Introduction
The Arctic Ocean Sciences Board (AOSB) was established in May, 1984 to fill a recognized need to coordinate the priorities and programs of countries and institutions engaged in research in the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas.
The long-term mission of the AOSB is to facilitate Arctic Ocean research by the support of multinational and multidisciplinary natural science and engineering programs.
The mission will be achieved, inter alia, through:
- encouraging and supporting science-led international programs by offering planning, coordination and access to funding and logistics
- ensuring that information on Arctic Ocean research is exchanged and disseminated
- establishing communication channels, information networks and arranging access to facilities
- establishing means of initiating and maintaining observational systems and the data produced
- ensuring interaction among the Arctic science community and those concerned with Arctic policy, and promoting symposia and educational events
Membership and Modus Operandi
The AOSB is a non-governmental body that includes members and participants from research and governmental institutions in Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Korea, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, , the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Membership is open to all nations participating in research in the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas. A new terms of reference for the AOSB was approved at the 2007 meeting of the Board.
The Board meets annually to exchange information, to promote cooperation and to establish program priorities. The meetings are hosted by member organizations and institutions and the locations are chosen to enable members to take the best possible advantage of exposure to the various centres of Arctic science expertise. The Board elects a Chair and Vice-Chair to serve for a two-year term. When necessary, an executive committee, composed of the Chair, the Vice-Chair, Past-Chair and the Secretary can meet to take action.
Meetings are held during the Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) which is normally held at the end of March or early April at locations chosen by host countries.
Support for the Secretariat of the AOSB is presently provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation. The names and addresses of the present AOSB Officers and Secretariat are given below. Funds are provided by Members and participating institutions of the Board for participation in meetings and in the scientific programs of the Board in which they participate.
Meeting Reports are published and sent to participants and to associated organizations for distribution.
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Relationships With Other Arctic Science Organizations
AOSB participates every year in the Arctic Ocean Sciences Week. This
week-long event, usually held in April, is an opportunity for various
organizations with a scientific interest in the Arctic to come together
to hold meetings and to exchange information. AOSB has informal
linkages to most of the other ASSW organizations, including the
International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), the European Polar Board (EPB), the Forum of Arctic Research Operators (FARO), and the Pacific Arctic Group (PAG).
In addition, AOSB is taking an active interest in the activities of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA), the International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY) and the Second International Conference for Arctic Research Planning (ICARP II). Other organizations with which AOSB has informal linkages are the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), and the World Climate Research Project's Climate and Cryosphere Program (CliC).
The AOSB is actively involved in the International Polar Year, specifically with the design and implementation of the Integrated Arctic Ocean Observing System (iAOOS) program. iAOOS was initiated jointly with the World Climate Research Project's Climate and Cryosphere Program (CLiC) with which AOSB has an active partnership. AOSB was one of several major sponsors of the Second International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP II) and remains involved with other ICARP II partners in the implementation of the science plans.
The AOSB, through its membership, also maintains strong ties to domestic Arctic research organizations within each member nation.
Finally, the AOSB is in the process of exploring with IASC ways to strengthen their partnership in the Arctic through closer affiliation of the two organizations. It is the desire of AOSB to work with IASC to create a strong nexus of scientific expertise in the Arctic.
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History of AOSB
The AOSB was established in May 1984 to fill a recognized need to coordinate the priorities and programs of countries and institutions engaged in research in the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas. It is a non-governmental body with members from research and government institutions in 16 countries who have met annually over the past 21 years to promote coordination and establish joint priorities and programs. Over the past six years, the AOSB has met as part of the joint Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) and has been a valuable member of the planning and coordination of the ASSW. The secretariat for the organization has been and is supported by the National Science Foundation of the United States.
AOSB has many accomplishments to its name. The Greenland Sea Project was the first major program undertaken by the Board in two phases over the years 1987-1993. It was aimed at observing and modelling the atmospheric, ice, oceanic and biological processes relevant to understanding the role of the Nordic Seas in the climate system. The project was developed and coordinated under the auspices of the Arctic Ocean Sciences Board and was co-sponsored by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). It was carried out by national surveys involving major commitments of scientists, ships and instrumentation, which resulted in valuable new data sets covering spatial scales up to several years. The project concluded with a symposium in 1995, which in itself generated well over eighty papers including a significant number of peer-reviewed publications. Recognizing the unique role that polynyas play in the Arctic system, the AOSB initiated the International Arctic Polynya Program (IAPP) in 1989. This long-term program has resulted in a wealth of data and observations over the past 15 years, beginning first with the Northeast Water Polynya project (NEW), followed by the North Water Polynya Project (NOW), which was succeeded in 2001 by the Canadian Arctic Shelf Exchange Study (CASES), incorporating the Cape Bathurst Polynya, and finally evolving into a self-sustaining new program called Polynyas in a Changing Arctic Environment (PACE). Most recently, a new textbook entitled: "Polynyas: Windows to the World" edited by W.O. Smith and D.G. Barber has been published by Elsevier. The IAPP incorporates the work of scientists in most of the AOSB member countries, has been a valuable tool in education and outreach through its students on board activities and has provided valuable insight into the changing nature of polynyas and the potential impacts of global change to the broader Arctic system. AOSB financial support to the IAPP will end in 2006, but AOSB will continue to work closely with the PACE scientific steering group and provide intellectual support in the years to come.
In 1996, the AOSB initiated a new multidisciplinary and international research program on river discharge and its change through time called Arctic paleo-River discharge (APARD). The APARD science plan was published in 1998 and during the following years, a large number of APARD-related research activities were performed in the western as well as eastern Arctic continental margin and a huge amount of new data on circum-Arctic river discharge were obtained. Following APARD, in 2000, new projects and programs in which the Arctic river discharge was the major component were developed. The first of these was the Siberian River Run-off (SIRRO) covering the nature of continental run-off from the Siberian rivers and its behavior in the Kara Sea area.
Another notable achievement was the successful management of a NATO Advanced Study Workshop on the Freshwater Budget of the Arctic Ocean, which took place in Tallinn, Estonia in April 1998. The Workshop resulted in a peer-reviewed publication of the same name edited by E.L. Lewis, Terry D. Prowse, E. Peter Jones, Peter Lemke and Peter Wadhams.
During its 18th meeting in 1999 in Tokyo, Japan, the AOSB agreed that a new program on Arctic Subarctic Ocean Fluxes (ASOF) should be undertaken. ASOF is AOSB's largest initiative to date. It coordinates and sets priorities for various programs carried out by institutions in most member countries to monitor over the long-term heat exchange between the Arctic Ocean and the adjacent seas.
The Shelf Basin Exchange Working Group was formed during the 2001 meeting of the AOSB in Iqaluit, Canada. The Board recognized the need to coordinate and set priorities for the many national shelf basin exchange programs that were developing around the Arctic basin. This important activity has lead to several workshops and cooperative activities and has made a long-term research proposal to the International Conference on Arctic Research and Planning and to the International Polar Year. AOSB provides a small amount of financial support for the program to run workshops and to encourage international participation in meetings. This program is an example of the excellent work that AOSB can do in terms of coordinating activities across institutions and national borders. Without a program like SBE, there would be more duplication of effort, less political focus on this important area of study and subsequently fewer resources devoted to it.
AOSB, along with other Arctic organizations, played a role in bringing about a new International Polar Year which will begin in 2007. Then, in response to the IPY, AOSB developed a coordinated Arctic marine proposal entitled the integrated Arctic Ocean Observing System (iAOOS). It brings together three major proposals brought to the AOSB by various members and now incorporates over 30 individual proposals brought to the IPY Joint Committee. Without the AOSB's interention in the IPY process, it would have been very difficult to bring any semblance of order to the almost 100 Arctic marine proposals which were brought individually to the IPY Joint Committee. These proposals were reviewed and given an opportunity to participate in the iAOOS activity. The AOSB iAOOS proposal, which has been endorsed by the IPY JC, now represents one way of looking at the Arctic Ocean during the IPY. How it will eventually be implemented and what it will look like in the end will be a reflection of the funding that comes to it vis-à-vis the national funding agencies. AOSB has provided a template for action.
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Officers and Staff of the AOSB
Harald Loeng, (Chair)
Naja Mikkelsen, (Past Chair)
Savithri Narayanan, (Vice Chair)
Sung-Ho Kang, (Vice Chair)
Sergey Priamikov (Host of ASSW 2008)
Sara Bowden, (Secretary)
For additional information on AOSB activities and programs, please contact the secretariat:
Sara Bowden
AOSB Secretary
9504 Broome Ct.
Vienna, VA 22182
USA
Tel: +1 703-272-7300
FAX: +1 703-272-3804
Email: sbowden@ucar.edu
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