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NSF's Office of Polar Programs
Arctic Sciences Section
Background. The National Science Foundation
(NSF), through its Office of Polar Programs, supports
basic research in a wide range of scientific disciplines
in the Arctic. NSF also chairs the federal government's
Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC).
NSF is an independent federal agency and is the only
federal agency whose mission covers research in all
fields of science and engineering. NSF also administers
the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP).
Budget. $62.78 million for science and support
and logistics.
Goals. The goal of the NSF Arctic Research Program
is to gain a better understanding of biological, geophysical,
chemical, and sociocultural processes, and the interactions
of ocean, land, atmosphere, biological, and human
systems.
Arctic research is supported at NSF by the Office of
Polar Programs (OPP) as well as a number of other
disciplinary programs within NSF. Coordination across
the foundation includes the potential for joint review
and funding of arctic proposals, as well as mutual
support of special projects with high logistical costs.
The arctic regions are among the most sensitive to
environmental change, and have exceptionally long
natural climate records, and thousands of years of
human settlement. This interplay provides a unique
basis for integrated research on global systems and
human adaptation.
Disciplinary programs in NSF's Office of Polar Programs
(OPP) encompass the atmospheric sciences, biological
sciences, earth sciences, glaciology, ocean sciences,
and social sciences. Interdisciplinary research in
the biosciences, geosciences, and social sciences
is linked through the Arctic System Science Program
of the U.S. Global Change Research Program. In addition
to supporting research on long-term human/environment
interactions, OPP encourages the study of contemporary
socioeconomic, cultural, and demographic issues in
the changing environment of the post-Cold War world.
OPP also encourages bipolar research (especially glaciology,
permafrost, sea ice, ecology, conjugate magnetic field
lines, and human factor studies).
Arctic Natural Sciences. The Arctic Natural
Sciences Program is a multidisciplinary program that
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 NSF's geosciences and biological sciences directorates.
Additionally, the program helps facilitate multidisciplinary,
cross-disciplinary and bipolar projects within the
Office of Polar Programs.
Areas of special interest include ozone depletion in
the Arctic, space weather, and exploration of the
Arctic Ocean and environmental processes.
Arctic System Science (ARCSS). ARCSS is an interdisciplinary
program. Its goals are:
- 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, in order to
- advance the scientific basis for predicting
environmental change on a seasonal-to-centuries
time scale, and for formulating policy options
in response to the anticipated impacts of global
change on humans and societal support systems.
In order to achieve its goals, ARCSS emphasizes four
scientific thrusts:
- Understand the global and regional impacts of
the arctic climate system and its variability;
- Determine the role of the Arctic in global biogeochemical
cycling;
- Identify global change impacts on the structure
and stability of arctic ecosystems;
- Establish the links between environmental change
and human activity.
Arctic Social Sciences. The Arctic Social Sciences
Program is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary
program encompassing all social sciences supported
by NSF, including anthropology, archaeology, economics,
geography, linguistics, political science, psychology,
sociology, and related subjects.
The Arctic Social Sciences Program encourages projects
that
- include indigenous peoples;
- are circumpolar and/or comparative;
- involve collaborations between researchers and
those living in the Arctic;
- include traditional knowledge;
- or form partnerships among disciplines, regions,
researchers, communities, and/or students (K-12,
undergraduate, or graduate).
For more information, see the Arctic Science Section
Web site: http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/arctic/start.htm
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