Roger G. Barry - US grants

The U.S. research program in Antarctica over the last 30 years has collected surface and upper air weather data at numerous locations. Most of the year-round station data have been entered into the National Climatic Data Center; other data are housed at a variety of institutions. No attempt has been made to collate the data into one set or to achieve a consistent format. Most individual researchers find using the data to be impracticable. Yet long-term records of antarctic weather are essential to an understanding of world weather patterns: the large-scale circulation of the global atmosphere has its basic driving mechanism in the equator- to-poles temperature gradients. To predict and understand the behavior of the atmosphere in any region, the behavior of the total global fluid system must be understood. Groups including the National Academy of Sciences Polar Research Board, the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, and The Polar Group have published reports pointing to the need to improve access to antarctic weather data. The current emphasis on global geosciences in the science community, the advances in computer capability and networks, and the rise of meteorological data analysis systems in the United States make the establishment of a manipulable antarctic weather data set both desirable and achievable. This 2-day workshop will assemble some 20 producers, managers, and users of U.S. antarctic weather data--along with managers of new and established nonantarctic weather data centers--to produce an achievable plan for improving access to the antarctic sets. NSF (Division of Polar Programs) as manager of the United States Antarctic Research Program will consider the recommended plan carefully and implement procedures consistent with scientific need and funding availability. Roger Barry, a geographer with substantive research interests in meteorology, and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences are well suited to arrange this workshop. CIRES reported a Workshop on Antarctic Climate Data in 1984 and is active in data management and information fields with an emphasis on polar regions.

The investigators will analyze geostationary and polar orbiting satellite data as well as climatological station data for the period 1976-1985 examine the causes and consequences of precipitation regimes in Venezuela. By determining why the seasonal march of precipitation in Venezuela differs sharply from that in other tropical regions, especially monsoon areas, the project will increase our understanding of the climatology of a region with a unique precipitation regime, of its possible teleconnections with events and processes outside the study region, and our knowledge of tropical climatology more generally. The results of the project will also serve as a benchmark for future studies of topographic effects on climate in the study area and for other geoecological and paleoclimatic investigations.

The snow on top of the Arctic pack ice is an important factor of the summer climates in the northern high latitudes, with implications for the long-term mass balance and stability of the ice and potential impact on other parts of the world. Its state may also serve as an indicator of climatic change induced by increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. This effort will focus on production of a gridded ten-year data set of snow melt and surface albedo in the Arctic Basin from DMSP satellite imagery. The project is important because such a data base would be invaulable in scientific studies of the complex ice-albedo feedback effects and may eventually lead to better formulation of such processes in numerical models of the climate system.

This award will support Professor Roger Barry of the University of Colorado-Boulder in collaboration with A. Moreau and M. Perdomo of the Ministerio del Ambiente (MARNR) and R. Andressen of the Universidad de los Andes (ULA) in Merida, Venezuela. The purpose of the collaboration is to extend currently supported work on precipitation regimes in northern South America. By conducting research on long-term climatology and climatic change in Venezuela, the researchers will gain access to a unique geographical setting whose climatology is virtually unknown. More specifically, the PI's intend to study precipitation regimes and their relationship to atmospheric dynamics and topographic forcing, the causes of their interannual variability, and the effects of altitude and topography on precipitation in low latitudes. The U.S. side will contribute their expertise and resources to the collaboration while the Venezuelan investigators will provide access to hydro-meteorological data and assistance from their station networks. The results of this study should provide important information to researchers interested in tropical and global climatology and climatic change.

This award is in support of the second Greenland Ice Sheet Project (GISP II). The objective of GISP II is the retrieval and analysis of a deep ice core from central Greenland. Deep ice cores from polar regions provide key paleoclimate data sets because they bridge the time scale gap between other proxy records with annual resolution, but relatively short time scales, and those which have a resolution of hundreds to thousands of years. This award will assure efficient and timely access to ice core data as they become available, as well as provide for the safe, long-term, archival of key data through the design and implementation of a comprehensive data accession and archival system for ice core data. National Snow and Ice Data Center will provide data management and archiving services to ensure efficient and centralized access to the total data set and the permanent retention of key data. Because of the widespread and increasing interest in paleoclimate and global change, these data sets will be used not only by GISP II, but there will be an ever increasing demand from fields outside glaciology for this type of data.

