Arctic Research Programs

Finland

Arctic Centre University of Lapland

Polar Libraries and Information Sources The University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland offers an extensive list of polar information sites.

Germany

Alfred Wegener Institute The German National Centre for Polar and Marine Research focuses on scientific research in the polar regions, national coordination of polar research projects and logistic support of polar expeditions from other German institutes. Research work is carried out on board RV "Polarstern". The Institute focus is to achieve a better understanding of the complex relationship between water, ice, the atmosphere and the seabed as well as the fauna and flora.

Great Britain

Scott Polar Research Institute Different from the British Antarctic Survey! Part of the University of Cambridge. SPRI is the oldest research centre in the world which covers both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Research groups include a Remote Sensing Group, a Sea Ice and Polar Oceanography Group. Research also focuses on polar ecology and polar history. Links to The ICSU World Data Centre C (Glaciology) and the SCAR Working Group on Glaciology home page.

Polar Museusm Link This directory provides brief details of museums known to have collections relating to the Arctic and Antarctic. Compiled by William Mills, Librarian and Information Officer at the Scott Polar Research Institute, as part of a new reference work Keyguide to information sources on the polar and cold regions.

Norway

Arctic Climate System Study This program studies the relationship between global and Arctic climates.

Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) This catalogue contains information relating to the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP).
AMAP is an international organization established to implement certain components of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS) adopted by governments of the eight circumpolar countries at the First Arctic Ministerial Conference (Rovaniemi, Finland, 1991). AMAP's objectives are to measure the levels, and assess the effects of anthropogenic pollutants in all compartments of the Arctic environment, including humans.

Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna The Program for the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) was established to address the special needs of Arctic species and their habitats in the rapidly developing Arctic region. It forms a program of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS) which was adopted by Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States through Ministerial Declaration at Rovaniemi, Finland in 1991.

Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC) The University of Bergen's NERSC's research activities cover climate process studies and modelling, including the role played by oceans and sea ice in global and regional climatic changes. The centre also performs variability and trend studies of atmospheric ozone, greenhouse gases and UV radiation, as well as studies of the marine carbon cycle and injection of CO2 into the ocean.

Norsk Polarinstitutt The institute provides information about the land and sea environments in the polar regions.

Polar Libraries and Information Sources The University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland offers an extensive list of polar information sites.

Roald Amundsen Centre for Arctic Research The University of Tromso.

SINTEF - Polar Technology Programme Research focuses on a variety of environmental and engineering topics in cold regions.

Sweden

COLDTECH Integrated part of Lulea University of Technology that supports research and development within the field of cold climate technology/engineering.

United States

Arctic and Antarctic Research Center (AARC) The Arctic and Antarctic Research Center of the University of California at San Diego, maintains an archive of more than 45,000 satellite overpasses of the Arctic and Antarctic. Our data is continually tracked and recorded by antennas at McMurdo Station and Palmer Station in Antarctica and by the U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers Polar Sea and Polar Star, while operating at high latitudes.

Arctic Environmental Data Directory
United States Geological Survey (USGS)

Arctic Exploration Online Take a trip up the Alaska coast onboard the Coast Guard ship the Polar Star! You will learn first-hand what it is like to live and work aboard this special Coast Guard ice-breaker.

Arctic Logistics Information Access Service (ALIAS) is currently being developed by the National Science Foundation and the Interagency Arctic Research Policy
Committee (IARPC) in an effort to facilitate the coordination of research activities in the Arctic. When completed, information on more than 60 logistic providers and services for Arctic research will be available.

Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS)Formed in 1988, ARCUS helps to identify and bring together the distributed human and facilities resources of the Arctic research community--to create a synergy for the Arctic in which each resource, when combined with others, can result in a strength that enables the community to rise to the many challenges facing the Arctic and the United States. This site offers links to educational programs investigating Arctic cultures and sciences.

Arctic Studies CenterExplore the Arctic Circle. Learn about the fascinating cultures and animals of the North Pacific Rim. Interactive investigation of current social science in the Arctic.

Arctic Research of the United States Arcticles about results of current Arctic research and operations.

Arctic System Science (ARCSS) Program Part of the National Science Foundation's contributions to the U.S. Global Change Research Program, ARCSS is a collaborative program focused on understanding the role of the Arctic in the global system.

Center for Geophysical Studies of Ice and Climate CEGSIC, located in the Physics Department at St. Olaf College, is a research project focused toward understanding the response of the world's ice masses to global change. More specifically, CEGSIC
utilizes the tools of ice-penetrating radar and satellite imagery to study the dynamics of glaciers and ice sheets in various parts of the world.

Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL) CMDL, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in Boulder, Colorado, conducts research related to atmospheric constituents that are capable of forcing change in the climate of the earth through modification of the atmospheric radiative environment, for example greenhouse gases and aerosols, and those that may cause depletion of the global ozone layer.

Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab (CRREL) A facility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that addresses the problems and opportunities unique to the world's cold regions.

Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies
University of Wisconsin

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) is a Department of Defense (DoD) program run by the Air Force Space and Missle Systems Center (SMC). The DMSP program designs, builds, launches, and maintains several near polar orbiting, sun synchronous satellites monitoring the meteorological, oceanographic, and solar terrestrial physics environments.

Glacier Research Group Part of the University of New Hampshire's Climate Change Research Center. The Glacier Research Group specializes in the recovery, analysis and interpretation of chemical records available from air, snow and ice. The Glacier Research Group is developing a series of such records from atmospherically teleconnected high latitude (e.g., Antarctica, Greenland and Canadian Arctic) and low to middle latitude sites (e.g., Asia and North America) in order to investigate a variety of global change problems.

Global Change Research Program - Cold Regions Research (USGS) Observing, understanding, and predicting changes in the cryosphere, glaciers, frozen ground (permafrost), snow cover, and floating ice (sea, lake, and river) is important to the U.S. Global Change Research Program, because the cryosphere is the most sensitive component of the geosphere to global climate warming. Cold Regions research involves Arctic and Antarctic databases.

Global Change Research Program - Paleoclimate Research (USGS) The USGS conducts interdisciplinary research on paleoclimates, paleohydrology, paleoecology, and paleoceanography. These studies incorporate Arctic and Antarctic databases.

Greenland Ice Sheet Project (GISPII)

Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) Chaired by the National Science Foundation, this committee includes representatives from several federal agencies including the EPA, NASA, and the Smithsonian Institution. Among its many charges, the IARPC: helps set priorities for future Arctic research; works with the Arctic Research Commission to develop and establish an integrated national Arctic research policy to guide Federal agencies in developing and implementing their research programs in the Arctic; and consults with the Arctic Research Commission on matters related to Arctic research policy, programs and funding support

INSTAAR Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) University of Colorado.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) This home page describes some of the interesting facts and features of the Arctic and Antarctic regions and how we observe these regions using satellites. The primary science focus is on sea ice, which is ice formed in the oceans, and how we study it using RADAR or SAR imagery.

National Ice Core Laboratory NICL, located at the University of Colorado, is a facility for storing, curating, and studying ice cores recovered from the polar regions of the world.

National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) NSIDC, located at the University of Colorado, is a data and information resource for those studying snow and ice, and their importance to the Earth system. We archive analogue and digital snow and ice data, create and distribute data products, and maintain a large library collection in support of snow and ice research.

Office of Polar Programs (OPP) National Science Foundation (NSF) NSF's programs for support of research in the Antarctic and the Arctic acknowledge the need to understand the relationships of these polar regions with global processes and the need to understand the polar regions as unique entities. NSF's Office of Polar Programs thus provides support for investigations in a range of scientific disciplines. In both polar regions, NSF provides to investigators the operational capability to deploy and support modern field and laboratory science.

Polar Research Board (PRB) The PRB is a unit of the non-governmental National Research Council, which is the operational organization of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The PRB operates a number of committees and provides independent analysis to the federal government on matters of science and technology affecting public policy on environmental quality, natural resources, and other issues in BOTH polar regions.

Polar Science Center (PSC) PSC, part of the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington, focuses on observing and modeling the physical processes that control the nature and distribution of sea ice, the structure and circulation in high latitude oceans, and the interactions among air, ocean, and ice.

Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic (TEA) Join teachers as they venture to points north and south and parcticipate in Arctic and Antarctic research expeditions. Follow their adventures through daily electronic journals, correspond with them while they are in the field, chat with them through CU-SeeMe sessions. Keep up-to-date on the science and life at the poles. Upcoming Arctic field season begins in June 1998; Antarctic field season begins in October.

VECO Polar Resources (VPR) is under contract to the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs to provide logistical support for Arctic Investigators under the NSF's Arctic Research Logistics Support Services contract. VPR's logistics services range from the provision of field gear for small expeditions to the planning and management of large field camps.

World Data Center-A for Paleoclimatology (NOAA) Includes research about atmospheric gases, glaciology, meteorology, oceanography, remote sensing, etc.

Multinational

Earth Observation Guide and Directory Service - Antarctic Data Base Branch of the European Space Agency.

The European Science Foundation An association of 62 member organisations devoted to basic scientific research in 21 European countries. Since bing established in 1974, ESF has coordinated a wide range of pan-European scientific initiatives. Branch of Life, Environmental, and Earth Sciences (includes numerous Arctic and Antarctic initiatives).