formation of a special interagency panel to examine the issue. This group is preparing a set of interdisciplinary science requirements that can be levied on communications engineers in order to develop a rational plan.

4. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

President Reagan in the 1983 NSDD 90 statement affirmed the importance of promoting mutually beneficial international cooperation to achieve basic U.S. objectives in the Arctic. The Interagency Arctic Policy Group (IAPG), chaired by the Department of State, has overall responsibility for making recommendations on, and overseeing and coordinating, international activities relating to the Arctic. The IAPG coordinates intergovernmental Arctic-related meetings such as the annual U.S.-Danish meeting on scientific research in Greenland and the U.S.Canadian review of hydrocarbon developments in the Beaufort Sea. In February 1986 the IAPG recommended that action be taken to establish regular consultations with other Arctic countries on issues involving the region. The Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC), chaired by the National Science Foundation, is charged specifically with coordinating and promoting Arctic scientific research programs with other countries, subject to the policy guidance of the Secretary of State.

A variety of cooperative arrangements with other countries to promote Arctic research already exist. These may be loosely grouped into three areas: 1) formal agreements between the U.S. government and the governments of other countries, 2) agreements between private U.S. institutions or individuals and institutions in other countries, and 3) informal arrangements between U.S. groups and foreign groups. Most of the formal agreements do not specifically concern the Arctic. Rather, they are agreements to cooperate in broad areas of science and technology which allow for programs with a specific Arctic content.

Present formal and informal scientific cooperative mechanisms with the Canadian government on the Arctic consist primarily of ad hoc, agency-level agreements. Since 1976 U.S. and Canadian government officials have met on a relatively informal basis for yearly information exchange concerning the Beaufort Sea. In a 1970 memorandum of understanding (MOU), the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Canadian Ministry of Transportation pledged to cooperate in pursuing scientific and technological research in the field of transportation so as to avoid duplication of national efforts. On April 25, 1985, Transport Canada and the U.S. Department of Transportation signed an addendum to the MOU pledging research cooperation in developing Arctic ship designs and regulation criteria, in developing ice navigation procedures, and in improving the safety of Arctic ship operations. In a March 1982 MOU, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Canadian Department of the Environment agreed to cooperate in pollution control research, including management of oil spilled in the Arctic and development of pollution response equipment. U.S. and Canadian scientists have cooperated with scientists from other countries in large-scale research programs such as AIDJEX (Arctic Ice

Dynamics Joint Experiment) and MIZEX (Marginal Ice Zone Experiment). Both the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Department of Energy have agreements in a number of areas with their Canadian counterparts.

At the industry level, the Canadian Arctic Petroleum Operators Association (APOA) and its research affiliate, the Canadian Offshore Oil Spill Research Association (COOSRA), have held yearly meetings with the U.S. Arctic Beaufort Sea Oil Spill Research Body (ABSORB) to discuss oil pollution research. Academics have promoted consideration of bilateral issues through such conferences as the Arctic Ocean Issues Workshop held at Mackinac Island, Michigan, in 1981; the U.S.-Canada Arctic Policy Forum held at Banff, Alberta, in 1984; and the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Arctic science policy symposium held in Fairbanks, Alaska, in August 1985 (Freeman and Slaughter, 1987). Numerous other contacts occur, particularly at the scientist-to-scientist or working level. instance, the Arctic Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) holds its annual Arctic Science Conference alternately in U.S. and Canadian cities. The Canadian government, through its Polar Continental Shelf programs, provides logistic support to the United States and other countries for projects in the Canadian Arctic.

For

With the Soviet Union, the United States first entered into an agreement in 1958 on exchanges and cooperation in the fields of science, technology, education, culture and information. Over the years agreements were reached to include cooperation in the following areas, under some of which scientific cooperation in the Arctic has taken or may take place:

Science and technology, 1972 (an umbrella agreement)
Environmental protection, 1972

Medical science and public health, 1972

Space, 1972

Agriculture, 1973

World ocean, 1973

Transportation, 1973

Atomic energy, 1973

Artificial heart research and development, 1974

Energy, 1974

Housing and other construction, 1974.

Cooperation in the early and mid-1970's in the Arctic involved visits to each other's northern research facilities. Starting in 1979, the United States reduced support for scientific and technological exchanges. In 1982 agreements on cooperation on energy, space, and science and technology were allowed to lapse. Later the agreement on transportation lapsed. In June 1984 President Reagan announced a new policy to revive and strengthen agreements on environmental protection, housing, health and agriculture. Cooperative Arctic research may take place under these agreements. For instance, data have been exchanged on permafrost construction research. A working group exists under which

Con

further cold climate work might be pursued if useful or desirable. siderable cooperation on northern ecosystems and pipelines took place under the U.S.-USSR Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection, and joint climate research activities are being actively pursued. The working group on climate provides a forum for exchange of data and research on the effects of carbon dioxide and trace gases and on nuclear winter effects. Cooperation on Arctic aerosols and permafrost is included in the new climate protocol. The Smithsonian Institution is organizing a major exhibit with the Soviet Union for October 1988, entitled "Crossroads of Continents: Traditional Cultures and Peoples of the North Pacific Rim."

The United States maintains various cooperative agreements with the Scandinavian countries which are generally government-to-government agreements. Our cooperative scientific arrangements with Denmark concerning research in Greenland date to an agreement originally signed in 1951. Many useful studies have taken place under this arrangement, through which research proposals are submitted on an annual basis by the Department of State as coordinator to the Danish Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland. The U.S. Geological Survey has an MOU with the Icelandic National Research Council for cooperation in the earth sciences, specifically in the fields of glaciology, sea ice, paleomagnetism and magnetism, and aerial and satellite remote sensing. With Norway there are many informal working relationships involving Arctic research. Scientific research in Svalbard is undertaken in accord with the Treaty of Spitsbergen of 1920. The Treaty recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard, while allowing nondiscriminatory access to and use of the islands and the territorial sea for maritime, commercial and mining activities by parties to the Treaty. There has been strong Norwegian participation in the Marginal Ice Zone Experiment (MIZEX) and in the Middle Atmosphere Program/Winter in Northern Europe (MAP/WINE). There has been some cooperation with Sweden on research involving the development of cold weather military clothing. The United States and Finland signed an agreement to promote cooperation in science and technology in 1985. The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry agreed in an MOU in 1981 to cooperate on icebreaking technology, including icebreaker design and operations and winter navigation. There is an MOU between the United States and Finland to cooperate on research in health. The National Science Foundation has a series of exchange programs with the Scandinavian countries.

In addition to the bilateral arrangements discussed above, the United States participates in many multilateral programs concerning the Arctic. For instance, under the auspices of UNESCO the United States participates in the Man and the Biosphere program, Northern Science Network, in cooperation with Canada, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The Northern Science Network, with a secretariat at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, facilitates circumpolar scientific communication through a newsletter, distributed to over 600 addresses, and periodic symposia on the development, conservation and management of northern resources.

The Arctic Gas and Aerosol Sampling Program (AGASP), a cooperative research program to determine the distribution, transport, chemistry, aerosol physics, and radiative effects of the air pollution phenomenon known as "Arctic haze," has included participants from the United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Denmark. These countries collaborated on two intensive field studies in 1983 and 1986. Results and recommendations of the last international conference on Arctic air pollution are now available (Stonehouse, 1986) and the fourth conference is scheduled for September 1987 in Norway.

Over the next five years, there will be additional opportunities for U.S.-Canadian-European collaboration in programs involving the acquisition of satellite data over the Arctic. NASA is discussing coordinated programs with its counterpart agencies to acquire and validate passive microwave data, which would start with the launch of the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) instrument as part of the U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). NASA has concluded an MOU with the European Space Agency (ESA) that establishes terms for direct access of E-ERS-1 and SAR data at NASA's Alaska SAR Facility (see Section E3). NASA is in the process of negotiating a similar agreement with the Japanese for direct access to real time SAR and optical data from J-ERS-1 and for access to the global data set to be available from J-ERS-1. The joint activities under consideration would involve one or more of the following: reception, processing, analysis and utilization of the satellite data, as well as development of coordinated ground-based data validation efforts for the proposed satellite programs. NASA is also participating in the formulation and implementation of international programs to utilize E-ERS-1 data, such as the Program for International Polar Oceans Research (PIPOR) and Arctic Lands and Shelves ments (ALASKA).

Key Assess

NOAA and NASA have been working together with the European Space Agency on defining operational and research requirements for the planned polar platforms of the Space Station program. Through U.S. efforts, ESA is considering a polar platform as part of its baseline contribution to the Space Station. NOAA and NASA have been engaged in extensive discussions with ESA on reserving room for meteorological and research payloads on their platform and with several European nations regarding the contribution of instruments to the U.S. platforms. There is potential for significant budgetary savings through international cost-sharing.

The United States is a member of several multilateral bodies which promote international cooperation in the Arctic. Through the National Academy of Sciences the United States is a member of the Arctic Ocean Sciences Board, which "seeks to advance scientific knowledge of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas by bringing together resources into cooperative programs where these are essential to achieve desired scientific objectives" (NAP, 1987). There are U.S. members of the Comité Arctique International, which seeks to "improve knowledge and understanding of Arctic areas and to that end promote research in different fields on an international and multi-disciplinary basis." The Comité works to ex

change information on the Arctic. In 1983 the International Permafrost Association was established to provide for the continuing organization of international permafrost conferences. Its fifth international conference will be held in 1988 in Norway. In 1986 the International Union for Circumpolar Health was established to bring together health workers in northern circumpolar areas. The United States is represented in these associations. The International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) recently approved by the International Council of Scientific Unions offers of possibilities of an Arctic focus to explore the role of the Arctic in global change (UCAR, in press).

Looking to the future, there has been discussion of a more coordinated scientific approach to Arctic research. The Canadian government has undertaken to determine, on an informal basis, whether there is interest in principle in creating a scientific organization to coordinate regional oceanography, meteorology, and fisheries research. Such an organization (which in discussions has been referred to as PICES -- Pacific International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) would enhance the exchange of scientific data, evaluate such data, review research plans of international interest, and identify critical research needs and problems. Initial participants would likely include the United States, the USSR, Japan, Canada and the People's Republic of China. This proposed organization is still very much in the planning stages.

There have been discussions among Arctic nations on ways to improve international scientific cooperation. Scientists from several Arctic rim countries met informally in San Diego in June 1986 to discuss this possibility, which might take shape along the lines of SCAR for the Antarctic and SCOR for the oceans. Some of the same individuals and additional representatives of countries involved in Arctic research met again in February 1987 in Norway. The discussions themselves provide an opportunity to promote international cooperation on Arctic matters, in a way which may prove beneficial to U.S. interests. The Arctic Research Commission is actively involved in these talks. Results will be reported in the new journal Arctic Research of the United States. The IARPC and IAPG are maintaining cognizance of these developments and will consider appropriate United States involvement as recommendations and conclusions become available.

F. Concluding Observations

As in most planning exercises, subjects are discussed in this Plan that transcend the particular topics being considered. The following are crosscutting issues that pertain to virtually all Arctic research.

The dominant impact of the Arctic Ocean and its associated climate and weather cannot be overstated. A more complete understanding of the environmental control or influence of this generally ice-covered ocean is necessary.