Using a unique data set of ten spring-summer seasons, a series of hypotheses will be tested to define more precisely the seasonal and interannual variability of snow melt, surface albedo and late-summer ice extent, its climatic significance, and relationships with surface pressure fields and heights, temperature anomalies and other atmospheric indices. This will constitute an expansion of previous work under NSF support for 1) an initial study of snow melt/climate interactions based on four seasons (1977, 1979, 1984, 1985) of data and 2) the basic data set preparation only (no analysis) of six additional seasons (1975, 1978, 1980, 1986-1988). The analysis will be performed using digitized ten-season data sets of snow melt stages and parameterized surface albedo constructed from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) imagery for May through mid-August and coincident sea ice and atmospheric data from other sources. The timing and extent of snow melt atop the Arctic pack ice is an important climatic forcing factor of northern high latitudes, with implications for the long-term mass balance and stability of the ice and potential climatic impacts in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere. It may also serve as an indicator of climatic change forced by increasing greenhouse gas concentrations.

Increased concern about global environmental change has focused attention on the need to identify critical variables that can be used to monitor shifts in the world's climate and other physical conditions. Among the variables that scientists believe will provide accurate, easily updated indices of changing conditions are measurements of the extent and duration of seasonal snow cover and of the amounts of ice within glaciers and ice caps. This project will gather data on these variables from a number of published sources in both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. Remotely sensed data also will be gathered. Preliminary analyses will be undertaken to ascertain how these cryospheric variables correlate with other climatic, topographic, and land-characteristic variables. This research will be conducted collaboratively between scientists at the University of Colorado-Boulder and the Institute of Geography of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. This project will bring together data about snow cover and glacial fluctuations in addition to other related variables. These data will provide valuable new information with which to test hypotheses about the degree to which cryospheric variables may be used as indices of global environmental change. The project also will provide tests of new means of gathering data using remote sensors, and it will foster greater collaboration between American and Soviet scientists with common research interests.

This award is part of the Arctic System Science (ARCSS) Program, a U.S. Global Change Program. The research program will focus existing documentation of the variability of water vapor-related fields over the Arctic on seasonal and longer time scales, to identify contributions to this variability form sub-portions of the region, and to relate this variability to synoptic activity. Knowledge of the distribution of water vapor over both Arctic land and ocean areas is needed for improving satellite-derived estimates of surface energy fluxes, snow depth and extent, and sea ice conditions. In terms of climate change, alterations of the flux of atmospheric moisture into the Arctic may influence Arctic surface radiation budgets through effects on atmospheric emissivity, cloud cover and snowfall. Associated changes in precipitation may influence surface runoff, with subsequent impacts on sea ice production and upper ocean salinities.

This is for support for the International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Ice and Climate. The meeting is being sponsored by the International Glaciological Society, and co-sponsored by a number of other groups. This award is to support, in part, the publication of reviewed and accepted manuscripts comprising the proceedings of the symposium.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center is undertaking a two-year project for management of data produced by the Land/Atmosphere/Ice Interactions (LAII) element of the Arctic Systems Science (ARCSS) program, and data required for modeling and process studies by ARCSS scientists. The goal of the project is to provide a central access point for the archiving and distribution of data. A central focus will be the development of strategies for improved data access and data interfaces with other national centers, and programs within other Federal agencies.

ABSTRACT The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) proposes an ARCSS (Arctic System Science) Data Coordination Center at NSIDC to integrate management of data for LAII, OAII, GISP2. PALE, and the emerging Arctic Archaeology component. In this three-year view, NSIDC envisions a distributed set of ARCSS data archives with data sets held in appropriate centers (including NSIDC), linked by NSIDC's "front end" coordination to ensure that ARCSS-funded researchers can easily obtain required data, and to guarantee archival of data they collect during ARCSS. The "front end", or Data Coordination Center, will produce these results: a. ARCSS and other Arctic data sets and products of importance to ARCSS science priorities will be catalogued and described in a published ARCSS Catalog and in the Global Change Master Directory; b. ARCSS and other Arctic data sets and products will be easy to access and to use for research; c. ARCSS data sets will be coordinated and managed within the framework of established and emerging U.S. and international data systems and centers; d. A data accession and archival system for ARCSS data sets and products will be established at NSIDC; e. Guidelines for data formats and documents, including GIS and model output data sets, will be developed and promulgated within the ARCSS aommunity; f. Tailored data products, on CD-ROM, diskette, and via electronic file transfer will be delivered to ARCSS investigators; g. NSIDC will work with the ARCSS Data Management Working Group, ARCSS Modeling Working Group, and ARCSS Science Steering Committees to identify data priorities for ARCSS- funded research; h. Exchange of information about data sets and data-related activities among members of the ARCSS community will be facilitated by an electronic bulletin board, newsletter, and information clearinghouse at NSIDC; and i. Initiate work on a geocryological database by capitalizing on recent opportunities to obtain da ta from the former Soviet Union.

