Study of the Northern Alaska Coastal System (SNACS)

This solicitation seeks proposals focused on the arctic coastal zone of Alaska (see below for details) addressing one or more aspects of two coupled themes:

• How vulnerable are the natural, human, and living systems of the coastal zone to current and future environmental changes in the Arctic?
• How do biogeochemical and biogeophysical feedbacks in the coastal zone amplify or dampen change locally and at the pan-arctic and global levels?

Particular emphasis should be placed on understanding how coastal ecosystems (including human societies) respond to change originating from outside of the strictly defined coastal region, and also on how responses in the coastal zone feed back to the larger arctic and global systems. This solicitation draws on the community planning embodied in the LSI (http://arctic.bio.utk.edu/screen_LSI_science_plan.pdf) and PACTS (http://www.laii.uaf.edu/pubs/PACTS_Plan_screen.pdf) science plans, but should not be considered a replacement for, or the full implementation of, either plan. The research efforts resulting from this competition are expected to be a partial contribution to the interagency Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH).