The purpose of the Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) is to support and strengthen the development of multinational engagement for sustained and coordinated pan-Arctic observing and data sharing systems. SAON was initiated by the Arctic Council and the International Arctic Science Committee, and was established by the 2011 Ministerial Meeting in Nuuk.
The SAON inventory builds on a survey circulated in the community at the inception of the activity. This database is continously updated and maintained, and contains projects, activities, networks and programmes related to environmental observation in the circum-polar Arctic.
Other catalogs through this service are AMAP, ENVINET and SEARCH, or refer to the full list of projects/activities.
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1. Priority Research Theme (1) Clarification of the mechanism of the Arctic amplification. (2) The role of Arctic in the global climate change and future projection. (3) Evaluation on the influence of the Arctic Environmental Change to the weather in the Japan area and fishery. (4) Future projection of the sea ice distribution in relation to the evaluation Arctic route. 2. Basic infrastructure (1) Arctic research cruises by Japanese and foreign ships/ice breaker. (2) Cloud radar system. (3) Data archive system. 3. Establishment of “Japan Consortium for Arctic Environment Research” 4. Budget size: 650, 000, 000 Japanese Yen per year. (appox. 8 million USD per year) Network type: research programme
Ice-drifting buoy observation in sea ice area of the Arctic Ocean Main gaps: not well documented…
Since 1988 the regular summer hydrographic observations in the Nordic Seas and Fram Strait have been collected by the Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences (IOPAS). Observational activities were carried out under several national programs, in the frames of EU projects VEINS, ASOF-N and DAMOCLES and within Polish-Norwegian cooperation in the AWAKE project. The main objectives are: to study the long-term variability of water mass distribution, their physical and chemical properties and different pathways in the Nordic Seas; to investigate the Atlantic water (AW) circulation in the Nordic Seas and its inflow into the Arctic Ocean; to recognize the possible feedbacks between the Atlantic water variability and local and global climate changes.
- To document levels and trends of radioactivity in the environment - Basis for reports to international organisations (mainly OSPAR) - Inform authorities, media and the public in general about status of radioactive contamination