The Arctic Research Office (ARO) a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...

 (NOAA) run under the auspices of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . OAR is also referred to as NOAA Research....

 (OAR).

ARO is the focal point for NOAA's research in the Arctic

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

, Bering Sea

Bering Sea

The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....

, North Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 and North Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 regions.

In 1996, the Congress of the United States appropriated $1.00 million to support an Arctic Research Initiative within NOAA. In cooperation with the Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research

Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research

The Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research is designed to be a focal point for interactions between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration /Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the Arctic research community through the University of Alaska for research related to the...

, NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research used those funds to support research projects in two principal areas: natural variability of the Western Arctic/Bering Sea ecosystem, and anthropogenic influences on the Western Arctic/Bering Sea ecosystem. Support for the Arctic Research Initiative is ongoing.

The office administers the funds from the Arctic Research Initiative. It represents NOAA on the Intragency Arctic Research Policy Committee, leads U.S. involvement in the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, and provides a point of contact between NOAA and the Cooperative Institute and Assessment Program and the International Arctic Research Center

International Arctic Research Center

The International Arctic Research Center, or IARC, established in 1999, is a research institution focused on integrating and coordinating study of climate change in the Arctic. The primary partners in IARC are Japan and the United States...

.

Russian-American Long-term Census of the Arctic (RUSALCA)

The Russian-American Long-term Census of the Arctic

Russian-American Long-term Census of the Arctic

The following section is extracted fromhttp://www.arctic.noaa.gov/aro/russian-american/which appears to be the main external site for this project:RUSALCA IntroductionKathleen CraneU.S. Mission Coordinator, Arctic Research Office NOAA4 RUSALCA cruise....

 is a joint-project between the Russian Academy of Sciences

Russian Academy of Sciences

The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....

 and NOAA. This project supports the Study of Environmental Arctic Change

Study of Environmental Arctic Change

Study of Environmental ARctic CHange is an interdisciplinary, multiscale program at the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA. It is a focused, vertically structured organization through which government agencies can study the newest data collected on Arctic...

 (SEARCH) program and the Ocean Exploration

Office of Ocean Exploration

In the United States the Office of Ocean Exploration is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration run under the auspices of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research ....

 Program.

• RUSALCA Initial Expedition to the Bering And Chukchi Seas (Arctic Ocean), July 23 - September 6, 2004.
• RUSALCA Cruise Photo Collection

Arctic Change Website

The Near-realtime Arctic Change Indicator Website provides information on the present state of the Arctic ecosystem and climate in historical context.

• Arctic Change website
• Arctic Theme Page - a comprehensive resource for teachers, students, decision makers, scientists and the public.

Arctic Climate Observing System (ACOS)

The ACOS project collects data from observing networks and uses that data to detect climate change activity. The observing networks are:

• International Arctic Buoy Program
  International Arctic Buoy Program
  The International Arctic Buoy Program is headquartered at the Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington, United States...
  
  
• Arctic Sea Ice Thickness Network - consists of two types of sensors.
  • Standard sea-floor mooring
    Mooring
    Mooring may refer to:* Mooring , any device used to hold secure an object by means of cables, anchors, or lines* Mooring mast, a structure designed to hold airships and blimps securely in the open when they are not in flight....
    
     technology is used to deploy upward looking sonar
    Upward looking sonar
    An upward looking sonar is a sonar device pointed upwards looking towards the surface of the sea. It is used for similar purposes as downward looking sonar, but has some unique applications such as measuring sea ice depth and concentration or measuring air entrainment from bubble plumes during...
    
     (ULS) to provide a view of ice thickness as ice drifts through the field of view of the ULS.
  • Ice-mounted buoys are used to provide direct measurements of ice thickness as it evolves over the seasons at a given point in the ice. The buoys also directly measure thickness of snow cover on the ice, temperature profiles from above the ice, through the ice and in the water column. The buoys also measure air temperature and sea level pressure.
• Arctic Ocean Observations Network - A component of a larger international effort. NOAA supports oceanographic moorings in the northern Bering Sea and the Bering Strait
  Bering Strait
  The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...
  
  .

External links

• NOAA's Arctic Research Office (ARO)
• Arctic Change website - near realtime information on the present state of Arctic ecosystems and climate in historical context.
• Arctic Theme Page - a comprehensive resource for teachers, students, decision makers, scientists and the public.