Arctic Ecology Laboratory

Project Descriptions:

1. BAID Development: The successful and efficient long-term management and development of the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and science in the Barrow area requires detailed and explicit documentation of both former and extant research and land use activities. Under guidance by the Science Management Committee (SMC) of BASC, a series of relational and searchable databases (BAID) has been developed over the past three years that helps facilitate this. The database is an information source only and does not contain data collected by various researchers, which would otherwise duplicate efforts of the Joint Office of Scientific Support (JOSS) or the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). To date the following information has been compiled for research activities performed in the Barrow area by the AEL at MSU. Information ranges from extant studies to research initiated in the 1940's:
   • Former and presently active researchers including contact details and research interests.

   • Past and present research projects with information on the researchers active in the project, project title and description, and various administrative details relevant to both BASC and NSF.

   • Site information including project affiliation, Latitude and Longitude, date established, the investigators who used the site and a picture of the site. Most sites have been marked in the field with labeled survey grade cap markers, which are also included in the database.

   • Also included in the database is information useful to many researchers active in Barrow and who also may stage their research remotely to Barrow. This information includes Ground Control Points (GCPs) useful for the georectification and mosaicing of remote sensing imagery such as aerial photographs and satellite imagery. Information compiled in the database includes the Latitude and Longitude, elevation, precision of the location recorded by Global Positioning System (GPS), feature and the feature scale (important for different resolutions of imagery) of the GCP as well as the project number, name and project keyword for which the GCP was acquired. Also included are the date of acquisition of the GCP, the investigator who acquired the GCP and a description and photo of the GCP.

   • A list of the BAR aerial photographs held at BASC including the flight line, photograph number, and number of duplicate photographs present.

   • Bibliography of publications that focus on the Barrow area. This bibliography has unified former publication lists generated by the US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), the International Biological Program (IBP) and the Arctic Institute of Northern America (AINA) for research in the Barrow area. Additional editorial control remains to be accomplished. The extensive marine mammal bibliography compiled by the Department of Wildlife Management (DWM) is not included, as emphasis has been focused on terrestrial research.

   • Help and syntax files that facilitate the navigation, querying/programming and interpretation of the database. These files have been maintained in such a way that when the time comes to transfer the database to a web-based platform, the relevant programmers will have a full database design plan to facilitate this process.

   The database has received significant support from many investigators active in the Barrow area and is nearing a stage for circulation in the broader Barrow scientific community. The database is available via ftp transfer upon request. During the next year (April 2003 to March 2004) it is hoped that the database can be further expanded in preparation for transfer to the World Wide Web as a fully interactive database.

   The following development tasks are proposed for the information database (April 2003- March 2004):

   • Continued population and maintenance of the database. The most immediate action will be to improve personnel and project information that will facilitate integration with NSF records. More researchers active in former research will also be contacted and their historical knowledge of research on and near the BEO will be recorded.

   • Increased integration with Geographical Information System (GIS) coverages whereby each site, GCP and remote sensing coverage can be located readily and accurately on a map (Landsat ETM+ from the EOS data center, or proposed Quickbird imagery). This will enhance database searchability.

   • Addition to the database of air photo, satellite imagery and GIS libraries that give the contact details of researchers from whom the coverage can be obtained, a thumbnail of the coverage and nationally accepted metadata records for the overlay. It is foreseen that this exercise will facilitate the development of an interactive web based GIS archive from which a standardized and georectified array of GIS coverages for the BEO and Barrow area with accompanying metadata could be downloaded. This facility is not currently offered for any US based arctic research consortium, despite its obvious applicability at intensive research localities such as the BEO.

   • Incorporation of DGPS base station and rover data due to be collected in summer 2002. The database will greatly enhance management and access to this data as well as facilitate integration with GIS.

   The AEL at MSU has provided full database design and development with significant input from Dr Jerry Brown (Chair, BASC SMC) and other active researchers active in the Barrow area. Most of this work to date has been done on a voluntary basis. A significant benefit to the development of the database has been the training of 11 undergraduates in relational database design and development. This includes 4 summer NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) equivalent positions that received significant field training as a result of their involvement. The education component of database development will be continued over the next year and will provide training to at least 3 more undergraduate students at MSU.

2. DGPS Management: Researchers have supported the provision of DGPS capabilities in Barrow for the past decade. With the active involvement of UNAVCO in Barrow during summer 2001 and active lobbying to NSF by BASC, NSF researchers and UNAVCO, the reality of DGPS provisioning has become a reality. DGPS was installed at BASC in early May 2002 by UNAVCO technicians supported by BASC. Whilst technical support will be provided by UNAVCO remotely from Colorado, full time on-site management of equipment, base station data acquisition and low-level instruction is required. The AEL at MSU has expertise in the operation and management of DGPS systems and has offered under a contractual agreement to provide this day-to-day management service to BASC between May and August during the 2002 summer.

   The MSU AEL will coordinate management of the DGPS closely with the development of the BAID described above. This will be the first time this service has been provided to BASC so although the majority of DGPS management will be conducted by an undergraduate student, there will be significant input and supervision from senior lab personnel (Dr Craig Tweedie and Dr Patrick Webber).