WP overview

WP1 is led by Stein Sandven, NERSC and Erik Buch, EuroGOOS (co-lead). The work will focus on consolidation of high-level requirements for iAOS, establishing and maintaining cooperation with key stakeholder groups in Europe and internationally, engagement strategy and establishing of a Pan-Arctic Observing Forum, Data Governance Framework, and Roadmap for a future Sustainable Arctic Observing System. The INTAROS activities will be aligned with recommendations established by the Arctic Observing Summits (AOS2013/2014/2016) and coordinated with ISAC and SAON. The Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel will participate in the WP, giving advise and review the deliverables. The Stakeholder and Innovation Advisory Panel and other stakeholders will be involved to review the progress of the work and give feedback to the WPs and Tasks.

Enhancement of multidisciplinary in situ observing systems [Months: 6-54]
IO PAN, NERSC, UiB, IMR, MISU, AWI, DTU, AU, GEUS, FMI, USFD, MPG, UPM, UHAM, OU, NIVA, CNRS, GFZ

The WP3 main activities will focus on developing and implementing innovative solutions and new technologies to fill selected gaps identified in the existing observing systems. Novel instruments and sampling methods will be further integrated with mature components of existing observatories to increase temporal and geographic coverage of in situ observational data in the Arctic.

Three reference sites have been selected as providing critical data to understand ongoing climate and environmental changes and their consequences for the Arctic: (Task3.1) Costal Greenland - key location for freshwater output from the Greenland ice sheet to the ocean, (Task3.2) North of Svalbard from the shelf to the deep Nansen Basin - the hot-spot for mass, heat and biological energy input to the European Arctic, and (Task3.3) Fram Strait - the critical gateway for exchanges between the Arctic and the World oceans. The key components in two distributed observatories: (Task3.4) for ocean and sea ice and (Task3.5) for terrestrial and atmospheric measurements will be extended to include multidisciplinary observations, still missing from the central Arctic and remote coastal areas.In Russia, RIHMI-WDC runs a renewal programme (Roshydromet 2) to upgrade and modernize their observing systems, which will be linked to Task 3.4 and 3.5.

To optimize the fieldwork effort and integrity of new multidisciplinary data, we will build on and effectively extend infrastructure already existing in selected reference sites and distributed observatories. Based on WP 2 results we will plan how to optimally fill gaps in selected systems for ocean, sea ice, atmosphere and natural hazards in the early phase of the project. New sensors and integrated platforms and experimental setups will be implemented during a twoyear long deployment phase with an aim for sustained use in a future iAOS. New collected data will be preprocessed under WP3 to provide standardized data sets ready for integration in WP5, demonstration actions in WP6, and for the consultations with stakeholders (WP7).

The key themes addressed in this work package are: Atmosphere (A), Ocean (O), Cryosphere (C), Biogeochemistry (BGC), Natural hazard (NH), and Terrestrial observations (T). All activities undertaken under each Task will be implemented in a three-phase process: Phase 1: Development of new technologies and integration of multidisciplinary sensors for autonomous in situ monitoring systems in the Arctic (M1-18).

Phase 2: Implementation of integrated multidisciplinary sensors and platforms for year-round measurements in the selected reference sites and distributed observatories (M19-48)

Phase 3: Preparation and delivery of preprocessed new data to WP5 and WP6 (M19-54, overlap with Phase 2 due to the near real time data delivery from some sensors).

Enhance community-based observing programs for participatory research and capacity-building [Months: 1-48]
NORDECO, NERSC, UiB, GEUS, NUIM

This work package is led by Finn Danielsen, NORDECO (lead) and Lisbeth Iversen, NERSC (co-lead). WP4 will build on stakeholder dialogues in WP 1 Task 1.2), and gaps in existing data delivery chains identified in WP2, and feed results into WP 5, 6, 7 and the roadmap to future Arctic Observing System developed in WP1. The sitebased activities on community-based observing in INTAROS will focus at two Arctic communities, located in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, and Disko Bay, Greenland. The communities have been chosen on the basis of the following criteria: (i) Communities where a process to develop community-based and citizen science observing programs is under way; (ii) Communities where good prior relations and mutual knowledge on participatory research and capacity-building already exists between the partners and with national, municipal and community level authorities and institutions, and where the project therefore has substantial potential for achieving quick results and constructive experiences of direct relevance for iAOS and with other open access global repositories as well as for local and national decision-making; (iii) Communities in countries that have some degree of policies enabling good governance and solving of issues of rights over land and resources, which is important for successful community observing efforts.

The two selected communities, one in Scandinavia (Longyearbyen, Svalbard), and one in Greenland (Disko Bay), (i) are high-risk regions in terms of climate change impacts as well as loss of biological diversity, (ii) can potentially benefit significantly from community-based observing programs in terms of enhancing resilience and adaptation to climate change through improved governance, and (iii) are characterized by economies in which institutional set-ups and available funding would benefit from efficient and low-cost observing programs at local levels. The activities of the present project will contribute significantly to moving forward community-based observing programs in these communities.

