The full list of projects contains the entire database hosted on this portal, across the available directories. The projects and activities (across all directories/catalogs) are also available by country of origin, by geographical region, or by directory.
The State and Evolution of Canada's Glaciers initiative provides information and data products produced by the Federal Government's National Glacier-Climate Observing System (monitoring, assessment and data portal) and related freshwater vulnerability research in western and northern Canada. The Glacier-Climate Observing System is delivered through an integrated monitoring and research collaborative comprised of Natural Resources Canada-Geological Survey of Canada (lead agency), Geomatics Canada-Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, Environment Canada-National Water Research Institute and Water Survey of Canada, Parks Canada Agency, C-CORE Polar View, and academic partners that include the universities of British Columbia, Northern British Columbia, Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge, Saskatchewan, Regina, Toronto, Brock, Trent and Ottawa, and related academic initiatives such as the Cold Water Collaborative and those supported by the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Science. SECG is a contribution to the NRCan Earth Sciences Sector - Climate Change Geoscience Program. With this data research is conducted on the relationship between climate, glacier fluctuations and their impacts on freshwater systems (e.g., river flow, cold stream ecology, groundwater recharge, flow to oceans). The development of improved remote sensing tools is also a major research thrust. With the support of the Canadian Space Agency, European Space Agency, the Canadian Consortium for Lidar Environmental Applications Research (C-CLEAR), and the NASA - Wallops Flight Facility, new tools and a systematic approach are increasingly brought to bear to understand more completely and with reduced uncertainty the magnitude, causality and impacts of Canada's changing glaciers. System outputs are used to a) inform national and international climate change programs and process; b) improve knowledge regarding the nature and locations of historical, current, and potential future impacts of climate change, c) assist Canadians in understanding and adapting to climate change impacts on natural resources at a regional and national scale. The System also provides leadership and co-ordination of Canada's contribution to World Meteorological Organization’s Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) and its Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers (GTN-G), the contribution of Essential Climate Variables for GEO/GEOSS, and providing such as Official Communications to the Parties of the Convention UNFCCC. Main gaps: Regional representativeness has been improving with the re-establishment of former sites or the establishment of new sites. Contributions to thematic needs such as water resources, flow to oceans and sea-level change will require improved co-ordination with hydrometric and other monitoring entities. Which Network type: - Thematical observations: yes - Field stations: yes, 20 reference observing sites - Community based observations: some in development (Grise Fjord) - Coordination: SECG guides and co-ordinates observations conducted by partners; SECG co-ordinates reporting for Canada (e.g., GCOS-GTN-G, WGMS)
Monitoring and modelling of a glaciated terrestrial ecosystem and land ocean fluxes to the adjacent fjord system. Main gaps: - Basic funding for long-term monitoring - Basic funding for data and data base handling A few short gaps due to sensor failures
This is a cooperation between Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Norway (contact person Ingolf Røttingen, ingolf.rottingen@imr.no) and Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (PINRO) in Russia. Main objective of the network: - Determine amount and distribution of commercial fish stocks - Describe abundance of biodiversity (benthos, fish, whale, zooplankton, phytoplankton, shellfish) - Determine annual variation in commercial fish biomass and feeding conditions for these fish species. Location: Southern and central Barents Sea – mainly in Norwegian sector. When operational: Area surveys are conducted throughout the year. The number of vessels in each survey differs, not only between surveys but may also change from year to year for the same survey. However, most surveys are conducted with only one vessel. It is not possible to measure all ecosystem components during each survey. Effort is always put on measuring as many species as possible on each survey, but available time put restrictions on what is possible to accomplish. Also, an investigation should not take too long time in order to give a synoptic picture of the conditions. Therefore the surveys must focus on a specific set of species. Other measured species may therefore not have optimal coverage and thereby increased uncertainty, but will still give important information. An overview of the measured species on each main survey is given in the table above. Operation: Observations are taken by IMR from research vessels. The programme is carried out in cooperation with Russia (PINRO) coordinated under the Joint Norway-Russia Fisheries Commission. Assessment of commercial stocks are conducted through ICES. Geographical coverage: Norwegian EEZ of Barents Sea including waters around Svalbard. The joint programme with Russia covers much of the Barents Sea (southern, central, and much of northern part in fall). Network type: Surveys, annual stock assessments
This is a cooperation between Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Norway (contact person Tor Knutsen, tor.knutsen@imr.no ) and Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (PINRO) in Russia. Main objective of the network: 1. Determine amount and distribution of zooplankton biomass (in three size fractions). 2. Describe abundance of dominant zooplankton species. 3. Determine annual variation in zooplankton biomass and feeding conditions of planktonfeeding fishes. Operation: Observations are taken by IMR from research vessels. The programme is carried out in cooperation with Russia (PINRO).
