ISAC Partners

The International Arctic Science Committe: 

The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) is a non-governmental, international scientific organization. With 19 member nations including Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the USA, IASC is a scientific associate of the International Council for Science and has observer status with the Arctic Council. IASC promotes the idea of "encouraging cooperation and integration of human, social, and natural sciences concerned with the Arctic at a circumarctic or international level and providing scientific advice on arctic issues." The IASC mission 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. Overall, IASC promotes and supports leading-edge multi-disciplinary research in order to foster a greater scientific understanding of the Arctic region and its role in the Earth system.

To achieve this mission IASC:

  • Initiates, coordinates and promotes scientific activities at a circumarctic or international level;
  • Provides mechanisms and instruments to support science development;
  • Provides objective and independent scientific advice on issues of science in the Arctic and communicates scientific information to the public;
  • Seeks to ensure that scientific data and information from the Arctic are safeguarded, freely exchangeable and accessible;
  • Promotes international access to all geographic areas and the sharing of knowledge, logistics and other resources;
  • Provides for the freedom and ethical conduct of science;
  • Promotes and involves the next generation of scientists working in the Arctic; and
  • Promotes bipolar cooperation through interaction with relevant science organizations.


Arctic Climate Change, Economy and Society: 

Arctic Climate Change, Economy and Society (ACCESS) is a European Project supported within the Ocean of Tomorrow Call of the European Commission Seventh Framework. ACCESS will evaluate the latest arctic climate change scenarios and establish their impacts on marine transportation (including tourism), fisheries, marine mammals and the extraction of hydrocarbons in the Arctic for the next three decades with particular attention to environmental sensitivities and sustainability.

ISAC is working in partnership with ACCESS to further co-ordination and collaboration in arctic system science, including the development of initiatives which will enhance ongoing observing initiatives for the benefit of a diverse group of stakeholders including the scientific community.   ACCESS Information Brochure

Arctic Net:  

ArcticNet is a Network of Centres of Excellence of Canada, bringing together scientists and managers in the natural, human health, and social sciences with their partners from Inuit organizations, northern communities, federal and provincial agencies, and  the private sector. 

The central objective of the Network is to translate a growing understanding of the changing Arctic into impact assessments, national policies, and adaptation strategies. The direct involvement of Northerners in the scientific process is a primary goal of the Network that will be fulfilled through bilateral exchange of knowledge, training and technology. The Network is built around a research icebreaker that will help solve the want of observations in the coastal Canadian Arctic. ArcticNet provides a unique multi-disciplinary and cross-sector environment for the training of the next generation of scientists (including Northerners) urgently needed to ensure the stewardship of a new Canadian Arctic. 

General Objectives are as follows: 

  1. Build synergy among existing Centres of excellence in the natural, medical and social arctic sciences. 
  2. Increase and update the observational basis needed to address the ecosystem-level questions raised by climate change (and globalization) in the Arctic
  3. To involve Northerners in the scientific process through bilateral exchange of knowledge, training and technology. 
  4. To provide academic researcher and their national and international collaborator s with stable access to the coastal Canadian Arctic. 
  5. To contribute to the training of the next generation of scientists needed to study, model, manage and ensure the stewardship of the chaning Canadian Arctic
  6.  To consolidate international collaborations in the study of the Canadian Arctic. 
  7. To translate our growing understanding of the changing Arctic into impact assessments, national policies and adaptation strategies. 

INTERACT: 

International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring (INTERACT) in the Arctic. A main objective of INTERACT is to build capacity for identifying, understanding, predicting and responding to diverse environmental changes throughout the wide environmental and land use envelopes in the Arctic. INTERACT was proposed by the existing SCANNET network of field stations situated in all eight Arctic countries. 

Important parts of the INTERACT project include:

 

SEARCH - The Study of Environmental Arctic Change: 

SEARCH is a U.S. interagency system-scale, cross-disciplinary, long-term arctic research program that spans arctic terrestrial, oceanic, atmospheric, and social systems. 

SEARCH implementation activities are grouped by three objectives: 

  • Observing Change
  • Understanding Change
  • Responding to Change

SEARCH is connected to the international scientific community through key activities involving arctic change. 

SEARCH science questions include:

  1. How can we best characterize the composition, scales, and persistence of the recent complex of changes? 
  2. Are the climatic components of the Arctic Change consistent with natural variability, or are they anthropogenic?
  3. What are the critical interactions among ocean, ice, land, and atmosphere as they relate to Arctic Change?
  4. How are global climate and Arctic Change coupled? 
  5. How does Arctic Change interact with biogeochemical cycles? 
  6. What changes in populations, biodiversity, key species, and living resources are associated with Arctic Change? 
  7. What are likely effects of Arctic Change on the health and well being of arctic residents? 
  8. How can we characterize the adaptive responses of arctic communities? 
  9. How might Arctic Change affect people outside the Arctic?