Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
The Alfred Wegener Institute, established in 1980, conducts research in the Arctic, the Antarctic and at temperate latitudes. It coordinates Polar research in Germany and provides both the necessary equipment and the essential logistic back up for polar expeditions. Recent additional research themes include North Sea Research, contributions to Marine Biological Monitoring, Marine Pollution Research, investigation of naturally occurring marine substances and technical marine developments. 

American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF)
Founded in 1910, the ASF promotes educational and cultural exchange between the U.S. and Nordic countries.

Archaeology in Arctic North America
The northernmost part of the North American continent has seen some of the most fascinating human adaptations anywhere. These pages provide a glimpse of archaeological research in this region and its results, focusing principally on the Canadian Arctic.

Arctic (UNEP)
This section of UNEP.Net, the United Nations Environment Network, is a global portal to authoritative environmental information about the Arctic.

Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely
The Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely exhibit is part of the Forces of Change Program at the National Museum of Natural History. The exhibit explores changes that have been observed in the Arctic, the Earth’s northernmost region, and how they are monitored by scientists and polar residents.

Arctic Antarctic Research Center (AARC)
The Arctic and Antarctic Research Center (AARC) maintains an archive of more than 175,000 satellite passes of the Earth's polar regions. At present, this database is over 16 Terabytes in size. The AARC also provides data processing services to a wide variety of polar researchers. The AARC supplies data to the National Snow and Ice Data Center in collaboration with the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs.

Arctic Centre @ University of Lapland
The University of Lapland’s Arctic Centre is a research and science centre located near the Arctic Circle. The Arctic Centre conducts internationally high-level multidisciplinary research, carries out project services, maintains Science Center exhibitions and Information Service & Library, and also provides education.

Arctic Circle
An Arctic Circle can be thought of as groups of people with vested interests - indigenous northerners and 'newcomers,' scientists, policy-makers, corporate leaders, environmentalists, students, and others - sometimes in conflict and sometimes joining together around common concerns.  Three themes are felt to be crucial to the future of the people, land, and waters of the Arctic and Subarctic region: natural resources, history and culture, social equity and environmental justice. In the following presentations you will find a broad range of textual materials, art, photographic exhibits, and occasional sound and short video recordings. All demonstrate the interconnectedness of these three themes, including how they have been shaped by diverse histories, political economies, and cultural perspectives.

Arctic Climate in Historical Perspective: First International Polar Year 1881-1884
The First International Polar Year was the first series of coordinated international expeditions to the polar regions ever undertaken, and was the antecedent for other international research programs such as the upcoming 4th International Polar Year, planned to begin in 2007. The extraordinary historical data sets and images are available on the website for browsing or download.The records of the First International Polar Year offer a rare glimpse of the circumpolar Arctic environment as it existed in the past. These observations collected so long ago now hold the potential to improve our understanding of historical climate variability and environmental change in the Arctic.

Arctic Climate System Study (ACSYS)
The scientific goal of the WCRP's Arctic Climate System Study (ACSYS) project is to ascertain the role of the Arctic in global climate by attempting to find answers to the questions: 1) What are the global consequences of natural or human-induced change in the Arctic climate system? 2) Is the Arctic climate system as sensitive to increased greenhouse gas concentrations as climate models suggest?

Arctic Council
The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that provides a mechanism to address the common concerns and challenges faced by the Arctic governments and the people of the Arctic.

Arctic Ecosystem
The Arctic Ecosystem consists of the Arctic Cordillera, Northern Arctic and Southern Arctic terrestrial ecozones and the Arctic Basin, Arctic Archipelago and Northwest Atlantic marine ecozones.

Arctic Images (Ragnar Th Sigurdsson)
The Arctic image bank of photographer Ragnar Th. Sigurdsson.

Arctic Institute of North America (AINA)
The Institute's mandate is to advance the study of the North American and circumpolar Arctic through the natural and social sciences, the arts and humanities and to acquire, preserve and disseminate information on physical, environmental and social conditions in the North.

Arctic Is
This web resource on human-environment relations in the Arctic is a project of the Stefansson Institute of Iceland and the University of the Arctic.  Lots of very good, very current articles on contemporary Arctic issues.

Arctic Long Term Ecological Research (ARC LTER) 
The Arctic Long Term Ecological Research project is one of 24 LTER projects in North America, Puerto Rico, and Antarctica. The Arctic LTER field research site is based at University of Alaska's Toolik Field Station, Alaska, in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range (68° 38'N, 149° 43'W, elevation 760 m). 

Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP)
Now a program group of the Arctic Council, AMAP's current objective is "providing reliable and sufficient information on the status of, and threats to, the Arctic environment, and providing scientific advice on actions to be taken in order to support Arctic governments in their efforts to take remedial and preventive actions relating to contaminants".

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)
ANRW was established to preserve unique wildlife, wilderness and recreational values, to conserve caribou herds, polar bears, grizzly bears, muskox, dall sheep, wolves, wolverines, snow geese, peregrine falcons, other migratory birds, dolly varding and grayling; to fulfill international treaty obligations; to provide opportunities for continued subsistence uses; and to insure necessary water quality and quantity.

Arctic Portal
The Arctic Portal is a gateway to Arctic related information as it relates to the Arctic Council, its Working Groups, Permanent Participants and Observers.

Arctic Research Commission (ARC)
The ARC principal duties are to: develop and recommend national Arctic research policy; assist the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee in establishing a national Arctic Research Plan; review federal research programs in the Arctic and suggest improvements; review the President's budget request and report to Congress on the adherence to the Arctic Research Plan; facilitate cooperation among federal, state and local governments with respect to Arctic research; cooperate with the Governor of Alaska with respect to Arctic Research policy; recommend improved Arctic research logistics planning and support; recommend improved sharing and dissemination of Arctic data and information among public and private institutions; publish a statement of goals and objectives to guide the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee; and to publish an Annual Report to the President and Congress.

Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS)
The purpose of ARCUS is to provide leadership in advancing knowledge and understanding of the Arctic by serving as a forum for planning, facilitating, coordinating, and implementing disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies of the Arctic; acting as a synthesizer and disseminator of scientific information relevant to state, national, and international programs of arctic research; and encouraging and facilitating the education of scientists and the public in the needs and opportunities of research in the Arctic.

Arctic Science and Technology Information System (ASTIS)
The Arctic Science and Technology Information System (ASTIS) database contains over 55,000 records describing publications and research projects about northern Canada. ASTIS is maintained by the Arctic Institute of North America at the University of Calgary, and is part of the Canadian Polar Information Network.

Arctic System Science Data Coordination Center (ARCSS)
The Arctic System Science (ARCSS) Data Coordination Center (ADCC) at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado at Boulder, is the permanent data archive for all components of the ARCSS Program. Funded by the National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs, our focus is to archive and provide access to ARCSS-funded data.

Arctic Theme page (NOAA)
Provides Arctic information and a set of reputable indicators that describe the present state of the Arctic ecosystem and climate. This Arctic Theme Page provides access to widely distributed Arctic data and information for scientists, students, teachers, academia, managers, decision makers and the general public. Visit NOAA's Arctic Change Indicators website, the Arctic Science Laboratory and Arctic Research Office.

Barents Portal
A virtual library concerning all aspects of science, business, and life in lands around the Barents Sea.

Canadian Arctic Resources Committee (CARC)
CARC was born more than thirty years ago as a response to the first Mackenzie Valley pipeline proposal. Since that time, CARC has been involved in numerous northern issues, from helping negotiate an international treaty on toxic chemicals, to ensuring that Canada’s first diamond mines are given the most thorough environmental assessments possible.

