Arctic Links

GENERAL

Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) Website

The ACIA report, completed in November 2004 by the Arctic Council at the 4th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting, embodies the work of hundreds of scientists and many governments over several years. The report is the result of the efforts of the Arctic Council and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) to study climate variability, climate change, and increased ultraviolet radiation and their consequences.

The Arctic Portal

The Arctic Portal is an International Polar Year project lead by Iceland in consultation with other Arctic Council members, working groups and other organizations. It provides a gateway to Arctic related information.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports Page

The IPCC is a scientific intergovernmental body set up by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The main activity of the IPCC is to provide in regular intervals Assessment Reports of the state of knowledge on climate change. The latest one is "Climate Change 2007", the Fourth IPCC Assessment Report. Source: IPCC

EPA's Climate Change - Health and Environmental Effects Web Page

The EPA "State of Knowledge" page about Climate Change.

Cape Farewell Website

Cape Farewell brings artists, scientists and educators together to collectively address and raise awareness about climate change.

The Nitrous Oxide Focus Group Website

The Nitrous Oxide Focus Group is a consortium-based research initiative established to explore the action of the greenhouse gas, Nitrous Oxide; its role in climate change, the role of bacteria in the greenhouse gas emissions and to develop techniques to mitigate its effect.

Alaska Conservation Solutions

(AkCS) was founded in 2005 to draw attention to the pervasive consequences of global warming in Alaska, and also to pursue solutions to the problem.

ArcticStat

ArcticStat contains statistical database dealing with the countries, regions and populations of the Circumpolar Arctic.

University of the Arctic

The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is a cooperative network of
universities, colleges, and other organizations committed to higher
education and research in the North.

New York Times Arctic Regions web page

Contains Arctic-related articles written by New York Times journalists and contains interactive graphics.

Dot Earth

In Dot Earth, New York Times reporter Andrew C. Revkin examines efforts to balance human affairs with the planet’s limits. This page frequently contains Arctic warming-related articles.

The Northern Forum

The Northern Forum is a non-profit, international organization composed of sub-national or regional governments from ten northern countries.

SCIENCE

Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) Scientific Report

The full 1042 page ACIA Scientific report, completed in November 2004 by the Arctic Council at the 4th Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting, embodies the work of hundreds of scientists and many governments over several years. The report is the result of the efforts of the Arctic Council and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) to study climate variability, climate change, and increased ultraviolet radiation and their consequences. Report chapters are in the form of PDF files.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's near-real-time Arctic Change Indicator Website

Tracks physical and biological changes of the Arctic. Learn about the present state of Arctic ecosystems and climate in historical context. This website updates the findings of the ACIA report explained below. Also, see NOAA's State of the Arctic Report 2006, and NOAA's Arctic Report Card 2007

American Meteorological Society's Environmental Science Seminar Series (EEES)

Live real time exchanges on the Hill between environmental scientists & policy experts. This website contains archived presentations & summaries from this seminar series on climate change.

National Snow and Ice Data Center's Education Center (NSIDC)

NSIDC supports research on the Earth's cryosphere in order to in turn provide a foundation of scientific data to research Earth's climate system.

International Arctic Science Committee (IASC)

The International Arctic Science Committee is a non-governmental organization whose aim is to encourage and facilitate cooperation in all aspects of Arctic research, in all countries engaged in Arctic research and in all areas of the Arctic region.

UNEP/GRID-Arendal's Global Outlook for Ice and Snow

Global outlook for ice & snow provides an up-to-date, concise
review of the state of the environment and the trends in ice and
snow-covered regions (cryosphere) of the world.

The Cryosphere Today

Shows current sea ice and snow conditions from Polar Research Group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

RealClimate's Arctic section

RealClimate is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists.

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

Arctic Research Station in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard

Clean Air Task Force's (CATF) Arctic Initiative Policy Program

Founded in 1996, the Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring clean air and healthy environments through scientific research, public education, and legal advocacy.