Abstract ATM-9315351 Serreze, Mark Barry, Roger G. University of Colorado, Boulder Title: Collaborative Research: Atmospheric Controls on Northern Hemisphere Cryosphere Variability This award supports comprehensive study of relationships between atmospheric variability and fluctuations in the snow and sea ice covers the Northern Hemisphere. The primary thrust of the work is to provide a hemispheric synthesis of the sensitivity of the cryosphere to regional changes in the atmospheric circulation, and to diagnose this sensitivity with respect to associated interactions between precipitation, temperature, winds and the modes of large-scale teleconnection patterns. The PIs will identify those regions of the cryosphere warranting focused monitoring for potential climate change, and possible future responses of the cryosphere to changes in circulation regimes. As part of these efforts, they will perform a series of intercomparisons between observed snow cover patterns and those simulated by different GCMs under present and project future climatic conditions. The study will address at least six basic questions: 1) What are the relationships between variations in northern hemisphere sea ice extent and terrestrial snow cover? 2) What areas of the cryosphere exhibit strong or weak responses to atmospheric circulation changes and why? 3) Which areas contribute most strongly to northern hemisphere cryosphere variability? 4) What are the responses of the cryosphere to the modes of Large-scale teleconnections patterns, and how do these compare with parallel anomalies in synoptic activity, temperature and precipitation? 5) How well do different GCMs depict the present day distribution and variability of snow cover, and are changes in the cryosphere projected by GCMs in response to enhance CO2 warming reasonable from the viewpoint of modeled circulation changes? 6) Can the cryosphere be used as a robust indicator of climate change? For the snow and sea ice analyses, gridded NOAA charts of Northern Hemisphere snow extent and Navy/NOAA ice concentration data will be combined with available station records of snow depth, snow fall, precipitation and surface temperature. For atmospheric analyses, the PIs will use once to twice-daily NMC surface and upper-air fields from the early 1960s to present, used to calculate grid- point and regional time series of the frequency, position and strength of cyclones and anticyclones, storm tracks, and other indices of synoptic activity (e.g, positive vorticity advection), as well as temperature. Rawinsonde data from an existing archive will be used to analyze patterns of moisture flux convergence and their associations with snow cover and precipitation variations at high northern latitudes. Output from different GCMs will be obtained for doubled CO2 (equilibrium) runs, transient runs (in which CO2 is continually increased), as well as for runs using identical present-day boundary conditions. The research is a collaborative effort between University of Colorado (Drs. Mark Serreze and Roger G. Barry) and Rutgers University (Dr. David Robinson). The work is important because it seeks to clarify the role of the cryosphere in climate variability.

9321547 Key This three-year program will quantify the individual energy streams that make up the arctic surface radiation budget, and will relate the observed radiation distribution to synoptic-scale wind, pressure, and moisture patterns. It will be the first effort to produce a comprehensive radiation climatology for the Arctic. The arctic surface energy budget, particularly that of the Arctic Ocean, has been identified as a major component of the global climate system that is potentially sensitive to climate-scale perturbations due to feedback mechanisms involving the surface albedo, the stability of the lower troposphere, and water vapor transport. The project includes four main tasks: (1) The analysis of solar and long-wave radiation data obtained directly at manned observing sites in the arctic. (2) The calculation of radiative fluxes at the surface and at the top of the atmosphere using a satellite-based cloud data product from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP). (3) For selected months, the ISCCP-derived fluxes will be compared to the corresponding synoptic regime, and (4) a study to assess the effects of the sampling and analysis procedure on the radiation statistics and their temporal variability will be undertaken. ***

