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Attention prospective researchers in northern Alaska or Russia:
Research proposals to NSF for field projects in northern Alaska or in Chukotka, Russia may include the following statements:
In the text of your NSF proposal:
"We have discussed our logistics, permitting and field outreach needs with the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium (BASC) and include a letter and cost estimate from Glenn Sheehan, BASC Executive Director. These logistical costs are not included in our proposed budget. BASC is supported through a cooperative agreement (CA) with the Arctic Research Support and Logistics program in the Office of Polar Programs (OPP), and funding through the CA should be negotiated through this proposal's program officer and the cognizant OPP program officer."
In the Budget Justification of your NSF proposal:
"We have discussed our logistics, permitting and field outreach needs with the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium (BASC) and include a letter and estimate from Glenn Sheehan, BASC Executive Director. Those costs include.... BASC is supported through a cooperative agreement with the Arctic Research Support and Logistics program in the Office of Polar Programs. The cost of BASC support does not appear in our budget and should be negotiated with Renee Crain, program manager for the BASC agreement."
We encourage Principal Investigators to discuss logistics needs with BASC and NSF/OPP prior to submitting their proposals.
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Sign up to Receive Notice of Schoolyard Saturday and Evening Science Talks
BASC sponsors Saturday and evening outreach programs weekly or more often. If you would like to be notified by email of upcoming outreach presentations, please sign up through the following link: http://groups.google.com/group/bascfriends. You will need to create a free Google account to receive e-mail from the group to whatever address you would like. Thank you for your interest!
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While Receiving Support from BASC, Sign up for Announcements
We have created a low-volume electronic mailing list to communicate announcements related to BASC. This is not a discussion list. We ask that researchers subscribe and remain subscribed while in Barrow or otherwise receiving support from BASC. If you know someone who would like to receive mail on the list, please direct them to http://groups.google.com/group/basc-announce, where they may request an invitation. Subscribers will need to create a free Google account to receive e-mail from the group to whatever address is subscribed.
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ICOMOS Publication Historical Polar Bases - Preservation and Management Available
Presentations made to the International Polar Heritage Committee of ICOMOS during the conference held in Barrow during September 2007 are now available in full color book form. Contact the IPHC to order a copy.
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Satellite Tracking of Western Arctic Bowhead Whales
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Wildlife Conservation Marine Mammal Program maintains a web page with news on tagged bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus).
During the week of 20 September 2008, a bowhead tagged in Canada (PTT 37233) has returned to Barrow from Wrangel Island. One of the whales tagged in Barrow (PTT 37236) is currently along the coast of Chukotka, south of Wrangel Island, and the other (PTT 37235) is currently heading towards Wrangel Island.
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DEW Line Passage: A voyage along the Arctic coast by sailing canoe
Stacey Fritz and Ryan Tinsley visited all varieties of Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line sites (active, long-abandoned, and undergoing clean up) to explore the northernmost outposts of the Cold War. Almost 200 photos can be seen at tundradaisy.org. Stacey and Ryan sailed into Barrow on 6 September 2008, two months after leaving Fort McPherson, on the Dempster Highway in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories in Canada, and almost one month after leaving Kaktovik, North Slope, Alaska.
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Hopson Middle School Students learn from BASC
Our Senior Scientist, Dr. Steven J. Hastings, has been working with Ms. Greene's 8th grade class at Hopson Middle School in Barrow. Here are some pictures from their September field trip to study thaw and soil temperature.
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A Factorial Analysis of Storm Surge Flooding in Barrow, Alaska
"This paper [by Amanda Lynch, et al] describes work to improve the understanding of the broad range of factors affecting the occurrence of flooding in Barrow, Alaska, using as a basis the series of extreme events that have affected the community over the past 50 years... it was found that when wind is forecast to be greater than... 30 mph for at least 20 h, this is the most accurate predictor of the possibility of damaging flood.... A common feature of many damaging storms is the presence of a large open-water fetch, which limits the damping by ice of waves and wind-driven storm surge.... Autumn storms have historically been most feared and prepared for by Barrow residents. The primary focus of this study, then, is high wind events that occurred during the time of year in which open water is possible near Barrow: the months from July to November..."
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Ice Stories: Dispatches from Polar Scientists
Visit the Exploratorium's Ice Stories: Dispatches from Polar Scientists, where you'll meet penguin biologists, glaciologists, cosmologists, geologists, and marine scientists working in Antarctica and the Arctic. Researchers working in Barrow and elsewhere have been given cameras and blogs and asked to document their adventures, in real time, so you can follow their research, ask questions, and share in their discoveries as they occur. This experiment, in celebration of the International Polar Year (2007-08), gives you an up-close-and-personal look at research in extreme environments through the thoughts and experiences of the scientists working there.
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BASC presents traveling planetarium from UAF
During February 2008, Robert Herrick from the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks brought a portable planetarium to Barrow. The device in its inflatable dome was a hit with all ages during engagements at the Iñupiat Heritage and Learning Center, and at Fred Ipalook Elementary. Thank you, Dr. Herrick.
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Field techniques in interdisciplinary sea-ice research
University of Alaska Fairbanks and Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan conducted a sea-ice field course in Barrow during May 2008.
The hands-on introduction to the principal field techniques employed in sea-ice studies of an interdisciplinary (geophysical-biogeochemical) nature focuses on sea ice as an instructive example of the close intertwining between ocean, ice and biosphere processes and humans in the polar regions. The use of the ice cover by different stakeholders in the context of research program design will receive particular attention. In the spirit of the International Polar Year, the instructor team includes recognized experts from a number of different nations who will lead different course modules. See the web site for further details.
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Polar Gateways 2008 Conference
The conference "Polar Gateways of Understanding to Solar System Exploration for IPY-IHY" took place January 23 - 29 2008 in Barrow, hosted by BASC.
The Polar Gateways conference connected electronically to Arctic sites in Canada, Greenland, and Fennoscandia. The core of the meeting program was a series of science highlight presentations from the connected sites, covering topics from polar and IPY-IGY history, to the present changing polar environments, to future exploration and eventual habitation of analogous environments in the solar system.
Further conference information is available on this site, and at polargateways2008.org. A photo gallery is available. A series of podcast recordings are also available from NASA.
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Bringing the Songs Home: Columbia University Begins Musical Heritage Repatriation Project in the North Slope
In November 2007, BASC's Outreach Program supported a weeklong visit by Aaron Fox, of Columbia University, and Chie Sakakibara, of Oklahoma University. Chie and Aaron were in Barrow to discuss and plan for the repatriation of recordings made in Barrow in 1946 of Iñupiat music by collector Laura Boulton, now owned by Columbia University. Remarkably, the songs Boulton recorded in 1946 have come back to life in the community, pointing to a bright future for the repatriation project. Read the full story by clicking the picture at left.
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U.S. Coast Guard Begins Flights to the North Pole from Barrow
On Thursday 25 October 2007 the U.S. Coast Guard inaugurated a series of C-130 flights from Barrow to the North Pole. Working with BASC, the Coast Guard included whaling captain Charles Hopson on the flight. Mr. Hopson has spent many years working on floating ice islands in the Arctic Ocean assisting with scientific research projects.
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Barrow Arctic Research Center
The Alaska State Legislature has proclaimed Barrow "Alaska's Arctic Science City", in part because Barrow now has a world-class research facility. Look here for information and photographs of the Barrow Arctic Research Center (BARC).
Read the Resolution by the Alaska State Legislature (PDF).
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International Polar Heritage Conference
Pictured at left, Ruben Stehberg from Chile met with an Ipalook Elementary School class as part of BASC's outreach effort in connection with the International Polar Year (IPY) workshop in Barrow sponsored by the International Polar Heritage Committee, September 2007. The workshop included a "pole-to-pole" real time video hookup to Scott Base, Antarctica from Barrow's new research support facility.
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Sea Ice Images from the Alaska Ocean Observing System
Alaska Ocean Observing System (AOOS), and BASC, the AOOS Arctic Ocean Coordinator, have responded to requests by northern residents by making available satellite acquired imagery of sea ice using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Click the picture at left for draft results, courtesy of NASA and AOOS.
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Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) Update
Jerry Brown, Chair of the BASC BEO Subcommittee, put together the report linked at left. The report highlights current NSF projects on the BEO. Jerry based the report on an initial effort undertaken through a Bureau of Land Management International Polar Year grant to BASC.
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Geospatial Data for the Barrow Peninsula
A broadly collaborative effort has resulted in the creation and distribution of high-quality geospatial datasets to benefit research concentrated near Barrow. The imagery and data can be used in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
The data will provide a long-lasting, common base for orthorectifying and georegistering other GIS data and imagery, and will establish a temporal baseline for decades of change-detection studies.
The high-resolution imagery and terrain models were made possible through funding from the National Science Foundation's program for Arctic Research Support and Logistics (NSF Award OPP-0224071), with support also from the Arctic System Science Program for the ARCSS Data Coordination Center (ADCC).
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Chukotka Science Support Group
The Chukotka Science Support Group section of the BASC Website is now available. In both English and Russian, this section outlines the services, people, and land that make Chukotka a great place to do research.
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Guidelines for Improved Cooperation between Arctic Researchers and Northern Communities
Download this document from ARCUS, the Arctic Research Consortium of the US, by clicking on the cover (left).
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Make Your Own Maps!
See where research projects are located.
BAID-IMS allows users to access, view and interact with a wide range of spatial data and remotely sensed imagery focused on the Barrow region.
BAID-IMS covers 100km offshore north of Barrow, east to Deadhorse, west to Point Lay and south to the Brooks Range. The application includes over 100 data layers.
Users can employ standard Geographic Information System (GIS) tools to zoom, pan, measure distance, identify waypoints for uploading into Global Positioning Systems (GPS), query a range of attribute data layers and make and print their own maps.
For a brief overview of BAID-IMS and information on how to get help adding your project, see this brochure.
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Photo Album
Browse our photo album of researchers, animals, history, and the excitement that is Barrow.
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Questions or concerns with this website? Please contact the BASC IT Manager:
Last Update: July 16, 2008
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NSF acknowledgement and disclaimer
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