The Arctic Report Card has found a new group of supporters. The climate report's authors say the American Geophysical Union, a science nonprofit, will keep it going with help from a coalition of partners.
The news comes after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration pulled its funding for the report in August. Rick Thoman, a longtime editor, said the people who put the report together are excited to be able to say it definitely will come out this year.
"That's probably the most important thing for this year," Thoman said. "But then we are seeing the path now to continue the Arctic Report Card for the indefinite future."
The Arctic Report Card has been tracking changes in sea ice, tundra greenness, and temperature in the northern part of the globe for two decades. Over a hundred scientists, many of them in Alaska, contribute to the report, which is published annually in December.
NOAA used to coordinate work on the report and provide website development and editing. Last month, the agency said it wouldn't do that anymore, even though work on this year's issue was already in progress.
On Wednesday, the authors announced several sources of support for this year's issue. The American Geophysical Union and the nonprofit climate.us will provide staff for coordination, website management and creating visual components, said Thoman, who is a climate specialist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
UAF and the Cooperative Institute for Research and Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder also have staff who are helping, he said.
Thoman said the Geophysical Union is looking for funding to continue the report beyond this year.
"We collectively will need some funding to keep this going," he said. "We have every expectation that's going to happen, but to the best of my knowledge, no one's signed on the dotted line yet."
This year's report will be released in December at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
