| Summary: | This project is a renewal of the National Science Foundation (NSF) funding of the International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP) through the U.S. Interagency Arctic Buoy Program (USIABP). The project will coordinate data management and deployment of enhanced buoys by the USIABP. The IABP provides long-term observations from the Arctic Ocean which are essential for Arctic forecasting and research. This project supports a network of automatic data buoys to monitor synoptic-scale fields of surface air pressure, air temperature, and ice motion throughout the Arctic Ocean, an activity that was recommended by the National Academy of Sciences in 1974. University of Washington s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) initiated the program in 1978 and became the IABP in 1991 to provide meteorological and oceanographic data for real-time operational requirements and research purposes including support to the World Climate Research Programme and the World Weather Watch Programme. The observations from the IABP have been essential for: 1.) Monitoring Arctic and global climate change; 2.) Forecasting weather and sea ice conditions; 3.) Forcing, assimilation and validation of global weather and climate models; 4.) Validation of satellite data; etc. These observations provide the longest continuing record for the Arctic, and have been one of the cornerstones for environmental forecasting and studies of climate and climate change. The IABP is composed of 20 different research and operational institutions from 9 different countries (found at: http://iabp.apl.washington.edu/Participants.htm ). The IABP is funded and managed by participants of the program. Management of the IABP is the responsibility of the Executive Committee, and operation of the program was delegated to the Coordinator of the IABP, Ignatius Rigor.
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