1. The U.S. Inter-agency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) 5-year Research Plan, FY13-FY17 1.Understand sea-ice dynamics, ecosystem processes, ecosystem services and climate feedbacks in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas and the contiguous Arctic Ocean. 2.Understand high-latitude terrestrial ecosystem processes, ecosystem services and climate feedbacks. 3.Improve and integrate atmospheric studies of surface heat, energy and mass balances. 4.Integrate and continue to deploy a national Arctic observing system and promote international collaboration to create a circumpolar observing system. 5.Integrate Arctic regional models. 6.Assess vulnerabilities of Arctic communities to impacts of climate change and develop adaptation strategies and tools to maximize sustainability, well-being and cultural and linguistic heritage. 7.Understand factors that affect human health in the Arctic, including infectious and non- communicable diseases, environmental contamination and behavioral and mental health disorders.

2. National Ocean Policy (NOP) is currently in final review before approval for release. NOP has nine Strategic Actions Plans (SAPs). SAP 8: Changing Conditions in the Arctic. SAP 8 has seven themes - Theme 3: An Integrated Arctic Observing Network. Theme 3 has six action items. - Action Item 2: Observe and Forecast Arctic Sea Ice - Action Item 3: Establish a Distributed Biological Observatory U.S. National Ocean Policy: Changing Arctic Conditions

3. U.S. Arctic Observing Coordination Workshop: March 2012, Anchorage, Alaska Break-out groups developed brief white papers describing “showcase projects”: Ocean 1. From observations to management: Providing scientific information to inform decisions regarding offshore oil and gas activities in the Chukchi Sea. Ocean 2. Ocean observations to improve sea ice forecasting. Arctic Ocean freshwater and heat observing system. Long-term sea level measurements along Alaskan Chukchi and Beaufort coasts. The Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO). Multi-disciplinary drifting observatory for the study of Arctic climate. Community-based observation network for adaptation and security.

4. Land 1. Distributed Environmental Observatory. Land 2. Utilizing the state of existing knowledge to guide infrastructure development. Causes and consequences of the greening of the Arctic. Other. Connecting Arctic communities with one another and with scientists: Building a community-based observation network. Data management: Improving discovery and access to data. It is anticipated that the workshop report will be available online in November 2012 at http://www.arcus.org/search/aon U.S. Arctic Observing Coordination Workshop: March 2012, Anchorage, Alaska

5. SIZRS: Seasonal Ice Zone Reconnaissance Surveys Seasonal Ice Zone Reconnaissance Surveys (SIZRS): An Office of Naval Research (ONR)-supported program of ocean, ice and atmosphere observations during 2012- 2014 over the seasonal ice zone (SIZ) of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas using US Coast Guard Arctic Domain Awareness (ADA) flights of opportunity with C-130 aircraft. Air eXpendable CTDs (AXCTD) and Air eXpendable Current Profilers (AXCP). UpTempO (Upper Temperature of the Arctic Ocean) buoys. Visible and infra-red imaging of the ocean and sea ice surface (SST, floe size ….) Laser profiling of water and ice surface roughness and elevation, and cloud top height. Drop- and guided-sondes for vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature, humidity and wind speed. The Marginal Ice Zone Modeling and Assimilation System (MIZMAS) and Polar- WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting Model).