This is a cooperation between Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Norway (Contact person Randi Ingvaldsen, randi.ingvaldsen@imr.no) and Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (PINRO) in Russia. Main objective of the network: 1. Describe water mass distribution and properties 2. Document ocean climate variability as part of long time series 3. Relate ocean climate variability to variation in recruitment, growth, condition and size of commercial fish stocks Observations are taken by IMR from research vessels. The programme is carried out in cooperation with Russia (PINRO) coordinated under the Joint Norway-Russia Fisheries Commission. The current meter moorings are shifted once a year.
- 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
Survey trends in deposition of long range transported heavy metals and other elements in Norway. For this purpose concentrations in mosses are measured. In year 2000 and 2005 extra samples were taken in areas with metallurgic industry to map the local level of deposition.
The USDA also manages the Alaska Soil Survey, a scientific inventory of soil resources in 31 different regions of the state. The data are used for making maps, identifying physical and chemical properties of soils, and supplying current information on potential uses and limitations of soils. The Soil Survey contributes to the Natural Resources Inven-tory that involves monitoring of the changes and trends in natural resource use and condition.
NASA satellites (Figure 13) support an extensive Global Water Cycle science focus area and contribute to high accuracy, stable, sustained observations and associated modeling for terrestrial hydrology and cryosphere studies. Derived geophysical products for terrestrial hydrology and cryosphere are available from the NSIDC’s Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). They include: soil moisture and snow water equivalent from AMSR-E; Greenland ice sheet altimetry and global land surface altimetry from ICESat/GLAS; snow cover extent/area from MODIS; surface albedo and temperature from AVHRR Pathfinder. SAR data obtained from a variety of foreign satellites since 1991 are archived at the ASF DAAC. SAR data provide opportunities for change detection, including interferometric SAR (InSAR) studies of glacier and ice sheet surface elevation and dynamics (ice velocity maps), land surface elevation, and soil moisture. GRACE has been used to determine the mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet and from glaciers in southeast Alaska. The surface elevation of the Greenland ice sheet is mapped using ICESat, and the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflec¬tion Radiometer (ASTER) is used to acquire imagery and topography of the ice sheet.
The EPA National Aquatic Resource Survey (NARS) assesses the condition of the Nation’s aquatic resources, including those in Alaska. NARS is an integrated and comprehensive program that monitors five different categories of aquatic resources: coasts, streams, rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Each of the five aquatic resource categories sample specific indicators to provide information on the physical, chemical and biological condition of the resource. Examples include: coasts (water chemistry, sediment quality, benthic condition, fish tissue contaminants, habitat condition); streams (benthic condition, nutrients, sedimentation, fish habitat, riparian vegetation); rivers (fish, benthos, periphyton, nutrients, sedi-mentation, recreational indicators); lakes, including ponds and reservoirs (zooplankton, phytoplankton, sediment diatoms, sediment mercury, nutrients, microcystin, enterococcus, fish tissue chemistry); wetlands (to be determined). Sampling was conducted for the National Coastal Assessment in south central Alaska in 2002, in southeast Alaska in 2004, and the Aleutians in 2006-2007. Pilot surveys were conducted for the National Wadeable Streams Survey in the Tanana basin in 2004-2005, and for the National Wadeable Lakes Survey in the Kenai region in 2007-2008.
In tundra areas of Alaska, we need to be able to ascertain that enough old-growth lichen-rich habitats remain for our caribou herds and that habitat diversity is maintained. Examination of long-term range monitoring transects previously deployed in remote tundra areas of Alaska on BLM lands show significant declines in available caribou forage lichens (which are highly sensitive to disturbance and slow-growing) for caribou and reindeer. Post-fire recovery of lichens may be prolonged or questionable under current climate conditions. The principal objective is to determine the magnitude of climate change impacts to tundra and boreal forest fire regime.
