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U.S. POLAR RESEARCH PROGRAMS $235,740,000
The FY 2003 Budget Request for U.S. Polar Research Programs
Activity is $235.74 million, an increase of $6.0 million, or 2.6 percent,
over the FY 2002 Current Plan of $229.74 million.
(Millions of Dollars)
|
FY 2001
Actual
|
FY 2002
Current
Plan
|
FY 2003
Request
|
Change
|
Amount
|
Percent
|
Arctic Research Program
|
32.86
|
36.78
|
37.84
|
1.06
|
2.9%
|
Arctic Research Support and Logistics
|
25.40
|
26.00
|
26.00
|
0.00
|
0.0%
|
Arctic Research Commission
|
1.00
|
1.02
|
1.08
|
0.06
|
5.9%
|
Antarctic Research Grants Program
|
36.89
|
39.78
|
40.46
|
0.68
|
1.7%
|
Operations and Science Support
|
117.96
|
126.16
|
130.36
|
4.20
|
3.3%
|
Total, U.S. Polar Research Programs
|
$214.12
|
$229.74
|
$235.74
|
$6.00
|
2.6%
|
The U.S. Polar Research Programs Activity supports both
Arctic and Antarctic research. Arctic support represents part of a larger
NSF and federal research effort. Antarctic support includes funding for
NSF-supported researchers as well as for meeting NSF responsibilities
as manager of the entire federal Antarctic program, including special
requirements for operations and science support.
Arctic Research Program
The FY 2003 Budget Request for the U. S. Arctic Research
Program within Polar Programs is $37.84 million, an increase of $1.06
million, or 2.9 percent, over FY 2002. This funding, with the Arctic Research
Support and Logistics funding, represents over 70 percent of the NSF support
for university-based Arctic research.
The U.S. Arctic Research Program supports research on the
Arctic Ocean, atmosphere, and land areas - including their people, and
marine and terrestrial ecosystems. In addition to research in individual
disciplines, an Arctic System Science (ARCSS) component focuses on interdisciplinary
approaches to understanding the Arctic region, including its role in global
climate.
Of growing interest and importance is providing full annual
access to polar regions - such as Summit, on the Greenland icecap - to
extend measurements on biological and physical systems into the dark months
and testing models developed on the basis of summer-only measurements.
This includes facilitating both on-site research and virtual access through
remote instrumentation.
It has become widely recognized that the Arctic is in the
midst of a change over the last decade. Changes have been measured in
the ice cover, atmosphere, some terrestrial parameters, and northern ecosystems.
Residents of the north are seeing these environmental changes affecting
their lives. It is important to determine whether these changes are correlated
with a short-term shift in atmospheric circulation or whether they signal
long-term global change.
Priorities in FY 2003 include:
- Expansion of fieldwork begun in FY 2002 to measure Arctic/Subarctic
Ocean Fluxes (ASOF) and aspects of Arctic basin hydrology. These are
the high priority, more mature elements of the Study of Environmental
Arctic Change (SEARCH) that is planned to be a multiyear, multi-million
dollar per year effort involving many federal agencies.
- Improvements in health, safety and infrastructure at facilities in
Alaska, Greenland, and Russia, including modern dormitories, high bandwidth
communications, and autonomous year-round power systems (up to 2kW).
Additional investments in medical assistance services and satellite
phones, as well as field training courses, need to be made. Improved
access to Russian facilities and long-term data through cooperative
programs is required.
Ongoing activities include:
- The Arctic Transitions of the Land-Atmosphere System (ATLAS) project
is finishing a five-year interdisciplinary study of the role of climate
change on the ability of soil, hydrology, and tundra plants to store
or release greenhouse gases. ATLAS will synthesize results using a wide
range of process, regional, and global circulation models to determine
if a predicted warming climate will result in further release of carbon
dioxide from Arctic soils.
- The Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic (SHEBA) Ocean project is finishing
a nine-year study of the role of climate on clouds and sea ice conditions
affecting the storage of heat in the Arctic Ocean. SHEBA is using data
collected from a one-year ice-drift station to improve model simulations
of climate impacts on Arctic sea ice conditions and the feedbacks to
global climate.
- The Arctic Mid Ocean Ridge Expedition (AMORE) program should see the
completion of analyses of the lithology and tectonics of the Gakkel
Ridge.
- The Research Support and Logistics program will continue to support
approximately 140 projects throughout the Arctic. Almost half the projects
are located in Alaska; Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea efforts are now rising
to a significant fraction of the total, with full use of the USCGC Healy
as well as time on Polar Sea and Polar Star, and
the R/V Alpha Helix.
Arctic Research Support and Logistics
Arctic research support and logistics is driven by and responsive
to the science supported in U.S. Arctic Research programs. Funding for
logistics is provided directly to grantees or to key organizations who
provide or manage Arctic research support and logistics. Some of the highlights
and improvements are:
- Increased ability to provide fixed and rotary-wing airlift support
to researchers conducting regional studies in the difficult, and often
fragile, Arctic terrain in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Arctic Scandinavia,
and Russia.
- Improved access to U.S. Coast Guard and other icebreakers, University-National
Oceanographic Laboratory vessels and coastal boats, and support on the
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy.
- Infrastructure upgrades at Toolik Field Station, University of Alaska,
Fairbanks' field station for ecological research on Alaska's North Slope.
- Development of new capabilities at the Barrow Environmental Observatory.
- Further development of a year-round facility at Summit, Greenland,
in collaboration with European partners.
- Establishment of strategically placed Long-Term Observatories capable
of supporting selected chemical and physical on-site analyses. For example,
sites to measure the river input into the Arctic Ocean from the surrounding
continental land masses or observe ocean flux through the Bering Strait.
- Development of innovative technology and instrumentation such as pilotless
aircraft and autonomous underwater vehicles that will allow investigators
to make measurements year-round in and above the Arctic Ocean.
- Improved safety measures for field researchers, including field safety
experts, global satellite telephones for emergency response, and improved
logistics coordination.
- Partnering with the International Arctic Research Center, based at
the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, to support global change assessment
activities and research in the Arctic.
Arctic Research Commission
Funding for the Arctic Research Commission (ARC), an independent
federal agency, is transferred through the National Science Foundation
to ARC. In FY 2003, ARC is requesting $1.08 million, an increase of $60,000,
or 5.9 percent, over FY 2002.
Antarctic Research Grants Program
The FY 2003 Budget Request for the Antarctic Research Grants
Program is $40.46 million, an increase of $680,000, or 1.7 percent over
FY 2002. The program provides grants to fund scientific research related
to Antarctica and to the Southern Ocean. The FY 2003 Request will support
research projects in Antarctica and at academic institutions in the U.S.
This fundamental research will provide insights on the ozone hole, how
extreme environments affect gene expression, the effects of ultraviolet
radiation on living organisms, changes in the ice sheet and impacts on
sea level, global weather and climate, ocean circulation, and on the early
evolution of our universe as well as its current composition.
Priorities in FY 2003 include:
- Investigating temperature increases of 15_ F and more that occurred
over periods of just a few years, and lasted for hundreds of years on
numerous occasions in past times. There is now great scientific and
policy interest in determining whether these shifts were local or global.
Additional deep ice cores will need to be drilled to answer that question.
FY 2003 will begin the site survey work to set the stage for a multiyear
several million dollar effort. A closely related FY 2003 activity will
be to engage with Great Britain to determine whether the grounding line
of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is retreating. This has implications
for climate and sea-level studies.
- Initiating preparations for exploring Antarctic sub-glacial lakes.
These lakes have been buried in total darkness by thousands of meters
of ice for millions of years but preliminary work has provided indirect
evidence for the existence of microscopic life forms. The initial activity
will develop instrumentation for measuring the physical parameters of
the lakes - salinity, temperature, pH, turbidity, etc. - throughout
the full depths of the lakes, as well as instrumentation for remote
sampling of life forms. Coupled with this will be an expanded microbiology
capability at the Crary Laboratory at McMurdo Station to facilitate
studies of adaptation, evolution, physiology, and behavior studies at
the genome and proteome level.
- Initiating drilling activities to probe strata from about 400,000
and 800,000 years ago when unusually warm periods were experienced in
Antarctica. This will provide insights into the state and behavior of
the Antarctic ice sheets that can directly build on ice sheet records
and support climate modeling efforts. initiate drilling activities to
probe strata from about 400,000 and 800,000 years ago when unusually
warm periods were experienced In addition, ship-borne drilling capabilities
will be developed to investigate paleo-climate and paleo-oceanography
of the peninsula region, which is currently experiencing a warming.
