Current US research into the changing sea ice and ocean conditions across the Arctic marine environment is to receive a further $1.8 million injection in funding to help scientists work to gain a deeper understanding of the impacts of climate change in the region.

Making up part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the fund has been awarded by the US Department of Commerce to support the development, procurement, and deployment of innovative ocean monitoring technologies within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) ongoing Arctic Research Program.

“This award will improve NOAA’s access to climate information in the Arctic, helping us better understand and address the impacts of climate change in the region,” said US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo. “This investment demonstrates the Biden-Harris commitment to national scientific research, development, and discovery, which are vital to the livelihoods and the economic wellbeing of communities in the Arctic and across the globe.”

According to the 2023 NOAA Arctic Report Card, sea ice thickness and the expanse of area it covers in the region continue to decline while sea surface temperatures show warming trends in nearly all regions of the Arctic Ocean. The impact on marine ecosystems – as well as on the broader global ocean and climate system – however, remains uncertain.

What is known – according to NOAA Administrator, Rick Spinrad, Ph.D – is that the rate of climate change in the Arctic “is outpacing everywhere else on the planet.”

The funds, made possible through the Biden-Harris Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will therefore be used to “expand observational capabilities in the Arctic, in alignment with NOAA’s Arctic Strategy & Vision to strengthen foundational science and to detect Arctic climate and ecosystem changes,” said Spinrad.

A breakdown of the BIL funds will see $1.2 million invested in the expansion and enhancement of the Argo float array into the Arctic, bolstering its monitoring capabilities while advancing the existing Argo technology to detect and avoid sea-ice. 

Meanwhile, $296,000 in funds will be put behind new sensors to improve understanding of Arctic sea ice and what’s driving its rate of change in thickness, as well as its role in the climate system. NOAA will also invest some $315,000 into two ice-responsive monitoring systems in the Northern Bering and Chukchi Seas. This effort is part of the joint Ecosystems and Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (EcoFOCI) research programme between the Alaska Fisheries Centre, the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, and Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Program’s (GOMO) Arctic Research efforts.

“The Arctic Research Program is excited to leverage these BIL funds to support our researchers and enable them to do what they do best: collect invaluable observational data to advance our understanding of an evolving Arctic,” said Sandy Lucas, Ph.D., director of NOAA’s GOMO Arctic Research Programme (ARP).

“These funds provide a unique opportunity for ARP to work with diverse partners, like the Office of Naval Research, and to test new technologies that could revolutionise our in-situ ocean and sea-ice observing capabilities in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas.”

According to GOMO, the Arctic is warming up to four-times faster than the rest of the planet with increasing air and ocean temperatures, thawing permafrost, loss of sea ice, and shifts in ecosystems all symptomatic of “widespread and dramatic ongoing change.”

These changes impact both the Earth’s climate and the way in which ecosystems function around the globe. NOAA states that critical environmental, economic, and national security issues are now all emerging as a result of a changing Arctic, much of which will have “significant impact on human lives, livelihoods, and coastal communities.”

This new funding – alongside recent intensified focus of research within the region – comes at a critical time. The Arctic deep-sea is also starting to become a focal point of international deep-sea mining practices with countries like Norway signing treaties to start exploring the extractive resources of the region.

In May this year, the Ocean Census launched its Arctic Deep Expedition to “redefine our understanding of the biodiversity of the deepest Arctic Ocean marine habitats.” Led by the Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census Alliance, UiT, and REV Ocean, the expedition brings a multidisciplinary team of scientists and media experts from 15 academic institutions to discover, research, and document the region.

Speaking to Oceanographic about this expedition, Jan-Gunnar Winther, Pro-rector for research and development at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and Specialist Director at the Norwegian Polar Institute, said: “The poles today stand out as extremely important for understanding climate change. Everything is connected. And that’s why if you study the polar regions, you also study the planet.”

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