British Arctic Whaling (BAW) Website

British Arctic Whaling (BAW) is a research unit based in the Maritime Historical Research Centre (MHSC), University of Hull.

USGS Alaska Science Center

The mission of the Alaska Science Center is to provide objective and timely data, information, and research findings about the earth and its flora and fauna to Federal, State, and local resource managers and the public to support sound decisions regarding natural resources, natural hazards, and ecosystems in Alaska and circumpolar regions.

U.S. Geological Survey

About Seabirds, Forage Fish, and Marine Ecosystems.

Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center

The Arctic Studies Center, established in 1988, is the only U.S. government program with a special focus on northern cultural research and education. In keeping with this mandate, the Arctic Studies Center specifically studies northern peoples, exploring history, archeology, social change and human lifeways across the circumpolar world.

Alaska Oceans Program

The Alaska Oceans Program is a program of the Alaska Conservation Foundation. Its mission is to protect and restore the diversity of the North Pacific’s ocean ecology, including fish, wildlife, and seabirds and their habitat, while providing for sustainable human uses.

Arctic Ecosystems section of UN Atlas of the Oceans

Maintained by NOAA

Dartmouth College's Institute of Arctic Studies

The Institute of Arctic Studies acts to facilitate student and faculty research, and also sponsors seminars and public events to highlight the importance of polar regions in world affairs and the functioning of global ecosystems.

British Antarctic Survey (BAS)

BAS is an environmental research centre and is responsible for the UK's national scientific activities in Antarctica. British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is a component of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Based in Cambridge, United Kingdom, it has, for almost 60 years, undertaken the majority of Britain's scientific research on and around the Antarctic continent. It now shares that continent with scientists from over thirty countries.

Scott Polar Research Institute

"The Institute is a center for research into both polar regions. It is part of the University of Cambridge and is a sub-department of the Department of Geography."

Environment and Natural Resources Institute of University of Alaska at Anchorage

University of Connecticut's Arctic Circle

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

The Arctic Human Development Report

The Arctic Human Development Report is the first comprehensive assessment of human well-being covering the entire Arctic region. Mandated under the Arctic Council’s 2002 Ministerial Declaration as a "priority project” designed to provide a “comprehensive knowledge base” for the work of the Council’s Sustainable Development Programme, the AHDR was a centerpiece of the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Arctic Council during 2002-2004.

Indigenous Peoples at the Arctic Council

The Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat is a support secretariat for the International Indigenous Peoples’ Organisations that are Permanent Participants to the Arctic Council. IPS does not speak for the Permanent Participants. Instead, it creates opportunities for the Indigenous Peoples’ Organisations to speak for themselves, and helps provide them with necessary information and materials.

Inuit Circumpolar Council

The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) is an international non-government organization representing approximately 150,000 Inuit of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka (Russia).

Nunatsiaq News

Nunatsiaq News is an English-Inuktitut weekly newspaper that has served the people of [Nunavut] and the Nunavik region of Arctic Quebec since 1973.

Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON)

RAIPON and its members devote themselves to creating a community where people of Northern Russia can meet and exchange their experiences.

ARCUS's Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH)

SEARCH aims to understand pan-arctic changes affecting ecosystems, living resources, the human population, and their affect on local and global economic activities.

Society for Ecological Restoration International (SER)

The Arctic Alaska Fisheries Science Center Website

The mission of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center is to generate the scientific information and analysis necessary for the conservation, management, and utilization of the region's living marine resources.

The Arctic Is

"The Arctic Is" is a web resource on human-environment relationships in the Arctic.

Arctic Circumpolar Route (ACR)

ACR's mission is to facilitate information development and exchange in all media, to benefit Arctic peoples and to collect and conserve their stories. The goal of the ACR is to reinforce connections among peoples of the Arctic and with the global community.

Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program

The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program is one of five Working Groups of the Arctic Council. The primary function of AMAP is to advise the governments of the eight Arctic countries (Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States) on matters relating to threats to the Arctic region from pollution, and associated issues.