ABSTRACT: 9504201 Serreze Research supported by this grant is under the auspices of the Arctic Systems Science (ARCSS) Global Change Research Program and is jointly sponsored by the Division of Ocean Sciences and the Office of Polar Programs. Work to be performed represents prelim- inary steps towards a major 5-year research project named SHEBA, which is envisioned to study the heat budget of the Arctic Ocean and its impact on global change. The primary goals of SHEBA are: (1) to develop, test and implement models of arctic ocean- atmosphere-ice processes that demonstrably improve simulations of the present day arctic climate, including its variability, using General Circulation Models (GCMs), and (2) to improve the interpre- tation of satellite remote sensing data in the Arctic for analysis of the arctic climate system and provide reliable data for model input, model validation and climate monitoring. In order to place the field experiment phase of SHEBA at the best location, the climatological regime of the proposed site must be analyzed. Researchers at the University of Colorado will compile existing data on sea ice and atmospheric conditions in the region and publish the results on CD ROM about one year before final planning of the site location. Other researchers in the SHEBA project are expected to use the data to plan individual experiments on heat budget measurements. ??

Abstract ATM-9528007 Barry, Roger G. Hanson, Claire University of Colorado Title: Implementation of a Pilot Global Geocryological Database at WDC-A Glaciology This is a one year grant to rescue, recover, archive and disseminate permafrost data that was collected in the former Soviet Union but is in danger of getting lost permanently. The project is guided by criteria for priority databases established by the IPA working group on permafrost data and information. This data is very valuable for climate research.

Climate warming may have serious impacts on permafrost and the soil active layer. This three-year study will investigate factors affecting the average permafrost conditions as well as its spatial variability. Theoretical procedures for separating deterministic and stochastic components of the spatial variability of active layer thickness will be developed. These models will be linked to climate predictions produced from global climate models in order to predict the regional conditions of the soil and permafrost. These model results will then be validated using data collected at 69 sites included in the Circumpolar Active Layer Monitoring (CALM) network and at 120 Russian stations, as well as new data from 10 selected Russian sites. Thus, maps will be developed which give the mean parameters describing the active layer thickness and also its variability on local to regional scales.

This three-year study will investigate the average characteristics and potential changes in the hydrology of three major Russian rivers, the Ob, Lena, and Yenesei Rivers. These three rivers are important for the Arctic region because they carry much of the freshwater runoff from the continents into the Arctic Ocean. Also, it is likely that climate change may interact with the hydrology of these rivers in ways that will have cascading affects on terrigenous and marine ecosystems. In this study, past weather archives will be used to evaluate a time-series of important atmospheric characteristics such as the difference between precipitation and evaporation. Records of precipitation and river runoff and satellite-based data on snow distributions will be incorporated to test whether winter precipitation in regions south of the Arctic Circle control the spring river runoff of these rivers, while summer precipitation is largely water recycled from terrestrial evaporation. Long-termed changes in the water cycle will be examined from these data. The results should lead to better understanding of the controls on the water cycle in central and northern Siberia, which will be important in future efforts to predict impacts of climate change on the Arctic region.

Abstract
ATM-9818098
Frei, Allan
University of Colorado
Title: Evaluation of Snow Simulation in the Second Phase of the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP-II)

The overall goal of this project is to evaluate simulations of snow covered area and snow mass in General Circulation Models (GCM) submitted under the auspices of the second phase of the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP-II). AMIP is an international effort to determine the systematic errors in atmospheric climate models. Three main objectives are identified to evaluate AMIP-II snow simulations. These are: (1) evaluation of snow covered area (SCA) climatology and kinematics; (2) evaluation of snow mass climatologies; and (3) evaluation of atmospheric circulation patterns associated with snow. Snow is an important modulator of surface energy fluxes, and one of the largest seasonally varying surface parameters over the Northern Hemisphere. These investigations will help modelers evaluate their treatment of snow, from the perspectives of both atmospheric dynamics as well as surface parameterizations. By identifying regions, models, and model characteristics with biased snow simulations, this research will aid modelers in their diagnoses of surface fluxes, an important physical process relevant to climate prediction.

