The International Arctic Buoy Program is headquartered at the Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Laboratory,

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, United States. The program's objectives include to provide

meteorological Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agriculture ...

and

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

data in order to support operations and research for

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Climate Research Programme The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) is an international programme that helps to coordinate global climate research. The WCRP was established in 1980, under the joint sponsorship of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Inte ...

and the

World Weather Watch Programme The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology an ...

. IABP participating countries include Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Russia, and the United States. Together, they share the costs of the program. The IABP has deployed more than 700 buoys since it began operations in 1991, succeeding the Arctic Ocean Buoy Program (operational since 1979-01-19). Commonly, 25 to 40 buoys operate at any given time and provide real-time position, pressure, temperature, and interpolated ice velocity. In support of the

International Polar Year The International Polar Years (IPY) are collaborative, international efforts with intensive research focus on the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor in 1875, but died before it first occurred ...

, the IABP will deploy over 120 buoys, at over 80 different locations, during the period of April–August 2008. The organization's annual meeting provides discussion on instrumentation, forecasting, observations, and outlook.

References

External links

Official website

Slilde show, PBS, February 6, 2008
Buoyage Organizations established in 1991 International environmental organizations Meteorological research institutes Hydrology organizations Arctic research 1991 establishments in Washington (state) University of Washington organizations {{arctic-stub