The Arctic Ocean Sciences Board (AOSB)

Status

Non governmental.

Mission

To promote the coordination of oceanographic research in the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas and to bring together the resources necessary for cooperative programmes.

Activities

The Board, which meets annually, operates on a no-exchange of funds basis.

The Board elects a Chairman and Vice-Chairman from among its membership, both officers to come from different countries, each to serve for a two year period. Since the inception of the Board, the Secretariat has been provided by the US National Science Foundation.

Membership is open for all countries participating in research in the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas with representatives appointed by the national adhering body. Currently, member nations are: Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

The Board maintains liaison with other international organisations involved in marine research in the Arctic, namely the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), SCOR, ICES, WMO, EC/ESF ECOPS, and the Nansen Arctic Drilling Project (NAD).

The Board is presently supporting three major scientific initiatives, these are:

• Arctic Paleo-River Discharge (APARD)
  The objectives of this program are to study both modern and ancient river processes and their paleo-environmental significance.
  
  Important aims in the study of modern processes are: Quantification and characterisation of modern river supply of dissolved and particulate material, estimation of the importance of river input for the Arctic Ocean and evaluation and tracing of anthropogenic pollution to the Arctic Ocean environment.
  
  For the ancient processes: Reconstructions of ancient river discharge, climate-controlled variations of sedimentary and chemical budgets and  quantification of organic carbon storage are important goals.
   

• International Arctic Polynya Program (IAPP)
  This program is designed to study the biological and physical interactions in Arctic polynyas, their dynamics and their influence on surrounding seas.

• Shelf-Basin Exchange Initiative (SBE)
  The AOSB initiated the Shelf Basin Exchange Working Group at its meeting in Iqaluit, Canada in 2001. The goal of the working group is to provide a forum for exchange of ideas and coordination of on-going and planned shelf-basin exchange science projects and goals in a pan-Arctic sense.
   

United Kingdom Interests

Lead Department

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, SN2 1EU.

Contact: Dr Ruth Boumphrey, Head of International Relations.

Tel: +44 (0) 1793 411500

E-mail: rubo@nerc.ac.uk

Other Interested Departments and Organisations

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Lowestoft Laboratory, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0HT

Dr R Dickson is acting as the UK/NERC representative on AOSB

Tel: +44 (0) 1502 562244    Fax: +44 (0) 1502 513865

Briefing and Reporting Mechanisms

Briefing is by direct, but informal consultation with the scientific community on scientific issues and through the United Kingdom National Arctic Research Forum (NARF) for more formal consultation.

Perspective

Current major issues are the availability of resources to support United Kingdom participation, which need to be won competitively through the NERC responsive mode mechanism—both for research grant support and ship-time—and the future development of AOSB in relation to other Arctic coordinating mechanisms, especially the IASC.