9530135 Burden This project will assemble a team of senior researchers with expertise in the areas of climate, hydrological cycles, biogechemical cycles, geological processes, and human interventions. This team will outline in a conference format, the state of our knowledge of Nunavut and similar high latitude regions, and will then propose, in round table discussions the designs for long term experiments aimed at identifying and measuring change in these systems, and the collection and compilation of other data and observations of change which will be the focus of the proposal to be submitted to IAI Start-Up Grants Phase II. Phase I of the IAI Start-Up Grants will aim to produce a volume of review papers on the environment of Nunavut. Invited delegates will be obligated to produce summaries of the understanding of the land, sea, air, and biology of Nunavut, and these summaries would be used to establish baseline data and guidelines for future endeavors in Phase II of the IAI Start-Up Grants. Logistically, platforms for this research may be centered on the National Park reserves on Baffin, Bylot and Ellesmere islands. These three islands delineate a transect from below the Arctic Circle to near the North Pole. This project will assemble a team of senior researchers with expertise in the areas of climate, hydrological cycles, biogechemical cycles, geological processes, and human interventions. This team will outline the state of our knowledge of Nunavut and similar high latitude regions, and to then propose, in round table discussions the designs for long term experiments aimed at identifying and measuring change in these systems, and the collection and compilation of other data and observations of change which will be the focus of the proposal to be submitted to IAI Start-Up Grants Phase II. The proposed workshop for Phase I of the IAI Start-Up Grants will establish baseline data and guidelines for Phase II. The application developed for Phase II will identify the relevance of this work to regional and global interests. From a scientific perspective, understanding environmental change is an important contribution towards understanding the earth system. By predicting changes to Nunavut, government land-use policy can be modified to accommodate future developments, and to contribute to increasing the state of knowledge of similar high latitude regions of the Americas. It is likely that the Phase II proposal will reopen the Arctic Research Establishment, a field station in Pond Inlet, and its training component for local technicians and university students. In addition, this proposal will link universities in Canada and the United States with the IAI Network. These countries are members of the IAI, an initiative to stimulate global change research among the scientific institutions of the Americas. The National Science Foundation is the designated U.S. Government agency to carry out the U.S. responsibilities within the IAI. ***
