1. Washington, DC - Sunday, 7 February 2010 SAON Board Meeting :: 24-25 January 2012 :: Tromsø, Norway United States Report to the SAON Board Martin Jeffries AON Sub-committee of the Inter-agency Arctic Research Policy Committee

2. National Ocean Council and National Ocean Policy Established by Executive Order (President Obama), July 2010 Nine national priority objectives, each to be implemented according to a strategic action plan Strategic Action Plan 8: Changing Conditions in the Arctic Seven themes Theme 3: An Integrated Arctic Observing Network Six action items Action Item 2: Observe and Forecast Arctic Sea Ice Action Item 3: Establish a Distributed Biological Observatory Arctic Observing and US National Policy - I

3. Arctic Observing and US National Policy - II IARPC (Inter-agency Arctic Research Policy Committee) Since July 2010 a sub-committee of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Six priority research themes identified in April 2011 Research Theme 4: Continue to deploy and integrate a national Arctic observing system and promote international cooperation to create a circumpolar Arctic observing system IARPC Research Theme 4: An Arctic Observing System Nine priority topics 1.State of the sea ice cover 2.Glacier/ice sheet mass balance and global sea level 3.Terrestrial and marine permafrost and carbon cycle 4.Atmospheric constituents and surface radiation balance 5.A Distributed Biological Observatory 6.Observing system design 7.Community-based observing 8.Assess local resident priorities 9.Improve access to data

4. Arctic Observing Coordination Workshop 20-22 March 2012, Anchorage, Alaska Goals 1.Summarize agency contributions to Arctic observing efforts. 2.Recommendations for improving collaboration and coordination among projects and agencies. 3.Identify two or more pilot projects for observing activity coordination among several agencies and entities, with recommendations for short-term (5 years or less) implementation. Themes 1.Understand and predict sea ice changes and the consequences for ecosystems, people and climate. 2.Understand and predict glacier/ice sheet mass loss and global sea level. 3.Understand the consequences of the loss of shallow permafrost on Arctic and global systems. 4.Societal and policy implications of Arctic environmental change, e.g., an Arctic observing system for a broad spectrum of users, including communities and individuals, decision- and policy-makers, business/industry and scientists.

5. US-led SAON Tasks Arctic Observing Summit SEARCH/AON, ArcticNet, ISAC Arctic Collaborative Environment (ACE) Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation Arctic Ocean Structure During IPY University of Alaska Fairbanks & Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute Historical Climate Analysis – Pacific Sector of the Arctic NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory Community-based Monitoring Classification to Improve Standardization of Vocabularies Aleut International Association