Canadian Polar Commission (CPC)
Established in 1991 as the lead agency in the area of polar research, the Canadian Polar Commission has responsibility for: monitoring, promoting, and disseminating knowledge of the polar regions; contributing to public awareness of the importance of polar science to Canada; enhancing Canada's international profile as a circumpolar nation; and recommending polar science policy direction to government.

Center for Global Change & Arctic System Research
The Center for Global Change and Arctic System Research was established in March 1990 to serve as the focal point at the University of Alaska Fairbanks for developing, coordinating and implementing interdisciplinary research and education related to the role of the Arctic and sub-Arctic in the Earth system, and to stimulate and facilitate global change research in this region.

Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL)
CRREL is a research and engineering facility located in Hanover, New Hampshire, with projects offices at Fort Wainwright and Fort Richardson, Alaska. We are proud to be part of the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), an arm of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Our mission is to gain knowledge of cold regions through scientific and engineering research. See our Technical Reports, which are available online after 1995.

Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF)
CAFF is a distinct forum of Arctic professionals, indigenous peoples representatives, and observer countries and organizations, to discuss and address circumpolar Arctic conservation issues.  As one of the Working Groups of the Arctic Council, its primary role is to advise the Arctic governments (Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States) on conservation matters and sustainable use issues of international significance and common concern. 

Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research (CIFAR)
CIFAR is designed to be a focal point for interactions between NOAA and the Arctic research community through the University of Alaska for research related to NOAA's interests, especially in the Western Arctic/Bering Sea region. This area, vital to many nations because of its fisheries, oil and gas resources and its Native communities, is also the focus of increased international attention and research.

Danish Polar Center
The Danish Polar Center is a knowledge and service center for scientists and institutions that deal with polar research and arctic matters, for Danish authorities, and for the Danish public in general. The Danish Polar Center is an institution under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and was established on 1 January 1989.

European Rural Development (ERD)
Images of peaceful villages might suggest that life in the European countryside is without serious problems. But this is just a popular cliché. The globalization of world trade, significant changes in consumer preferences, the expected enlargement of the European Union, a new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and a serious aging of the population, have all massively affected the rural areas. Europe's countryside is in a process of deep structural change that will most likely speed up when the applicant countries from Eastern Europe become fully integrated in the Union.

French Polar Institute
The French Polar Institute Paul Emile Victor (IPEV) is a Non-Profit Group ("Groupement d'Interet Public" or GIP) composed of nine public or parapublic organizations. Among them, three are of particular importance: the French Delegate Ministry of Research and New Technologies, which provides most of the funding to IPEV, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the French CNRS, which provides staff to the GIP. The permanent staff of the Polar Institute, based in Brest, Brittany, is made up of 50 people, among whom two-thirds are supported by CNRS.

Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve (GAAR)
By establishing Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve (GAAR) in Alaska's Brooks Range, Congress has reserved a vast and essentially untouched area of superlative natural beauty and exceptional scientific value - a maze of glaciated valleys and gaunt, rugged mountains covered with boreal forest and Arctic tundra vegetation, cut by wild rivers, and inhabited by far-ranging populations of caribou, Dall sheep, wolves, and bears (barren-ground grizzlies and black bears).

Images Canada
Images Canada -- the gateway to images of Canadian events, people, places and things! Search the collections of participating archives, libraries, museums and universities from across Canada. Note in particular the Arctic and the Inuit collections.

Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)
The Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) strives for excellence in research, education, and outreach related to Earth System Science and Global Change in high-latitude, alpine, and other environments.

Institute of Arctic Biology (IAB)
The Institute of Arctic Biology (IAB), established by the Alaska Legislature and the University of Alaska Board of Regents in 1962, supports faculty research and graduate education in biological, wildlife, and health sciences at UAF.

Institute of the North
While other scholarly centers focus on the "tragedy of the commons" in destitute and over-populated regions, the Institute of the North specializes in how to utilize and care for the resource-rich commons for the benefit of those living in and on the commons. Areas of special study include Alaska, the new Russia, the many regions of the Arctic and other areas of the world that are lightly populated and wealthy in both human cultures and natural resources.

