NSF/OPP: Arctic Natural Sciences Program

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	Arctic Natural Sciences

Program Officer

Jane Dionne
jdionne@nsf.gov
(703)292-8029

William J. Wiseman
wwiseman@nsf.gov
(703)292-8029

Program Information

Arctic Research
Opportunities (NSF05-514)

Principles for the
Conduct of Research in the Arctic

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 support for disciplinary research in the Arctic, often in concert with the Directorates for Geosciences and Biological Sciences and with the Antarctic Glaciology Program.
Areas of special interest include: exploration of the Arctic Ocean and understanding arctic environmental processes change.

Atmospheric Sciences
Research in arctic atmospheric sciences is focused on stratospheric and tropospheric processes as well as arctic climate and meteorology. Research on past climates and atmospheric gases as preserved in snow and ice cores have also been supported in the Arctic, as have atmosphere-sea and atmosphere-ice interactions.

Above: Fluctuations of calving front of Jakobshavn Glacier, West Greenland.

In upper atmospheric and space physics, research interests include auroral studies, magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling, atmospheric dynamics and chemistry as well as magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. Conjugate studies are considered jointly with the Antarctic Aeronomy and Astrophysics Program.

Biological Sciences

OPP supports projects emphasizing understanding of the adaptation of organisms to the arctic environment. Biological studies in the Arctic include: 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. OPP also participates in the Biocomplexity in the Environment initiative.

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.

Left: Columbia Glacier, Alaska, October 11, 1991. Columbia Glacier has been retreating nearly 1 kilometer per year since a drastic retreat began in 1982.

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, Aurura borealis

glaciers, and the Greenland ice sheet. Program emphases include, ice dynamics, numerical modeling, glacial geology, and remote sensing of ice sheets.

Right: Arctic Aurura

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 and biological interactions with the global hydrosphere, and the formation and maintenance of the arctic sea-ice cover. Areas of interest in OPP are: the distribution of life in high latitude oceans; low temperature life processes; 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 and gravity variations; sedimentary history 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.

Last modified: October 2004; Office of Polar Programs