Indigenous Peoples Secretariat

Arctic Climate Impact Assessment

Inuit Circumpolar Council

Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic

Visit Scientist Shari Gearheard's page

Website of the Inuit People

The Inuit people inhabit Alaska, Canada and Greenland.

Website of the Aleuts

The Aleuts inhabit the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, the United States, Russia and Kamchatka Krai.

Website of the Athabaskans

Athabaskans inhabit parts of North America, mainly in western Canada and Alaska.

The Gwich'in People

The Gwich’in communities inhabit Alaska.

RAIPON: Russian Arctic Indigenous Peoples

Different Russian indigenous people inhabit northern Russia and are represented permanently at the Arctic Council By RAIPON.

The Saami Council

The Saami Council permanently represents different Saami people of Finland, Russia, Norway and Sweden at the Arctic Council.

POLICY

The Arctic Council

The Arctic Council is a high-level, intergovernmental forum comprised of eight Member States (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States) and six Permanent Participants (Arctic Athabaskan Council, Aleut International Association, Gwich’in Council International, Inuit Circumpolar Conference, Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North and the Saami Council) representing Arctic indigenous communities. The Arctic Council provides a mechanism to address the common concerns and challenges faced by the Arctic governments and people of the Arctic. Source: ACIA, 2004

A New Sea: The Need for a Regional Agreement on Management and Conservation of the Arctic Marine Environment

Arctic governance is the theme of the WWF report, "A New Sea" by Brooks Yeager and Dr Robert Huebert.

WWF's Arctic Climate Change Website

WWF's International Arctic Program provides information on the effects of climate change in the Arctic, in order to stimulate policies and actions that combat climate change.

United Nations Environment Program's Key Polar Centre

The UNEP Key Polar Center at UNEP/GRID-Arendal is responsible for carrying for Polar activities in the UN Environment Program.

The Norwegian Polar Institute Website

The Norwegian Polar Institute is Norway's central institution for research, environmental monitoring and mapping of the polar regions.

Danish Polar Center (DPC)

The Danish Polar Centre is a knowledge, service and facilitation center for researchers, public agencies and institutions who are engaged in polar research and Arctic conditions.

International Polar Year (IPY)

IPY's website covers the scientific program focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009.

International Polar Year - US Website

Covers the US participation in the International Polar Year.

Norway's Carbon Neutral Norway Program

About Norwegian Ministry of Finance's Carbon Scheme under CDM/JI.

Arctic Portal's Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF)

CAFF is the Biodiversity Working Group of the Arctic Council. CAFFs Mission is to address the conservation of Arctic biodiversity, and communicate its findings to the governments and residents of the Arctic, helping to promote practices which ensure the sustainability of the Arctic’s living resources.

Arctic Portal's Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME)

The program for the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) is one of the five programmes of the Arctic Council. PAME was established by the Arctic Council Ministers in Nuuk, Greenland, September 1993 with the mandate to address policy and non-emergency pollution prevention and control measures related to the protection of the Arctic marine environment from both land and sea-based activities.

Norwegian Ministry of Environment

North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission

The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission was formed to recommend measures to maintain the rational exploitation of fish stocks in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.

The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS)

The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) was formed in 1988 to identify and bring together the distributed human and facilities resources of the Arctic research community--to create a synergy for the Arctic in which each resource, when combined with others, can result in a strength that enables the community to rise to the many challenges facing the Arctic and the United States.

The Norwegian Barents Secretariat

The Norwegian Barents Secretariat serves the Norwegian - Russian relations in the north and provide grants to projects. Barents Portal Barents Information Service was a Finnish, Norwegian, Russian and Swedish cooperation project to build a portal for the Barents region and increase general knowledge of the region internationally. The project was funded by the European Union Kolartic Interreg program for the years 2003-2004. Barentsobserver.com BarentsObserver.com is an open Internet news service, which offers daily updated news from and about the Barents Region. The project is run by the Norwegian Barents Secretariat in Kirkenes, Norway.

The Northern Climate ExChange (NCE)