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What's Happening?
Russian-American Long-term Census of
the Arctic (RUSALCA)
The initial Expedition to the Bering And Chukchi
Seas (Arctic Ocean) was from July 23 - September 6, 2004.
Stemming from a 2003 Memorandum of Understanding for World
Ocean and Polar Regions Studies between NOAA and the Russian
Academy of Sciences, this cruise was the first activity under
the Russian-American Long-term
Census of the Arctic (RUSALCA). RUSALCA means mermaid
in the Russian language.The cruise objectives for the United
States partner were to support the U.S. interagency
Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) Program
and the NOAA Ocean Exploration Program. NOAA
SEARCH is a component of the multi-agency U.S.
SEARCH program.
Projects
In FY2003, the Arctic Research Office initiated
a new set of projects focused on the Study of Environmental
Arctic Change (SEARCH). An overview of the intent of the NOAA
SEARCH projects is provided in the document "Arctic
Climate Observations and Analysis SubProgram". Initial
progress reports from each of these projects are available
here.
A new activity in FY2004 is focused on detection
of ecosystem impact of physical climate change in the Bering
and Chukchi Seas. The Bering-Chukchi
Sea Climate Change Detection Demonstration Project will
be aimed specifically at detecting ecosystem change caused
by change in the physical climate of the area. The work will
be done by NOAA and its academic partners, in association
with the Russian Academy of Science. The first assessment
of findings will be available in FY2006, after which future
program direction will be determined.
No other new projects are anticipated before
FY2006.
Workshops
NOAA
SEARCH Review and Planning Workshop, Boulder, CO, May 17-18,
2004
Announcements of Opportunity
Nothing available at this time.
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