Dear Colleague:
A committee has been charged by the Polar Research Board to provide
guidance on setting future priorities for a major multidisciplinary
program within NSFs Office of Polar Programs. The committee intends to
represent the needs of the Arctic research community and hence solicits
input from active Arctic researchers.In this context, you are invited to
join a town meeting to discuss OPP Arctic Natural Sciences Program.More
information and background material is provided below.
The OPP Arctic Natural Sciences Program meeting will be held next week
during the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco at
4:00-5:30 PM, Thursday Dec. 11 in Moscone Center, Room 220.
I wish to point out that directly following the town meeting, the Arctic
Institute of North America (AINA) and the Arctic Research Consortium of
the United States (ARCUS) are hosting a reception. The reception will
honor Linc Washburn, a former director of AINA, and will be on Thursday,
Dec. 11, 5:30-7:30 PM in Moscone Center, Room 200-212. This follows the
Special Sessions, on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, which are
being held in honor of Linc (H03 Periglacial Processes: A Special
Session in Honor of Linc Washburn).
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
NSFs Arctic Natural Science Program funds research in a diverse range of
disciplines, from atmospheric science and space science to biology,
geology, glaciology, and oceanography, and thus serves an enormous
research community. At the request of the National Science Foundation,
the Polar Research Board formed the Committee on NSFs Arctic Natural
Sciences Program to examine the Arctic Natural Science Programs
operation and current research priorities and provide input on how the
program can set priorities and maintain a balanced portfolio given the
diverse scientific issues that fall within its purview. The study will
consider the programs management strategy, suggest ways to compare
proposals in diverse fields, and suggest how to judge which proposals
are best suited for the Arctic Natural Sciences Program versus other,
related NSF programs. The study will also seek ways to improve the
programs approach to interagency and international collaborations.
To gather information for this evaluation, the committee has met with
staff from a variety of relevant NSF programs, we have reviewed
documentation of the ANS program over its first two years, and we are
talking with members the Arctic research community. As one part of
this, we are posting a brief questionnaire on an Internet site (the
Polar Research Boards homepage at http://www2.nas.edu/prb/) beginning
December 1, 1997 and closing February 10, 1998. We hope to hear from a
broad range of researchers who are or stand to be affected by the ANSP.
You are welcome to contact any of the committee members; their names are
listed below.
Bernard Hallet University of Washington Quaternary Research Center Box
351360 Seattle, WA 98195-1360 206-685-2409 / FAX-206-543-3836
***** Committee on NSFs Arctic Natural Sciences Program: John Andrews
(chair), University of Colorado, Boulder Susan Avery, University of
Colorado, Boulder Marianne Douglas, University of Toronto, Department of
Geology Bernard Hallet, University of Washington-Seattle Paul A.
Mayewski, University of New Hampshire James H. Morison, University of
Washington-Seattle Kim Peterson, University of Alaska Anchorage Donald
B. Siniff, University of Minnesota Roger W. Smith, University of
Alaska-Fairbanks
Issues and questions to consider and help prepare you for the town
meeting.
Some people have argued that the ANSP is too broad and unfocused, and
thus it is relied upon as the place to send things when no other home is
obvious. Others have wondered how the program can maintain balance and
set research priorities given its diverse portfolio. The following
questions address these issues (skip this section if you have no direct
experience with the ANSP).
What areas of research do you think should be funded within the purview
of ANSP? (Provide examples if you can.)
In your opinion, is there an area of Arctic research that is not now
covered by the ANSP, ARCSS, or other NSF programs?
Given the diverse discipline for which ANSP is responsible (space
science, atmospheric science, biology, geology, glaciology, and
oceanography), how do you think the program should ensure a balanced
portfolio?
How should research priorities be determined and implemented?
Provide any suggestions you have for improving the effectiveness of the
ANSP:
If, for management reasons, it was decided that the ANSP should be
subdivided into research areas or categories, what should they be?
(e.g., oceans/atmosphere/terrestrial or
oceans/glaciology/geology/biology/atmospheric)
What would be the advantages and disadvantages of your categories?
Would they provide enough breadth of opportunity or opportunity for
cross-disciplinary work?
Do you believe that ANSP should follow a thematic focus or continue as
now accepting proposals in a wide array of areas?
Many NSF programs select key research themes and encourage proposals
that respond to those themes. To your knowledge has the ANS program
suffered from a lack of a unifying research theme? If so, what theme(s)
that might be used to focus and drive the program, given the diversity
of disciplines covered?
***** More Background Material from NSF's Web Page
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
Listed below are the principal NSF research programs which support
arctic research. There are three integrated programs in OPP: Arctic
Natural Sciences, Arctic Social Sciences, and Arctic System Science.
These programs and their disciplinary components are described below
together with other relevant NSF programs.
Arctic Natural Sciences Program
The OPP Arctic Natural Sciences Program is a multidisciplinary program
within OPP which supports research in the atmospheric sciences,
biological sciences, earth sciences, glaciology, and oceanography. This
program provides core support for disciplinary research in the Arctic
and coordinates arctic research with the Directorates for Geosciences
and Biological Sciences. Additionally, the program helps facilitate OPP
multidisciplinary, cross-disciplinary and bipolar projects. The scope of
Arctic Natural Sciences Program is described below for each disciplinary
area.