Barry, Fox
OPP-9906740

This project addresses the questions: What do the Inuit know about climate and climate change and how do they construct this knowledge? How can Inuit climate knowledge and scientific research be integrated to further understand Arctic climate processes and the potential impacts of change on the Arctic environment and human settlements? A multi-method approach, using content analysis, charting with map overlays, open-ended interviews, and participant observation, will be used to document Inuit climate knowledge. Scientific record and Inuit testimony will be matched regarding climate and ice anomalies in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. Elders and hunters at four settlements (and local hunting camps) will work with the co-PI to interpret Inuit climate knowledge. Information collected will be used to develop a model that includes appropriate methods for data sharing and knowledge dissemination.

This project will collect meteorology and hydrology data from river systems that discharge into the Arctic Ocean. The dataset will be used to develop an integrated system of discharge and meteorology data that will be available in near real-time on the world Wide Web. The data set will provide a valuable resource for characterizing water budgets for an ocean that collects 10% of the global freshwater runoff. The discharge data will be used in models to determine the temporal variations in runoff. Those models are important for predicting the effect of global climate change on the freshwater balance of the Arctic Ocean which, in turn, has a major climate feedback through its influence on the formation of sea ice.

0307144
Barry
A 3-day workshop will be convened at the National Snow and Ice Data
Center, Boulder, CO in March 2003 with the aim of evaluating current
methods of determining the worldwide recession of mountain glaciers over
the last half-century or longer. Recent evidence suggests an acceleration of
glacier mass loss in several key regions and it is imperative for
assessment of ice contributions to global sea level rise and of future
water resources from glacierized basins that a more comprehensive
evaluation be made of glacier changes.
The broader impacts of this workshop include: bringing together
experts from leading groups, with under-represented young and female
scientists from North America and elsewhere. About 25-30 selected
individuals will be funded and the workshop will be open to other
interested individuals.
The publication of a workshop report in EOS will bring the ideas to a
wide scientific audience

ABSTRACT
OPP-0240984
Serreze
Barry

This study will improve our understanding of the development and decay of extra-tropical cyclones in northern high latitudes and their hydrologic impacts. The study will focus on two key regions: 1) the northern North Atlantic, in particular the area around the Icelandic Low and the marginal ice zones of the Greenland and Barents seas; and 2) a domain comprising northeast Eurasia extending to the central Arctic Ocean.

The first region, representing the terminus of the North Atlantic cyclone track, has first order impacts on heat and moisture transports into the Arctic basin and the circulation of the sea ice cover, in particular, the flux of sea ice through Fram Strait. Variability in this ice flux has potentially strong influences on the ocean's thermohaline circulation. Past studies have shown that cyclone variability in this region is closely tied to the phase of the Arctic Oscillation /North Atlantic Oscillation (AO/NAO), but relatively little attention has been paid to the role of local development processes. Synoptic activity in this region during the winter season appears to be strongly influenced by vorticity production in the lee of southeast Greenland and enhanced baroclinicity along the sea ice margins. The hypothesis is that, 1) such local development processes are important in modulating the Fram Strait ice flux; and 2) the intensity of these local development processes is associated with differences in the general synoptic environment associated with the positive/negative phases of the AO/NAO.

Studies for the second domain will focus on summer. Summer is characterized by development of a pronounced baroclinic region along the shores of northeast Eurasia. It is interpreted to arise from strong differential heating between the cold Arctic Ocean and snow free land. Development of the baroclinic region over northeast Eurasia is attended by frequent cyclogenesis in the same region where a particularly large fraction of annual precipitation falls during the summer months. Cyclones generated over northeast Eurasia often migrate into the central Arctic Ocean. The hypothesis is that the cyclogenesis maximum can be explained through interactions between coastal baroclinicity and orographic development processes. A second hypothesis is that cyclones forming in this region significantly impact on the wind driven sea ice circulation in the central Arctic Ocean and are primary drivers of the summer maximum in precipitation over the central Arctic Ocean and coastal zone.

These studies will use the suite of atmospheric fields from the National Center for Environmental Protection (NCEP) and ERA-40 reanalysis systems, along with generated data sets. These include six hourly time series of cyclone activity, frontal location and intensity, and Q vector fields. Use will also be made of daily satellite derived fields of sea ice motion and concentration together with daily precipitation over both land and the Arctic Ocean.

