A - C
Project URL: http://www.ans.kiruna.se/meetings/comaar/info.htm Proposal URL: http://classic.ipy.org/development/eoi/proposal-details.php?id=305 COMAAR will be established as a consortium under the auspices of the Arctic Council, composed of AC Working Groups, major observation and monitoring networks, platforms/observatories, government agencies and other relevant institutions involved in observation and monitoring in the Arctic. The main objectives of COMAAR are to increase effectiveness and efficiency in the use of infrastructure, personnel and funding, and to improve coordination for sustained long-term time series observations and for data handling. COMAAR will bring together conventional scientific approaches to observation and monitoring with local and traditional knowledge approaches. This will lead to synergies and added value in data availability that will underpin a new generation of scientific analysis, publications and assessments for policy making. At the same time, COMAAR will facilitate communication between the scientific community and Arctic residents, as well as society at large that will lead to a better understanding of living conditions and resource availability as well as new opportunities for the next generation of researchers. COMAAR will provide a united front to enhance sustainability of existing observatories/platforms and the development of new observatories/platforms, methodologies and technologies. COMAAR will be managed by a Steering Committee with balanced representation from different disciplines. Coordination tasks will be undertaken by task teams and thematic and multidisciplinary panels that will be set up to address specific issues that will change over time. They include: establishing centralised data and metadata bases for monitoring and observation of the Arctic, harmonisation and standardisation of methods and metadata, data and metadata handling, and providing information for an Arctic portal. COMAAR will also provide a forum for continuous consultation and interaction between consortium partners. They will meet at regular intervals and in varying configurations to move the coordination process forward. COMAAR will contribute to: improved capacity for assessing and predicting the current and future state of the Arctic, substantially more efficient overall access to data, improved data management protocols and quality controlled data, international information sharing and dissemination of data, increased capability to identify gaps in the current knowledge base, improved linkages and understanding between Arctic residents, science researchers, logistics operators, political decision makers, funding agencies, and educators, improved knowledge transfer and information flow between platforms and user groups. Major deliverables provided by COMAAR will include: -bridges among a range of multi-disciplinary and cross-sectoral stakeholders within and outside the Arctic Council, -coordinated input of observation and monitoring metadata and data for an Arctic portal, a global system of systems, international and regional conventions and other regulatory frameworks, -coordinated major multi-disciplinary baseline data sets, agreed metadata, operating guidelines, and protocols, -a forum for continuous consultation and regular meetings of consortium partners.
COMAAR