The Special Committee - UNOLS Arctic Marine Research Capabilities Committee (AMRCC)
Federal agencies are working to acquire future icebreaking capability to support U.S. priorities and missions in the Arctic. The scientific community has been offered the opportunity to provide input to the federal agencies that may influence the capabilities to be incorporated into any future icebreakers to enable support for Arctic science for the next 30+ years.
The AMRCC was established with support from the federal funding agencies to develop Science Missions and Science Mission Requirements to provide guidance to U.S. federal agencies regarding icebreaker support for Arctic marine research. The Statement of Task for the AMRCC and other related information can be found here.
The Committee brings together scientists, technicians, and operators who have extensive experience at conducting oceanographic science in the Arctic. WHOI’s Dr. Carin Ashjian is the Chair of the AMRCC. Taking this important step now ensures that the U.S. government is ready to move ahead to develop future any future Arctic icebreaking capability that includes the ability to support oceanographic science - such has been done by U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker HEALY for the past 24 years.
The AMRCC is planning a series of community meetings to be held in conjunction with major scientific meetings and to conduct a community survey on the needed scientific capabilities to support Arctic marine research for the next 30 years.
The first community meeting is being held on Dec. 10 in conjunction with the AGU meeting in Washington DC. A second meeting will be held on January 31 in conjunction with the Alaska Marine Science Symposium in Anchorage AK. A third meeting will be held (date TBD) in conjunction with the Arctic Science Summit Week and associated meetings in Boulder CO.
Information on the survey can be found below.
AMRCC Survey
To collect input from the community, we are circulating this survey broadly to request your thoughts and ideas on future U.S. icebreakers that, as one of their missions, would carry out Arctic marine and interdisciplinary science support. We will share the survey results with the community shortly after the survey is completed through community meetings and email communication. We anticipate there will be additional opportunities for the community to provide input via these means. Please complete and submit your survey responses by Friday, 7 February 2024.
The results of this survey will be used by the UNOLS Arctic Marine Research Capabilities Committee (AMRCC) to develop the recommendations. Please complete as much of the survey as is practicable for you. Response to all questions is not required for submitting your response to the survey. However, the more questions you can reply to – the more helpful your feedback will be to the AMRCC. Please complete and submit your survey responses by Friday, 7 February 2025.
The Survey can be found here:
Or it can be found here.
Current UNOLS AMRCC members are below and can be found here.