The proposed research will assess the response of soil thermal, freeze-thaw and permafrost dynamics to climate change, and will evaluate the impacts of these processes on the hydrologic cycle of the Russian arctic drainage basin over the past half century. Research methods will include analysis and synthesis of data acquired (in many cases, rescued) from 400 locations distributed throughout the former Soviet Union. A key question being addressed focusses on explaining the large observed geographical irregularity in long-term surface temperature change. The research is structured to investigate a key hypothesis that relates climate warming, higher permafrost temperature, a deeper active layer, and a longer thaw season. One result will be the impact of climate warming, through the soil and permafrost interactions, on the seasonal cycles of riverine fresh water input to the Arctic Ocean. The project will also yield a series of data products relevant to soil temperature and freeze-thaw cycles.

Inuit and Inupiat hunters in the North American Arctic rely on sea ice for travel and hunting for much of the year. Their use of the ice requires detailed knowledge of ice conditions for both safety and success in hunting, their main livelihood. The sea-ice environment in the Arctic is changing, however. Studies of sea-ice characteristics from scientific and indigenous knowledge perspectives have found major changes in the extent and thickness of the Arctic ice pack as well as local and regional changes in certain characteristics like the thickness, stability, and dates of formation of the shorefast ice used by hunters. As a result, Inuit and Inupiat communities are making changes to their day-to-day and long-term livelihood strategies and are dealing with traditional knowledge and skills that are, at times, no longer applicable. At the same time, scientists struggle to understand the interactions of the forces influencing sea-ice changes and variations of change at multiple scales. How can these two groups inform each other and benefit from collaboration on this topic of mutual concern? This project will investigate the dynamics of the coupled systems of Inuit and Inupiat hunters and shorefast or drifting sea ice in the context of environmental change. A multidisciplinary team of investigators will collaborate with the communities of Barrow, Alaska, and Clyde River, Nunavut, to carry out this investigation. The main objectives of the project are (1) to document Inuit and Inupiat knowledge and use of sea ice along with those factors that limit or enable this use, (2) to document Inuit and Inupiat observations and perspectives on sea-ice changes and correlate these with scientific observations, (3) to examine the differences and similarities in sea-ice changes and community interactions with them in the Baffin Bay and Chukchi Sea locales, and (4) to document how Inuit and Inupiat cope with changes in sea ice in their respective regions as well as how different approaches in one region may inform the other regarding adaptation strategies.

Anticipated intellectual contributions of this project include illumination of frameworks for integrating scientific and indigenous knowledge, particularly the integration of traditional and scientific views of ice conditions and the comparison of large-scale trends with local changes in sea ice. Anticipated broader impacts of this project include training and education of indigenous Arctic communities, scientists and graduate students in practical and theoretical studies of environmental changes and their consequences. The project also is expected to contribute important information to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) program of the Arctic Council and to the 2005 report on Climate Impact Assessments of Working Group 3 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This project is supported by an award resulting from the FY 2003 special competition in Biocomplexity in the Environment focusing on the Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems.

Funds are provided to develop an innovative methodology for spatially integrated assessment of permafrost conditions at small geographical scales. The project will use comprehensive permafrost modeling, interpolation and scaling techniques, and a large body of empirical information to develop a hierarchical, 'telescoping' approach to (1) advance the testing and improvement of spatial permafrost models, (2) describe the structure of heterogeneity and its translation through a continuum of geographical scales ranging from local to regional, continental, and circumpolar, and (3) design an optimum permafrost observational network. The ultimate goal is to harmonize empirical observations with spatial permafrost modeling and, as a result, increase the scientific credibility of spatial geocryological predictions for the needs of the broader scientific community involved in studying global change in the Arctic. In particular, the proposed effort will:
1. provide a comprehensive evaluation and intercomparison of spatially oriented approaches to permafrost modeling, and synthesize knowledge related to the current status of spatial permafrost modeling,
2. use results from modeling exercises to discern weaknesses (structural and spatial) in existing observation networks, and make recommendations about improvements to relevant observation programs,
3. provide a detailed small-scale characterization of permafrost conditions consistent with observed spatial and temporal patterns, and
4. generate a comprehensive set of permafrost-related products (data and models) useful to a broad group of scientists and stakeholders.