One station on the Tamayariak River measures tundra water flow. Another station on the Canning River measures flow from mountain discharge. Member of US Geological Survey National Water Information System. Tamayariak River, North Slope Borough, Alaska Hydrologic Unit Code 19060501 Latitude 69°51'55", Longitude 145°35'34" NAD27 Drainage area 149 square miles Gage datum 325 feet above sea level NGVD29 Location: Canning River, North Slope Borough, Alaska Hydrologic Unit Code 19060501 Latitude 69°52'55", Longitude 146°23'09" NAD27 Drainage area 1,930 square miles Gage datum 338 feet above sea level NGVD29
The overall goal of AON is to obtain data that will support scientific investigations of Arctic environmental system change. The observing objectives are to: 1. Maintain science-driven observations of environmental system changes that are already underway; 2. Deploy new, science-driven observing systems and be prepared for detection of future environmental system change; 3. Develop observing data sets that will contribute to (a) the understanding of Arctic environmental system change (via analysis, synthesis and modelling) and its connections to the global system, and (b) improved prediction of future Arctic environmental system change and its connections to the global system. Main gaps: Understanding Change and Responding to Change panels, has formed an AON Design and Implementation (ADI) Task Force. Composed of Arctic and non-Arctic scientists with experience and expertise in scientific observing and observing system operation and design, the goal of the task force is to provide advice to the scientific community and NSF on observing system/network design options that are available for identifying gaps that hinder scientific understanding of Arctic environmental system change. The task force will hold two workshops and address two main objectives: (1) evaluate the current SEARCH science questions and observing priorities, and recommend new priorities in the light of the environmental system changes that have occurred since 2005; and (2) evaluate observing system/network design methods, including pilot projects and small-scale tests. A publicly available report will be released in summer 2010. It is anticipated that the report will be of interest to the broader Arctic science community, the governments of the Arctic countries and other countries, NGOs and numerous stakeholders.
Observe changes in the ecosystem, fluxes of heat, salt, nutrients, CO2, and methane from the seafloor to the atmosphere above, as a function of changing climate in the Pacific Arctic region from the Bering Strait north to the high Arctic. Main gaps: So far unable to go far into the ice for investigation, although the geographical scope of the RUSALCA mission increased in 2009 because of the reduction of sea ice cover. (we were able to reach a northernmost site and to sample as far north as 77°30’N.
The NCOP collects, analyzes, and disseminates observations and predictions of tidal currents for over 2,700 locations throughout the United States. The NCOP conducts annual tidal current surveys in various locations which deploy current meters for 30-90 days to acquire enough data to generate accurate tidal current predictions. Main gaps: NOAA maintains tidal current predictions at approximately 2,750 locations. However, there are little historical data north of the Aleutian chain, and those data are very old.
The NWLON is a network of long term stations whose fundamental purpose is to provide vertical control (tidal datums) that support a host of national requirements. In addition, the NWLON collects continuous water level data and provides observations and derived data products that support: marine transportation and navigation ( hydrographic charting surveys, shoreline mapping surveys, tide predictions, forecast water levels, real time observations, dredging projects, hazardous material spill response); global sea level rise studies, storm surge and tsunami detection and warnings, marine boundary determination (federal/state, state/private, state/state), coastal zone management activities, ecosystem restoration, and effective marine spatial planning. Main gaps: Gap analysis report completed in FY2008 identifying gaps based primarily on providing vertical (tidal datum) control. Largest gaps in Arctic region – gaps in data and information in Bristol Bay, Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea, and Beaufort Sea areas.
To provide real-time marine meteorological, oceanographic and geophysical observations in real-time to the World Meteorological Organization’s Global Telecommunications Service (GTS).
The Bering Sea is an extremely rich ecosystem providing almost half of the US catch of fish and shellfish. EcoFOCI has four moorings (M2, M4, M5 and M8), which are an important component in the observational system, monitoring changes in the ecosystem. Data are used by ecosystem managers, modellers (model validation), and scientists. They provide critical information on the spatial temperature structure, timing of phytoplankton blooms, cold pool and presence of marine mammals. Main gaps: Expanding instrumentation to measure ice thickness, nutrients, oxygen, PAR, zooplankton biovolume and atmospheric variables to all four of the mooring sites. Increase vertical resolution of nutrients. Expand measurements northward into the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.
To develop a coastal and ocean observing system in the Alaska region that meets the needs of multiple stakeholders by (1) serving as a regional data center providing data integration and coordination; (2) identifying stakeholder and user priorities for ocean and coastal information; (4) working with federal, state and academic partners to fill those gaps, including by AOOS where appropriate. Main gaps: AOOS and the data center are statewide activities, but thus far, available funding has limited observations and models primarily the Gulf of Alaska.
USGS operates a long-term “benchmark” glacier program to monitor climate, glacier geometry, glacier mass balance, glacier motion and stream runoff.