interested in ereed for scientific content or merit since the jour- the learning about U.S. Government-financed Arctic nal is not intended as a means of reporting scien- research activities. It is published semi-annually tific research. Articles are generally invited and Journal (spring and fall) by the National Science Founda- are reviewed by agency staffs and others as appro- tion on behalf of the Interagency Arctic Research priate. Policy Committee and the Arctic Research Com- As indicated in the U.S. Arctic Research Plan, mission. Both the Interagency Committee and the research is defined differently by different agen- Commission were authorized under the Arctic cies. It may include basic and applied research, Research and Policy Act of 1984 (PL 98-373) and monitoring efforts, and other information-gathering established by Executive Order 12501 (January activities. The definition of Arctic according to the 28, 1985). Publication of the journal has been ARPA is “all United States and foreign territory approved by the Office of Management and north of the Arctic Circle and all United States ter- Budget. ritory north and west of the boundary formed by Arctic Research contains the Porcupine, Yukon, and Kuskokwim Rivers; all • Reports on current and planned U.S. Govern- contiguous seas, including the Arctic Ocean and ment-sponsored research in the Arctic; the Beaufort, Bering, and Chukchi Seas; and the • Reports of ARC and IARPC meetings; and Aleutian chain.” Areas outside of the boundary are • Summaries of other current and planned discussed in the journal when considered relevant Arctic research, including that of the State of to the broader scope of Arctic research. Alaska, local governments, the private sector Issues of the journal will report on Arctic topics and other nations; and and activities. Included will be reports of confer- Arctic Research is aimed at national and inter- ences and workshops, university-based research national audiences of government officials, scien- and activities of state and local governments and tists, engineers, educators, private and public public, private and resident organizations. Unsolic- groups, and residents of the Arctic. The emphasis ited nontechnical reports on research and related is on summary and survey articles covering U.S. activities are welcome. Government-sponsored or -funded research rather Address correspondence to Editor, Arctic Re- than on technical reports, and the articles are in- search, Arctic Research and Policy Staff, Office tended to be comprehensible to a nontechnical of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation, audience. Although the articles go through the 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington VA 22203. Cover Brown bear catching sockeye salmon (also known as red salmon) at Brooks Falls, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. 2 VOLUME 12 SPRING/SUMMER 1998 A R C T I C R E S E A R C H O F T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee This issue of Arctic Research of the United States presents highlights Department of Agriculture and results of major fiscal year 1996 and 1997 Arctic research programs and selected projects of the Federal agenies. For more information, you Department of Commerce may contact the agency staff representatives listed on page 152. Department of Defense Department of Energy Department of Health and Human Services National Science Foundation 2 Department of the Interior Department of the Interior 10 Department of State Minerals Management Service 10 Department of Transportation Fish and Wildlife Service 22 Environmental Protection Agency National Park Service 28 Bureau of Land Management 39 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Geological Survey 44 National Science Foundation Department of Defense 57 Smithsonian Institution National Aeronautics and Space Administration 62 Office of Management and Budget Department of Commerce 72 Office of Science and Technology Policy Department of Agriculture 89 Department of Energy 92 Arctic Research Commission Department of Health and Human Services 98 George B. Newton, Jr., Chairman Smithsonian Institution 116 Arlington, Virginia Environmental Protection Agency 122 Richard K. Glenn Department of Transportation 127 Barrow, Alaska Department of State 133 E. Lee Gorsuch Anchorage, Alaska Seventh Biennial Report of the Interagency Arctic Research John E. Hobbie Policy Committee to the Congress 136 Woods Hole, Massachusetts Report of Meeting: Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee 147 James A. Palmer Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee Staff 152 Anchorage, Alaska Walter B. Parker Anchorage, Alaska John R. Roderick Anchorage, Alaska Neal F. Lane, Ex Officio Arlington, Virginia Managing Editorial Committee Charles E. Myers, National Science Foundation—Editor John Haugh, Bureau of Land Management—Associate Editor David