International Arctic Research Center (IARC)
IARC was established for the purpose of promoting international cooperation and coordination of climate change research. It makes a comprehensive effort to integrate a great variety of arctic research toward a better understanding of climate change in the Arctic.

International Arctic Science Committee (IASC)
The International Arctic Science Committee is a non-governmental organization whose aim is to encourage and facilitate cooperation in all aspects of Arctic research, in all countries engaged in Arctic research and in all areas of the Arctic region.

International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008
In the spring of 2007, scientists from more than 100 countries will
embark on an intensive, coordinated campaign of multi-disciplinary
scientific observations, research, and analysis as part of the IPY. The
research is expected to dramatically expand our understanding of the
Arctic and Antarctic regions--including their relationship to the global
ecosystem--and to provide unprecedented insight into how societies in
high northern latitudes are coping with environmental change.

Norden
Nordic co-operation through two organisations: the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Northern Research Forum (NRF)
The Northern Research Forum provides an opportunity for policy-relevant discussion on the role of research in addressing northern issues of sustainable development and community viability, peace and security, social and environmental policy, and the impacts of global change.

Northern Research Portal
Currently, although Internet resources from various institutions are included, the site primarily contains a selection of resources held by the University of Saskatchewan. This site is in progress. We hope future additions will enable researchers to access more resources both on the Canadian north and other circumpolar nations.

Norwegian Polar Institute
The Norwegian Polar Institute is Norway's central institution for research, environmental monitoring and mapping of the polar regions. The Institute is the Norwegian authorities' consultant and supplier of knowledge, and contributes to the best possible administration of Norwegian polar areas.

Nunavik Bibliography
The Nunavik Bibliography is a cooperative long-term project to build a comprehensive bibliographic database about northern Quebec. The 4300 records currently in the database describe only a fraction of the existing literature about Nunavik.

Polar Links
Gateway to polar resources maintained by Natural Resources Canada.  Very good starting point if you want to explore the institutions of the circumpolar North.

Scott Polar Research Institute
The Scott Polar Research Institute was founded in 1920, in Cambridge, as a memorial to Captain Robert Falcon Scott, RN, and his four companions, who died returning from the South Pole in 1912. The Institute is the oldest international center for Polar Research within a university. During the early years, the Institute's aim was to provide a place where polar travelers and explorers could meet, and where material of polar interest might be collected and made accessible for future research.  Since World War II, it developed further to become an international centre for research and reference in a variety of fields related to polar environments, historical, scientific and social.

Transboundary Environmental Information Agency (TEIA)
TEIA is an independent non-profit organization. Our goal is to promote international cooperation on a non-governmental level by assisting in the distribution of information across border areas in the Baltic States and northwestern Russia.

University of the Arctic
The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is a cooperative network of universities, colleges, and other organizations committed to higher education and research in the North. Our members share resources, facilities, and expertise to build post-secondary education programs that are relevant and accessible to northern students. Our overall goal is to create a strong, sustainable circumpolar region by empowering northerners and northern communities through education and shared knowledge.

University of the Arctic Web Bibliography

US Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER)
The Long Term Ecological Research Network is a collaborative effort involving more than 1800 scientists and students investigating ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales.  The Network promotes synthesis and comparative research across sites and ecosystems and among other related national and international research programs. 

Vital Arctic Graphics
Vital Arctic Graphics is a compilation of illustrations and case studies intended to describe the Arctic, the livelihoods of Arctic indigenous peoples and the future well-being of this region. It summarizes some of the key threats to the future sustainability of the Arctic including the rapid pace of climate change, worrying levels of persistent organic and heavy metal pollutants, and increasing natural resource exploration.

WWF Arctic Programme
WWF's ultimate goal is to stop and eventually reverse environmental degradation and to build a future where people live in harmony with nature.

Yukon Biodiversity Database
A searchable database describing more than 4200 publications and research projects about the biology of the Yukon and the Beaufort Sea.