Science Coordination Office

Seeing a clear need for broad reaching coordination between interdisciplinary investigators using the station, the National Science Foundation established a Science Coordination Office (SCO) for the Greenland Environmental Observatory at Summit (GEOSummit). Working with the NSF, the Danish Polar Centre (DPC) and an international community of interested parties, the following objectives were developed for the SCO:

• coordinate measurements between investigators, sharing of facilities and personnel on site, and requests to the funding agencies for upgrades and maintenance at the observatory,
• facilitate sharing of data and measurements from the observatory, and
• take responsibility for communication between investigators using the facility, reporting to funding agencies, and planning.

Since its establishment, the SCO has been instrumental in the development of collaboration between scientists working at Summit. Furthermore, the SCO has worked closely with on-site investigators to ensure the demands of the various multidisciplinary research platforms are met without interference to one another. In addition to facilitating research programs on-site, the SCO has actively participated in society meetings to create a greater awareness of the opportunities for research at the site and to disseminate the data gathered through various research campaigns.

The SCO has been a point-of-contact (POC) both for staff on-site and researchers actively working at Summit. In this capacity, each year the SCO has maintained a protocols document that science support staff refer to for instructions on instrumentation and general information about the various programs that they are supporting. The SCO office provides science support staff with a responsive POC when individual PI’s are unavailable for their individual requests. For investigators, the SCO acts as a resource for concerns related to instrument placement, personnel capabilities, or facility capacities.

For long-term planning and international coordination of the facility, the SCO has provided a central resource for interested parties. Working with the NSF, the DPC, and the European Science Foundation, Polar Research Board (PRB), a meeting was held in January 2004 to help outline and develop a strategic science management plan for the station. The various disciplines interested in working at the station can create a conflict of interest with facility resources. The SCO developed new station policies and ‘controlled traffic’ sectors to maximize use of the station by a variety of disciplines without compromising the scientific integrity of the site.

All of the activities of the SCO and the station development have maintained the initial goals outlined in the 1998 draft science plan for a multidisciplinary environmental observatory. Five priority areas were identified with Summit Station in mind for a year-round measurement facility: i] ice-core interpretation, ii] tropospheric chemistry, iii] radiation, energy balance and boundary layer studies, iv] stratospheric observations, and v] atmospheric electricity. For these areas of research, the Summit site will provide unique data that cannot be developed at coastal Greenland or other arctic sites.  In addition, two areas have been identified where year-around measurements at Summit would help complete an arctic network of measurement sites, and thus greatly enhance existing data: i] polar aeronomy and space sciences, and ii] seismic and geodetic measurements.
In an effort to pursue these goals, the SCO has worked to ensure the inclusion of the Summit Station in global network measurement programs including: 1] the Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) program of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO); 2] NSF-OPP Ultraviolet monitoring network; 3] The GEOFON seismic program of GFZ-Potsdam; and 4] the MAGIC array of ionospheric magnetometers maintained by R. Clauer of the University of Michigan.

Placing a priority on outreach and data dissemination, the SCO has maintained this webpage with information regarding station capacities, data access, and current events.