W. Cate, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory—Consulting Editor Editing and production: Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, New Hampshire Donna R. Valliere, Production Assistant 3 National Science Foundation National Science Foundation research is concerned with the entire Arctic region, including Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Svalbard, the Arctic Ocean, and adjacent seas, the upper atmosphere and near space. Research falls principally within eight major scientific disciplines: atmosphere, ocean, biology, earth science, glaciology, social science, engineering and science education. National Science Foundation research is con- Funding (thousands) cerned with the entire Arctic region, including FY 96 FY 97 Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Svalbard, the Arctic Arctic Natural Science 10,382 10,316 Ocean and adjacent seas, the upper atmosphere Arctic System Science Prog 15,539 13,564 Arctic Social Sciences Prog 1,861 1,408 and near space. Research falls principally within Arctic Research Support 639 415 eight major scientific research areas: atmospheric Arctic Data/Info/Coord 339 364 science, ocean science, biology, earth science, Arctic Research Commission 500 500 glaciology, social science, engineering and science Arctic Logistics/Instrumentation 0* 4,148 Other NSF Science Programs 16,959 18,674 education. Total 46,219 49,389 The NSF supports a formal Arctic research pro- gram within the Office of Polar Programs (OPP). * Included with other programs in FY 96. Other Divisions and programs throughout NSF, pri- marily in the Directorate for Geosciences and the Arctic System Science Division of Environmental Biology in the Direc- torate for Biological Sciences, support research in The National Science Foundation established and on the Arctic as part of their overall funding. the Arctic System Science (ARCSS) program in Most research grants are awarded on the basis of 1989. ARCSS is structured to be a regional compo- unsolicited proposals and are merit reviewed. nent within the U.S. Global Change Research Pro- In FY 97, NSF awarded funds for 358 Arctic gram. Administration of the program uses review research projects at 130 institutions in 38 states and expertise and financial support from the Office of the District of Columbia. NSF’s support of Arctic Polar Programs, the Divisions of the Geosciences research, including facilities support and field oper- Directorate and other components of NSF as ations, over the past several years is shown below appropriate. ARCSS is coordinated and managed (in thousands of dollars). by the Office of Polar Programs. Through a series of workshops and interactions with a broad scien- tific community, ARCSS has developed goals and FY 92 FY 93 FY 94 FY 95 FY 96 FY 97 priorities aimed at understanding the role of the OPP 20,638 22,072 24,205 25,809 29,118 30,715 Arctic in global change and how the Arctic will Other 14,308 13,779 16,279 19,386 16,959 18,674 Total 34,946 35,851 40,484 45,195 46,219 49,389 respond to global change. ARCSS is an interdisci- plinary program that examines the interactions within and between the climatic, geologic, bio- The following sections present highlights of sev- logic and socio-economic subsystems of the Arc- eral major programs and selected projects. A com- tic. ARCSS is predicated on the knowledge that Current information about plete listing of NSF Arctic funded projects can be the Arctic system is sensitive to and important in the research supported by found in the publication Arctic Science, Engineer- global change. ARCSS can be found on the ARCSS home page: ing, and Education Awards: FY 1997, available ARCSS has six linked components. The origi- http://nsidc.colorado. from the Office of Polar Programs, National Sci- nal ARCSS program included the Greenland Ice edu/ARCSS/ ence Foundation, Arlington, VA 22230. Sheet Project (GISP2), Paleoclimates from Lakes 4 and Estuaries (PALE), Ocean/Atmosphere/Ice change. PALE is complementary to GISP2 and Interactions (OAII) and Land/Atmosphere/Ice provides information on local, regional and global Interactions (LAII). Two new programs, Synthesis, changes. An Arctic circumpolar network of sam- Integration and Modeling Studies (SIMS) and pled sites has been established to describe the Human Dimensions of the Arctic System (HARC), regional variation of climate over the past 18,000 were established in 1994 and 1996, respectively. years. PALE has joined an international program, Science steering committees (SSCs) for each Circumpolar Arctic Paleoclimate Experiment component facilitate and enhance the ARCSS pro- (CAPE), to produce a reconstruction of the cir- gram and provide a focal point for communication cumarctic environment for three time slices: with the scientific community. Recommendations 2,000 years before the present (ybp), 6,000 ybp for overall coordination and integration of the and 20,000 ybp.