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US Antarctic Science
US Antarctic science invovles several organizations with Antarctic missions.
National Science Foundation Office of Polar Science, Division of Antarctic Science
Scientific research and the operational support of that research are the principal activities supported by the United States Government in Antarctica. The goals are:
- to expand fundamental knowledge of the region,
- to foster research on global and regional problems of current scientific importance, and
- to use the region as a platform from which to support research.
Polar Research BoardThe Polar Research Board is a unit of The National Academies, which is comprised of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. The PRB provides independent analysis to the federal government and the nation on matters of science and technology research needs, environmental quality, natural resources, and other issues in the Arctic, the Antarctic, and cold regions in general. The PRB serves as the US National Comittee to SCAR.
US Department of StateThe United States has strong diplomatic interests in Antarctica, in particular promoting its status as a continent reserved for peace and science in accordance with the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. The United States played a major role in negotiating this Treaty, which was signed in Washington, and it participates actively in all aspects of the Antarctic Treaty System. There are currently 46 parties to the Treaty, of which 28 are consultative parties having the right to participate in decision-making.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAA's Antarctic investigations (since the late 1920's) have: monitored weather conditions on Antarctica; studied sea ice, sea conditions, marine life, and oceanography of areas surrounding Antarctica; monitored and observed geophysical parameters such as geomagnetism, seismological activity, and gravity in Antarctic regions; and established observatories on the Antarctic continent to study global change parameters such as the buildup of greenhouse gases and the loss of ozone from the upper atmosphere.
Antarctic Ecosystem ResearchNOAA Fisheries’ U.S. Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) Program is a national program providing information needed for the development and support of U.S. policy regarding the conservation and management of the marine living resources in the ocean areas surrounding Antarctica.
US Geological SurveyThe United States Antarctic Resource Center is a joint effort of the USGS National Mapping Division and the National Science Foundation United States Antarctic Program. The USARC is the United States contribution to the SCAR Library system and is managed through an interagency agreement with the National Science Foundation which provides support to the USGS for scientific activities in Antarctic and in support of the U.S. Antarctic Program.
NASA has a wide variety of Antarctic based science initiatves and a numbe rof NASA sicenitsts have activ eresearch interests in Antacitca. Interested readers are reffred to the NASA web site to use their internal web search engines to locate projects of interest.
Cyrosphere Sciences Branch Code 614.4
The cryosphere is the component of the Earth System that contains water in its frozen state. This includes glaciers, snow, lake ice, sea ice, ice caps, ice sheets and permafrost. While these elements of the cryosphere exist at many locations on Earth, they are in greatest abundance in the polar regions. The mission of the Cryospheric Sciences Branch (CSB) is to increase our understanding of the ice cover and its connection to the rest of the climate systems.
Additonal US entities with Antarctic interests:
- US Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for regulating US-based torusim in Antarctica. Interested readers are referred to the EPA web site to use their internal web search engines to locate projects of interest.