The International Arctic Science Committe:
The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) is a non-governmental, international scientific organization. With 19 member nations including Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the USA, IASC is a scientific associate of the International Council for Science and has observer status with the Arctic Council. IASC promotes the idea of "encouraging cooperation and integration of human, social, and natural sciences concerned with the Arctic at a circumarctic or international level and providing scientific advice on arctic issues." The IASC mission is to encourage and facilitate cooperation in all aspects of Arctic research, in all countries engaged in Arctic research and in all areas of the Arctic region. Overall, IASC promotes and supports leading-edge multi-disciplinary research in order to foster a greater scientific understanding of the Arctic region and its role in the Earth system.
To achieve this mission IASC:
Arctic Climate Change, Economy and Society:
Arctic Climate Change, Economy and Society (ACCESS) is a European Project supported within the Ocean of Tomorrow Call of the European Commission Seventh Framework. ACCESS will evaluate the latest arctic climate change scenarios and establish their impacts on marine transportation (including tourism), fisheries, marine mammals and the extraction of hydrocarbons in the Arctic for the next three decades with particular attention to environmental sensitivities and sustainability.
ISAC is working in partnership with ACCESS to further co-ordination and collaboration in arctic system science, including the development of initiatives which will enhance ongoing observing initiatives for the benefit of a diverse group of stakeholders including the scientific community. ACCESS Information Brochure
Arctic Net:
ArcticNet is a Network of Centres of Excellence of Canada, bringing together scientists and managers in the natural, human health, and social sciences with their partners from Inuit organizations, northern communities, federal and provincial agencies, and the private sector.
The central objective of the Network is to translate a growing understanding of the changing Arctic into impact assessments, national policies, and adaptation strategies. The direct involvement of Northerners in the scientific process is a primary goal of the Network that will be fulfilled through bilateral exchange of knowledge, training and technology. The Network is built around a research icebreaker that will help solve the want of observations in the coastal Canadian Arctic. ArcticNet provides a unique multi-disciplinary and cross-sector environment for the training of the next generation of scientists (including Northerners) urgently needed to ensure the stewardship of a new Canadian Arctic.
General Objectives are as follows:
INTERACT:
International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring (INTERACT) in the Arctic. A main objective of INTERACT is to build capacity for identifying, understanding, predicting and responding to diverse environmental changes throughout the wide environmental and land use envelopes in the Arctic. INTERACT was proposed by the existing SCANNET network of field stations situated in all eight Arctic countries.
Important parts of the INTERACT project include:
SEARCH - The Study of Environmental Arctic Change:
SEARCH is a U.S. interagency system-scale, cross-disciplinary, long-term arctic research program that spans arctic terrestrial, oceanic, atmospheric, and social systems.
SEARCH implementation activities are grouped by three objectives:
SEARCH is connected to the international scientific community through key activities involving arctic change.
SEARCH science questions include: