This is a website to support communication between scientists, Native people, and stakeholder groups. This project is part of the Arctic Observation Network (AON) studies. This project is also part of the Study of Environmental Arctic Change, or SEARCH. We acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation (Grant Number OPP0638408). NSF is not responsible for any of the contents of this website.
We are starting to test making prototype datasets available through this web site. See the Datasets Link Below.
Three members of our project team, Sharman Haley, Nick Szymoniak, and Matthew Klick each made presentations at the 2009 Alaska Forum on the Environment. For all three presentations, click here: AON-SIP Alaska Forum Presentations. They are sequential.
Members of the project team are continuing to identify and compile data on subsistence, well-being, tourism, resource development, commercial fisheries, and demography. For more details and contact information, see the sections below: (1) Project Team Workshop; and, (2) AON-SIP Collaborator List.
For an overview of how this project relates to current Arctic Science Initiatives, see AON-SIP and Arctic Science Initiatives. Note that clicking on each of the science initiatives shown hyperlinks you to the initiative. You can also read an explanation of the slide by clicking on the note icon to the left.
The goal of the Study of Environmental Arctic Change, or SEARCH, is understand the nature, extent and future development of the system-scale changes presently seen in the Arctic. SEARCH is focused on climate change in the context of other global changes underway. SEARCH is a program of research intended to identify knowledge that will help people respond to environmental change. The SEARCH Implementation Plan identifies initial priorities of SEARCH. Among these priorities are the following:
Develop an integrated pan-Arctic human dimension observation system based on existing data;
Develop stakeholder networks to identify relevant observations and predictions, and to help understand the dynamics of the Arctic system; and,
Develop and apply models to a pan-Arctic database to advance our understanding of environmental change and to identify data gaps that could be filled in a Phase Two human-dimensions observation system.
Scientists and Native people from the United States, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Greenland, Canada, Iceland, and Sweden joined in a proposal to the US National Science Foundation to implement these three priorities in 2006. The National Science Foundation awarded a grant April 1, 2007. This is the project team's website.
As part of SEARCH, this project is intended to contribute to the long term goal of identifying adaptive strategies based on an understanding of the dynamics of change in the Arctic. A top SEARCH priority is to ensure that the Arctic Observation Network (AON) includes the measures necessary to an analysis of Arctic change. This project is a first step. We are compiling existing data for components of the Arctic system that are likely to involve climate-human interactions. Our objectives are to assess the adequacy of existing data and to recommend additions to the Arctic observation network where necessary to fill critical gaps.
We refer to our project as the Arctic Observation Network Social Indicators Project (AON-SIP). Figure One shows the relationship between this project and three major science initiatives, the Study of Arctic Environmental Change (SEARCH), the Arctic Observation Network (AON), and the Arctic Social Indicators initiative (ASI).
AON-SIP is funded by the National Science Foundation as part of NSF’s Arctic Observation Network program. AON science priorities are largely driven by SEARCH, a federal interagency science initiative. Hence AON, and AON-SIP, are intended to contribute to the science goals of SEARCH. Arctic Social Indicators (ASI), is an initiative of the Arctic Council and a follow-up to the Arctic Human Development Report (AHDR). The goal of ASI is to recommend a small set of social indicators that could be used to monitor change in the Arctic. ASI is likely to recommend two sets of indicators. One set will be based on existing data. A second set will achieve a higher monitoring standard and will require new data collection. The objectives of AON-SIP and ASI closely match. Our project team is actively participating in ASI. We are also designing AON-SIP to complement ASI science priorities.
Building on the recommendations of the SEARCH Responding to Change Panel, the team's proposal identified several "arenas" where climate change and people are likely to interact. By "arenas" we mean parts of the arctic system involving people. The four arenas chosen for this project are: (1) marine mammal hunting; (2) oil, gas, mining and marine transportation; (3) commercial fisheries; and, (4) tourism.
Project Arenas of Climate Interactions with People in the Arctic
Community Social Indicators
A fifth project focus is on indicators of community living conditions that may be affected by human interactions with environmental change. By "community living conditions" we have used the six dimensions identified in ASI: material success, health, education, fate control, ties with nature, and cultural continuity.
Integrated Database Development
AON-SIP is part of the Arctic Observation Network,. We are designing our project to foster integrated analysis across the physical, natural, and social sciences. Members of our team include the developers of the Arctic-Rapid Integrated Monitoring System, or Arctic-RIMS. Arctic-RIMS is a database that contains a growing number of physical, biological, and social science variables.
The goal of Arctic-RIMS is to make these data easily available for integrated analysis. The project team will work with other AON investigators to foster the development of this, and other, integrated databases.
This website will grow with the project. The following is a table of contents to the website, not all of which has content at this time: