Changing Seasonality in the Arctic System  (CSAS)

PROGRAM GUIDELINES

Solicitation  08-567

SYNOPSIS

This solicitation is for research aimed at understanding changing seasonality in the arctic system. There now exists abundant evidence that pervasive changes are underway in the patterns of seasonality in the Arctic. The timing and dynamics of key events such as spring melt and fall freeze-up are shifting in response to a changing arctic climate, impacting the interconnected physical, biological, and human components and processes of the arctic system. Interdisciplinary proposals are sought that employ field studies, retrospective investigation, modeling, or synthesis to explore how changes in succession (here, the sequence, nature, and timing of critical seasonal events, to include but not be limited to ecological succession) affect the linkages between, and feedbacks among, components and processes of the arctic system, thus altering the characteristics and functioning of the system as a whole.