The International Cape Roberts Drilling Project, in pursuing climate
records from earlier in the Cenozoic era, encountered strata that were
not anticipated but that point to warmer intervals in the last 1.5 million
years.
- Initiating the Ross Island Meteorology Experiment (RIME), aimed at
enhancing the understanding of Antarctica's dominant role in Southern
Hemisphere meteorology and improving weather forecasting/modeling capabilities
for operational and safety purposes.
Ongoing activities include:
- Southern Ocean GLOBEC (Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics), with the
goal of understanding and ultimately predicting how populations of marine
animal species interact with the physical environment and respond to
natural and anthropogenic climate changes.
- International Trans-Antarctic Science Expedition (ITASE), which investigates
the last 200 years of climate in Antarctica in an effort to understand
atmospheric composition and anthropogenic effects.
- Continued operation of polar Long-Term Ecological Research sites (LTERs)
as part of an international framework for ecosystem research.
- Astrophysics research to address the origin of the universe, galaxies,
and stars.
Operations and Science Support
The FY 2003 Budget Request for Operations and Science Support
is $130.36 million, an increase of $4.2 million, or 3.3 percent, over
the FY 2002 level of $126.16 million. Operations and Science Support makes
research in Antarctica possible by providing the required research and
life support facilities, food, fuel, environmental protection, health
and safety and all other operational support for all U.S. research conducted
on the continent, including research funded through other federal agencies
(National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanographic
and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, Department of
Energy, and the Smithsonian Institution).
Operations and Science Support is also responsible for managing
South Pole Station Modernization, an activity funded out of the Major
Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) Account from FY
1998 through FY 2003. The new station will provide the infrastructure
required for imaginative new science on the drawing board. Taking full
advantage of the new station will require new efficiencies in delivering
scientists and science supplies to remote locations and the South Pole
and fuel to the South Pole.
FY 2003 priorities include:
- Improving security at USAP facilities in Christchurch,
New Zealand, in order to protect the safety of USAP scientists and support
personnel as well as existing capital investments.
- Developing a more flexible and robust transportation
system. This includes enhancements in air operations as well as initial
development of an overland traverse capability. With the completion
of the new South Pole Station in 2006, the U.S. will have the premier
research station in the Antarctic interior, setting the stage for U.S.
leadership for many years to come. The traverse capability is needed
in order to reduce dependence on LC-130 aircraft for delivering fuel
and outsized scientific equipment to South Pole Station, and to enable
LC-130 aircraft missions to focus on science support where their unique
capability is most needed - in the deep field and wherever speed of
delivery is essential. In FY 2003, necessary equipment will be procured
to allow the proposed route between McMurdo and South Pole to be tested.
- Initial planning for daily continuous high bandwidth
communication from South Pole Station and installation of a wireless
network in the Dry Valleys.
- Initiating development of modern "business systems"
to mesh the multitude of procurements and transportation requirements
for improved efficiency and more effective science support. Present
systems, developed in the era when computer systems were in their infancy,
are obsolete.
- Initiating work to replace the McMurdo power plant generators
and switch gears and upgrading the plant's fire detection and suppression
systems.
Science support and operations are provided primarily through
a support contractor. A Polar Class U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker provides
access to McMurdo Station for resupply ships. Other agencies and contractors
also provide technical support in areas of expertise such as engineering,
construction and communications. The estimated costs of these functions
are displayed in the following table:
(Millions of Dollars)
Administration
|
FY 2001
Estimate
|
FY 2002
Estimate
|
FY 2003
Estimate
|
5.20
|
5.50
|
5.60
|
Science Facilities, research ships, field camp operations,
science support aircraft
|
29.10
|
35.61
|
36.50
|
Operations at McMurdo, South Pole and Palmer Stations
|
25.56
|
31.70
|
32.56
|
Transportation of people and cargo, materials and
inventory
|
22.80
|
19.61
|
20.10
|
Engineering, construction and facilities maintenance
|
15.20
|
11.80
|
13.30
|
Data handling and communications
|
14.40
|
16.40
|
16.80
|
Waste management, fire protection, health and safety,
quality assurance
|
3.10
|
3.30
|
3.40
|
U.S. Coast Guard Icebreaker support
|
2.60
|
2.24
|
2.40
|
Total, Operations and Science Support
|
$117.96
|
$126.16
|
$130.66
|
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