Atmospheric Sciences
Traditionally, research interest in arctic meteorology is focused on
stratus clouds, tropospheric chemistry, radiation balance, arctic lows,
and arctic haze. Support of research on past climates and atmospheric
gases as preserved in snow and ice cores have also been supported in the
Arctic as has atmosphere-sea and atmosphere-ice interactions.
In upper atmospheric physics, currently funded research includes auroral
studies, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, the plasmapause, and wave
particle interactions. Conjugate studies can be considered jointly with
the Antarctic Aeronomy and Astrophysics Program.
The Division of Atmospheric Sciences supports projects in aeronomy,
atmospheric chemistry, climate dynamics, large-scale meteorology,
magnetospheric physics, mesoscale dynamic meteorology, physical
meteorology, and solar terrestrial research.
Biological Sciences
OPP supports projects emphasizing the adaptation of organisms to the
arctic environment. Biological studies in the Arctic include support of
research in freshwater, marine, and terrestrial biology, organismal
adaptation to the arctic environment; ecology; ecosystem structure and
processes; and the biological consequences of ultraviolet radiation.
Accelerated interest in the Arctic as a source of natural resources has
stimulated research on the effects of human activities on the
environment and in its protection and management.
The Division of Environmental Biology supports programs in ecology,
ecosystem studies, population biology and physiological ecology,
conservation biology, systematic biology, and biological research
resources.
A special component of the program focuses on human factors research in
the Arctic and Antarctic in collaboration with the Arctic Social
Sciences Program (refer below) and the Antarctic Biology and Medicine
Program.
Earth Sciences
Research supported by OPP includes all sub-disciplines of terrestrial
and marine geology and geophysics. Special emphasis is placed on
understanding geological processes important to the arctic regions and
geologic history dominated by those processes. Paleoenvironmental
research and research to understand interrelated physical and biological
systems is supported by the Arctic System Science Program. The Earth
Sciences Division in the Geosciences Directorate supports programs in
tectonics, continental dynamics, geology and paleontology, geophysics,
petrology and geochemistry, and instrumentation and facilities. The
Foundation does not support projects aimed at prospecting for mineral
occurrences or deposits.
Glaciology
The Office of Polar Programs is the focal point for glaciological
research within the Foundation. Glaciological research is concerned
with the study of the history and dynamics of all naturally occurring
forms of snow and ice, including seasonal snow, glaciers, and the
Greenland ice sheet. Program emphases include paleoenvironments from ice
cores, ice dynamics, numerical modeling, glacial geology, and remote
sensing of ice sheets.
The Climate Dynamics Program in the Division of Atmospheric Sciences and
Geology and Paleontology Program in the Division of Earth Sciences also
fund paleoenvironmental research related to glaciology.
Oceanography
Oceanographic research in the Arctic encompasses a variety of
disciplines whose goal is to develop knowledge of the structure of the
Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas, their physical interactions with the
global hydrosphere, and the formation and maintenance of the arctic
sea-ice cover. Areas of interest in OPP are the formation, movement,
and mixing of arctic water masses; the growth and decay of sea ice; the
exchange of salt and heat with the Atlantic Ocean and the Bering Sea;
magnetic anomalies, heat flow, sedimentary history, and gravitational
values at the ocean floor; and the role of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent
seas in global climate. The interdependencies of chemical and physical
processes and marine organisms and productivity are considered here and
under biology.
The Division of Ocean Sciences supports programs in biological
oceanography, chemical oceanography, physical oceanography, marine
geology and geophysics, and oceanographic technology. The Foundation
encourages the development of remote sensing techniques and their use on
remotely operated vehicles.
Arctic Social Sciences Program
The OPP Arctic Social Sciences Program is a multidisciplinary and
interdisciplinary program encompassing archaeology; cultural, social,
and physical anthropology; decision and risk management science;
ethnology; history; geography; sociology; psychology; linguistics;
political science; law; economics; and related subjects.
Interdisciplinary research themes of particular concern are rapid social
change, community viability and human/environment interactions,
including issues related to subsistence and sustainable development. The
Arctic Social Sciences Program has its own review panel although joint
review and funding with disciplinary programs in the Social, Behavioral
and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE) is pursued when appropriate.
Special Human Dimensions of Global Change (HDGC) funding opportunities
may also be available together with the Arctic Systems Science Program
(refer below). Support can be provided for general HDGC research, policy
sciences research, and for research centers and teams (Refer
announcement NSF 94-166).
Research on human factors in the Arctic and Antarctic is supported in
conjunction with the OPP Antarctic Biology and Medicine Program.
Relevant themes include small group interactions, stress and adaptation,
and cognition and performance.
Arctic System Science (ARCSS) Program
The ARCSS Program is an interdisciplinary OPP program, the goal of which
is to understand the physical, geological, chemical, biological and
sociocultural processes of the arctic system that interact with the
total Earth system and thus contribute to or are influenced by global
change. ARCSS has five linked ongoing components: Greenland Ice Sheet
Program (GISP2), Paleoclimate of Arctic Lakes and Estuaries (PALE),
Ocean/Atmosphere/Ice Interactions (OAII), Land/Atmosphere/Ice
Interactions (LAII), and Synthesis, Integration and Modeling Studies
(SIMS). In cooperation with the Arctic Social Sciences Program projects
on human/environment interactions, system sustainability, and the HDGC
are supported (refer above).