International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA): An overview of International Polar Year activities

International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA) is a dynamic organization developed to enhance Arctic atmospheric research by fostering collaborations among researchers during the International Polar Year (IPY) and beyond. The member stations are Abisko, Sweden; Alert and Eureka, Canada; Barrow, USA; Cherskii and Tiksi, Russian Federation; Ny-Ålesund, Norway; Pallas and Sodankylä, Finland; and Summit, Greenland. All of these observatories operate year-round, with at least minimal staffing in the winter months, are intensive and permanent.

In our paper we will present information about the IASOA project's goals and accomplishments for the International Polar Year (IPY), including our participation in high-profile meetings and conferences, our commitment to supporting long-term atmospheric measurements in the Arctic, and the development of a comprehensive web site (www.iasoa.org). The website has a page for each IASOA observatory, with each page including a general overview of the observatory, a listing of available measurements and principle investigators, links to data bases, and station contacts. These pages will help Arctic researchers find the data they need to complete their research. The development of these observatory web pages, plus an “observatories-at-a-glance” page, has allowed us to identify gaps in atmospheric measurements in the Arctic.

We will also include an overview of the measurement and building upgrades that occurred over the course of the IPY at several of the IASOA observatories. A few examples of the upgrades follow:

A new weather station building has been completed in Tiksi and is currently available for installation of instruments. A Clean Air Facility that is suitable for aerosol, chemistry, pollutant, greenhouse gases, fluxes and radiation measurements is expected to be instrumented in the coming year.

At the Eureka site many instruments including a flux tower, several CIMELs for the Aeronet Network, and a Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) station were installed in the summer of 2007. With IPY funding the level of technical support at the site has been increased to provide more reliable data collection and transmission.

The Summit observatory released a strategic plan highlighting climate sensitive year-round observations, innovative research platforms and operational plans to increase renewable energy to maintain the pristine platform. Summit also has a new multi-channel GC for continuous measurement of trace halocarbon and CFC gas concentrations.

In Cherskii, collaboration between the University of Alaska Fairbanks and NOAA has resulted in tower measurements of CO2 and CH4.

The Barrow observatory has two new systems for aerosol size and chemistry composition, as well as new POPs measurements. The meteorology measurement and data system has been completely upgraded.