Toolik Field Station Base Funding

University Of Alaska Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks AK

Investigators

Abstract

This award will provide funding to operate Toolik Field Station. Located in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range, Alaska, TFS has been a major site for national and international research in the North American Arctic since 1975. Along with the ongoing strong interest by scientists from a broad array of disciplines for use of TFS as a research platform for year-round studies of the arctic environment and ecosystems, TFS is the site of a Long Term Ecological Research site, TFS has been selected as the arctic tundra site for the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), which is expected to begin operations at TFS in 2014, and TFS is a member of SCANNET, which is envisioned as a key terrestrial building block in the international Sustaining Arctic Observatory Networks (SAON) initiative following International Polar Year. Over 734 peer-reviewed journal articles, 107 books and book chapters, and 81 graduate theses have been published since 1975 on research based at TFS. TFS has been operated and managed by the Institute of Arctic Biology (IAB), University of Alaska Fairbanks, since 1980. NSF began supporting core operation of the station in 2000, through two five-year cooperative agreements. The objective of this third five-year agreement is to enable science users of TFS to advance interdisciplinary knowledge of the Arctic, its biological and physical environments and their interrelationships with global systems, by facilitating technologically sophisticated research under safe conditions and providing cost-effective logistical and research support and scientific services year-round. Support including utilities, housing, meals, modern laboratory space, safety training and management, and excellent research support through GIS services, baseline environmental monitoring, and the acquisition, maintenance and scheduling of common-use scientific equipment. In 2011, TFS will conduct a workshop to assess science support needs at TFS into the future that will include U.S. and international participants. TFS will continue to promote the coordination of research across disciplinary boundaries, provide outstanding research and educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students, and facilitate scientific outreach and understanding of the Arctic and the research process to journalists, artists, and the public.