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What We Do
The Barrow Arctic Science Consortium (BASC) is dedicated to the encouragement of research and educational activities pertaining to Alaska's North Slope, the adjacent portions of the Arctic Ocean, and in Cukotka, Russia.
BASC is a community-based organization dedicated to helping make closer contacts between scientists and community members.
We provide logistical support for Arctic research and strive to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between scientific researchers and the people of the North Slope.
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Attention prospective researchers in northern Alaska or Russia
You have a choice about how you acquire logistics support when proposing to the National Science Foundation.
When you propose to NSF you have a choice about how to arrange logistics. You may include estimated logistics costs in your proposal budget, or you may indicate that you would like NSF's commercial contractor to provide your logistics support.
BASC would like to provide your logistics support. If you decide to include your field logistics costs in your own proposal budget, please contact BASC. We will work with you to estimate requirements and costs. Of course, if you include your costs in your own budget, you are free to contract directly with other organizations. We believe BASC will offer the services and value that you need. In Russia, BASC works with our sister Native organization, the Chukotka Science Support Group.
Research proposals to NSF for field projects in Alaska or in Chukotka, Russia might 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 included in our proposed budget, as we will work directly with BASC for logistics facilitation. BASC is a community based nonprofit organization that has been providing logistics support to science since 1996. BASC is located in the American Arctic in Barrow, Alaska."
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..."
We encourage Principal Investigators to discuss logistics needs with BASC prior to submitting their proposals.
NOTE FOR ALL OTHER RESEARCHERS proposing work in Alaska or Chukotka, Russia
BASC is pleased to provide logistics, permitting and field outreach facilitation for all researchers. Please contact us early in the proposal writing process for assistance in identifying field requirements and scoping your needs. BASC currently works with many U.S. and international agencies and organizations, as well as with commercial concerns. These include NASA, NSF, USFWS, BLM, DOE, DeptEd, and universities and other organizations like the Max Planck Institute (Germany), Living Earth (United Kingdom) and Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation (USA).
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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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Georeferenced Aerial Photography of Alaska's North Coast
Over 3000 digital stills taken between 7 and 10 August 2006 by aerial photographic
survey from Nulavik (about ~60 km southwest of Barrow) to the U.S./Canadian border, along with a GIS shapefile
that allows the photos to be viewed interactively with mapping software,
have been published as USGS Data Series 436.
This project was part of the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Geology Program's
National Assessment of Shorline Change and was supported logistically by BASC.
Gibbs, A.E., and Richmond, B.M., 2009. Oblique aerial photography of
the Arctic coast of Alaska, Nulavik to Demarcation Point, August
7-10, 2006: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 436, 6 p., 4 databases
http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/436/.
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Senator Begich says US must "better understand [climate] changes underway" by "making sure we have a world class research facility on the North Slope"
Senator Begich addressed "the need for a new national Arctic policy. I've been working closely with the new administration to ensure that Alaska is [in] a leadership role here. After all, Alaska is the only reason the United States is an Arctic nation."
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BASC, NARL Featured in Testimony by Borgerson, Treadwell before U.S. House
On 25 March 2009, at a hearing of the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs entitled "Climate Change and the Arctic: New Frontiers of National Security", Visiting Fellow for Ocean Governance at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Scott G. Borgerson called for partnership with indigenous communities to further US national security interests in the Arctic. BASC was given as an example of a model to emulate. The full text of Borgerson's testimony is available in PDF. More information is at the Council on Foreign Relations website. A follow-up New York Times Op-Ed piece of which he is a co-author is also available from the CFR.
Also during the hearing, Chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and Institute of the North Senior Fellow Mead Treadwell referred to the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory and the long history of U.S. arctic research in his testimony.
The opening statement of the committee chairperson, in which he refers to the 24 March 2009 letter to President Obama, is on the committee website.
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Resolution by Alaska State Legislature Honors BASC
According to a resolution by the Alaska State Legislature, "BASC assists every federal agency working in the U.S. Arctic and is a national treasure. With accelerating interest in climate change and in offshore resources, BASC is more important than ever to our communities and to our scientists." Here is a PDF of the complete resolution.
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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 and organized by NASA.
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 information is available at polargateways2008.gsfc.nasa.gov. A photo gallery is available. A series of podcast recordings is available from NASA. Web quality video of the NASA program FROM THE SUN TO THE STARS - The New Science of Heliophysics is available, including a transcript.
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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 us.
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