The Arctic System Science (ARCSS) Data Coordination Center (ADCC) is the central data depository and long-term archive for data collected by projects funded by the National Science Foundation's ARCSS program. The ADCC is located at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, which is a national information and referral center supporting polar and cryospheric research. The main objective of the ADCC is the broad and unlimited availability of research data. The primary goal of the ADCC is to collect all ARCSS related data and to provide for its preservation through long-term, off-site archiving. ADCC provides presentation of these data for all potential users (i.e., ARCSS researchers, worldwide scientific community, policy makers, educators, and the public), as well as easy access to a variety of ARCSS related data sets, and assists in the synthesis of available data. This will be accomplished by ensuring the forward and backward compatibility of the data sets as the Web technologies continues to evolve.

ABSTRACT
ARC #0533480

This SGER project will develop a general, community-sensitive method of data transfer, integration, and archiving for qualitative and quantitative information collected as part of an envisioned Arctic community monitoring network. This project will develop a database in a standardized format utilizing best practices, digitize the primary data, produce the metadata that can be utilized by researchers, and develop a format that will be accessible to scientists, indigenous and education communities.

In recent years, Arctic sea ice has been thinning, retreating, and changing its patterns of freeze up and break up. For many indigenous communities in the Arctic, sea-ice use and human-sea ice relationships that are deeply rooted in time, as well as identity, are being challenged. There is an urgent need for scientists, decision makers, and others to better understand the human and social dynamics surrounding Arctic sea-ice change, what is at stake for coastal communities, and what the responses might be. Using the unique approach of an international, multidisciplinary, and multicultural "sea-ice knowledge exchange," the investigators, in partnership with indigenous sea ice experts (hunters and Elders) from three regions of the Arctic (Barrow, Alaska; Clyde River, Nunavut, Canada; and Qaanaaq, Greenland), will conduct a comparative study across these three communities. Bringing together traditional knowledge, science, and methods from social sciences (e.g. interviews; participatory observation) and physical science (e.g. analysis of remote sensing imagery and meteorological data), the research team will examine: (1) characteristics of sea ice and its use by humans, including the role of the human-sea ice relationship in social organization of the three communities; (2) changes in human use patterns over time; (3) changes to sea ice, with particular attention to the features most crucial for human uses; (4) recent human responses to changes in sea ice; (5) societal impacts from sea ice changes and human responses; and (6) implications for future changes, impacts, and adaptation.

The results of the research will (a) provide important insights into present and anticipated changes to Arctic ecosystems at scales most significant to coastal inhabitants and ecosystems; (b) insights into present and potential adaptations by local residents; (c) involve local residents in the study, thereby increasing their capacity for collaborative participation in scientific research while improving capabilities to communicate results effectively to the local communities; (d) involve young investigators (graduate student, junior scientists, and local high school students); (e) increase the capacity of groups such as the Inuit Circumpolar Council and local Hunters and Trappers Associations to take a substantial role in Arctic research; (f) provide training and infrastructure for sea ice research in communities (e.g. ice monitoring equipment and oral history training) and build a network of researchers and Arctic residents across three countries; (g) create models and tools for studying human-environment relationships in the Arctic, as well as linking indigenous knowledge and science; and (h) contribute data sets and analysis to ongoing research efforts by organizations such as the Canadian Ice Service and the Inuit Circumpolar Council. The study expands on issues identified by the international Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA 2005) and will contribute to the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008.

An award resulting from the FY 2006 NSF-wide competition on Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) supports this project. All NSF directorates and offices are involved in the coordinated management of the HSD competition and the portfolio of HSD awards.

This activity will support the first full meeting of the IPY Data Policy and Management Subcommittee (DPMS) under the auspices of the ICSU/WMO Joint Committee. The DPMS is co-chaired by the Co-I, Parsons.

The award will support a three day meeting and the subsequent publication of it's recommendations. The first day of the international workshop will be a meeting of the IPY Data Policy and Management Subcommittee. The subsequent two days would be a broader forum to discuss particular implementation details of the DIS based on the policies determined by the data committee. The data management discussion would focus primarily on issues related to the Arctic, since the arctic data management is not as well organized as in the Antarctic and there are unique issues related to the communities living in the Arctic. Nevertheless, Antarctic researchers and data managers would explicitly be included to provide lessons learned from the coordinated Antarctic experience and to ensure that a truly global strategy is developed.

The workshop will be held at British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge in the spring of 2006. The IPY International Programme Office there has agreed to host the workshop and provide in kind support. This ensures that the workshop is conducted under the auspices of IPY, and it reduces the general facility budget.

IPY: The International Polar Year Data Coordination Office

This effort will establish a central Data Coordination Office for the International Polar Year (IPY) to develop and promote the international relationships necessary to ensure accessibility, sharing, and long-term preservation of data produced by IPY projects. The IPY Data Coordination Office will work with the International Programme Office for IPY to establish a full-time, professional data and information unit that will actively track the research and education activities of IPY projects, so that all US projects are fully integrated into the international database of IPY activities. This will ensure the legacy of IPY by providing future generations with a relevant record of the projects and data of IPY. The IPY Data Coordination Office will build on existing national and international structures to ensure the effective tracking of IPY research and education activities. The purpose of the IPY Data Coordination Office is to serve the IPY objectives of interdisciplinary science, international coordination, building a legacy, and public engagement. This will require a rigorous yet collaborative approach because interdisciplinary science requires scientists to access and analyze data in fields where they are not experts; international coordination requires free and open exchange of data; the legacy requires that systems be robust and that information on IPY activities be well preserved; and public engagement requires making complex information readily understandable and usable by educators and others.

Proposal Title: Collaborative Research, IPY: A Cooperative Arctic Data and Information Service (CADIS)
Institution: University of Colorado at Boulder
Abstract date: 12/19/06

Barry: 0632296

This project will develop a Cooperative Arctic Data and Information Service (CADIS) that will support the Arctic Observing Network (AON) and Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) programs. CADIS will provide the discovery, access, and use of scientific data by providing near-real-time data delivery, a repository for data storage, a portal for the discovery, and tools to manipulate data. This system and data service will be built in a stepwise coherent manner and result in comprehensive long-term management for Arctic scientific data. CADIS will be a joint effort of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The project team will develop a new body of cyberinfrastructure by leveraging, integrating, and extending UCAR's Community Data Portal (CDP) framework and Unidata's THREDDS environment to form the CADIS system and portal. The CADIS portal will make it easier for scientists to locate, display, subset, publish, and analyze related data sets provided by a network of data providers. In the first year, a metadata plan will be completed; it will include AON projects and Long Term Observatory (LTO) projects. In the second year, the CADIS portal will be populated with metadata from the AON and LTO projects. In the third year, real-time delivery through CADIS of selected AON and IASOA (International Arctic System for Observing the Atmosphere) data will be accomplished, and tools for searching via a map interface, and a map server showing the location of selected AON or SEARCH components (where metadata are available) will be added. Also in the third year, system performance will be evaluated and documented, and a future direction charted. Guidance from the scientific and lay user communities will be key to implementing the CADIS facility. Information will be received via questionnaires, meetings, standing committees and individual queries to assess CADIS effectiveness and recommend improvements. This project is highly relevant to International Polar Year goals for developing comprehensive data management plans and creating legacy data sets. The intellectual merit lies in the stepwise development of a new cyberinfrastructure for management of Arctic scientific data. The broader impact of CADIS is that it creates a foundation for long-term access to data archives, discovery, delivery and analysis by the Arctic science community and other users.

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

This award supports the continued development of the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA). It provides data management and user support to facilitate the collection, preservation, exchange, and use of local observations and knowledge. The first phase of ELOKA was developmental. This award will help move ELOKA into a fully operational mode that will help projects to acquire, manage and preserve their data, and to provide user-friendly tools for user-based searches, browsing and data access, through either project portals or the ELOKA portal as a means of access to all partner projects. There are three main "Intellectual Merits" of ELOKA. First, it will further develop innovative data management approaches to handle 'non-traditional' forms of information. Second, it will make more observational data and information available to the wider research community and beyond through discoverability of data. Third, ELOKA fills a critical gap in Arctic research by providing data management services to social science projects, community-based research projects, and other projects with 'non-traditional data', many of which are mandated to make their metadata and data available, but currently have few options for support. ELOKA has several "Broader Impacts". It will expand indigenous participation in scientific activities by supporting community-based projects in the Arctic. It will make indigenous observations and perspectives accessible to a larger audience, increasing general understanding of Arctic peoples and their relationship with a changing environment. And it will improve communication and collaboration between the scientific and indigenous communities by promoting the exchange of information and ideas. With a network in place to support them, Arctic residents and indigenous communities will also strengthen their ties to each other and have a mechanism to voice local and collective ideas and findings.