Data integration and management [Months: 1-54]
TDUE, NERSC, IMR, AWI, DTU, GEUS, FMI, NUIM, ARMINES

This work package is led by Pedro Gonçalves, TERRADUE (lead) and Torill Hamre, NERSC (co-lead). As part of iAOS WP5 will integrate distributed databases holding ocean, atmosphere, cryosphere, terrestrial, and community based data, and provide a common entry point to data originating from a wide range of observation networks, scientific campaigns and satellite missions, as well as new data generated within the project. iAOS will use state of the art cloud computing technologies to facilitate seamless access to multidisciplinary data, scalable allocation of data storage and computer power for big data processing, integration and analysis including geo-statistical methods. The usefulness and functionality of the platform in service development will be demonstrated in selected applications.

Applications of iAOS towards Stakeholders [Months: 24-60]
IMR, NERSC, UiB, AWI, IO PAN, DTU, AU, GEUS, FMI, NORDECO, SMHI, IFREMER, MPG, EUROGOOS,
UPM, UB, UHAM, GINR, OU, NIVA, ARMINES, BSC, DNV GL

WP6 is led by Geir Ottersen (IMR, lead) and Mikael K. Sejr (AU, co-lead). The ambition of WP6 is to demonstrate application of iAOS by delivering a suite of products targeted at issues of societal importance for indigenous and local communities in the Arctic, for Europe and on global scale. These pilot applications will demonstrate services towards selected, but diverse groups of end-users. WP6 will integrate remote sensing data and in situ (including communitybased observations, delivered through WP4 and WP5, from a variety of platforms and geographical scales and locations. Incorporation of these data into analysis and modelling systems, including physical and ecological process models, climate models and forecast methods, will provide support for better products to key societal areas.

WP6 will show the iAOS capability for advancing the economic role of the Arctic by providing support for betterdocumented processes and better-informed decisions within key sectors such as shipping, petroleum, fishing, and tourism. Further, WP6 aims to demonstrate how the iAOS may be applied to further develop the accuracy of climate models, improve the understanding of biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem functioning, enhance fisheries and environmental management, increase the level of preparedness towards natural hazards, and develop better management and decision making concepts for selected local communities. Through WP6 INTAROS will demonstrate enhanced data search and retrieval, assimilation into models, validation of estimated and projected climate parameters, scientific analysis, decision-support and policy-making on local, regional and pan-Arctic scale.

Dissemination and outreach [Months: 1-60]
USFD, NERSC, DTU, AU, GEUS, FMI, NORDECO, SMHI, EUROCEAN, TDUE, GINR, OU, U Helsinki, IGF PAN

WP7 is led by Donatella Zona, USFD (lead) and Ned Dwyer, EurOcean (co-lead). The work will focus on: preparing a dissemination plan and support dissemination events, informing decision-makers in European agencies and businesses, informing Arctic and international bodies, interdisciplinary science dissemination, capacity building for early-career scientists, high-school and general public and local communities.

Management of the project: The Project Management Team (PM-team) at NERSC will be in charge of managing the project using established procedures and qualified personnel at NERSC (see partner description is Section 4). For more information on the composition of the PM-team, see Section 3.2.2. Project management includes: (1) the setting up the consortium agreement prior to the signature of the grant agreement. The consortium agreement will regulate the consortium, rules for participation, and ownership and access to key knowledge (IPR, foreground, etc.), (2) the provision of administrative, financial, and legal support to all partners involved during the implementation of the project, (3) the preparation of Project Periodic Reports, annual financial report, the Final Report and the Final Report on the EU Financial Contribution Distribution (including updated plan for dissemination and exploitation of results. Establishment of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel and the Stakeholder and Innovation Advisory Panel as well as their Terms of References will be done in the first three months of the project.

Communication with EC: the PM-team will be responsible for the communication of project results to the EC. This will include reporting according to the Grant Agreement (scientific, reporting of science results and finances, communication, and management).. If there are any major problems within the project that cannot be solved through the appropriate management structure, the PM-team will liaise with the EC in order to seek a solution.

Communication activities to promote the project and its findings: The PM-team will engage with public and the media through the press contact at NERSC. The promotion of the project will be done in coordination with WP7.

Coordination of internal communication within the project: The PM-team will ensure optimal internal communication through a dedicated internal website, virtual meetings (e.g. Skype/Webex) and physical meetings. The internal website will be set up for exchange of information and documents among the partners.

Technical support to the steering committee (SC) and advisory panels: The PM-team will also provide administrative support to the SC and the advisory panels (see Section 3.2). This will include organization of the GA, SC and panel meetings

A Gender and Diversity Action Plan will be prepared by month 3 with focus on how to improve gender balance and diversity in the project, and in the science and technology related to the project. Monitoring the Gender and Diversity Actions will be done by the PM-team and reported to the SC annually.