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

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

, in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

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

meteorological Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

and

oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics ...

data in order to support operations and research for

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

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 Int ...

and the

World Weather Watch Programme In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the Intern ...

. 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

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