NSERC awards $32 million for Arctic climate research

Seven projects related to climate change and atmospheric research are receiving a total of $32 million through the Climate Change and Atmospheric Research (CCAR) initiative. The announcements come more than two years after NSERC was provided with the necessary funding in the 2011 Budget (March 31/11), partially replacing funding lost when the federal government decided not to renew the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) (R$, March 31/11 & January 21/13).

The funded projects include the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) Eureka research station near Nunavut, which was slated for closure when the demise of the CFCAS cut off its operating funding. Scientific work had already been severely scaled back at PEARL in recent months and concerns over its funding stretch back to 2009 when $85 million was allocated to maintaining and upgrading Arctic research stations including PEARL (R$, February 9/09).

CCAR funding is intended to support teams of university researchers, scientists and partner organizations in better understanding and predicting climate in the north. A competition for the funding was launched May/12 with successful applicants invited to apply in October.

The projects funded under the CCAR initiative are:

• Network on Climate and Aerosols (NETCARE) to address key uncertainties in remote Canadian environments;
• Research related to the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) to probe the atmosphere of the high Arctic;
• Canadian Arctic GEOTRACES Program — a biogeochemical and tracer study of the rapidly changing Arctic Ocean;
• Canadian Sea Ice and Snow Evolution (CanSISE) Network;
• Ventilation, Interactions and Transports Across the Labrador Sea (VITALS);
• Canadian Network for Regional Climate and Weather Processes; and
• Changing Cold Regions Network (CCRN).

The government has yet to announce whether CCAR funding will be replenished to allow future competitions.

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