00_cover_Biennial Report 05-06.qxd - INSTAAR - University of ...

INSTAAR: An Earth andEnvironmental Systems InstituteUniversity of Colorado at BoulderThe Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)develops scientific knowledge of physical and biogeochemicalenvironmental processes at local, regional, andglobal scales and applies this knowledge to improve society’sawareness and understanding of natural and anthropogenicenvironmental change. The world’s high-altitudeand high-latitude regions are the Institute’s traditional focusdue to their sensitivity to environmental change. INSTAARhas increasingly broadened its geographic focus in a widerange of interdisciplinary studies of Quaternary and modernenvironments, research into geochronology, human andecosystem ecology, hydrology, oceanography, landscapeevolution, biogeochemistry, and climate. INSTAAR’snational and international research leadership in these areasis augmented by exceptional strength in graduate educationas well as the exposure of undergraduates to the researchprocess, and by outreach to the public both locally andnationally.INSTAAR’s Research Activities integrate field studies, stateof-the-artlaboratory experiments, field and laboratory sampleanalysis, and numerical and laboratory modeling.INSTAAR efforts emphasize three main spheres of research.The Ecosystems Group focuses on biogeochemicalprocesses of terrestrial and aquatic systems, biodiversity,ecosystem disturbance and recovery, modeling of biotic patterns,ecological assessments, and surface-atmosphere gasexchange and atmospheric transport. Long-Term EcologicalResearch (LTER) studies in alpine and polar regions, involvingpopulations and communities, biogeochemistry, andecophysiology, are emphasized. Feedbacks of snow coverchanges on biogeochemistry and gas exchange processesare studied in both mid-latitude and in polar environments.Research tools include field experimental manipulations,isotopic tracers, long-term monitoring of ecosystem patternsand processes, modern analytical instrumentation, geographicinformation systems (GIS), remote sensing, fluxmeasurement techniques, and ecosystem modeling. BothINSTAAR and its Mountain Research Station offer worldclassfield and laboratory facilities to support these yearroundresearch efforts.The Geophysics Group applies quantitative field andnumerical methods to discover the properties and dynamicsof snow, ice, water, and sediments in the world’s oceans,glaciers, and land areas. Methods of analysis include theoreticaland numerical development; remote sensing; land,airborne, and ship-borne field experiments, all applied toresearch topics in hydrology, glaciology, frozen-ground studies,paleoclimatology, physical oceanography, and marinegeology. To facilitate such research, the EnvironmentalComputation and Imaging (ECI) Facility providesresearchers with supercomputer power and global connectionsto geophysical databases.The Past Global Change Group focuses on reconstructingthe dynamics of paleoenvironments and past climatevariability to enhance our understanding of the interactionsbetween all components of the earth system, includingatmosphere, ocean, land, ice, the biosphere, and humanecology. Integration of a variety of records from a globalnetwork of sites, including polar ice caps, continental alpineregions, and the world’s oceans, provides the capability totest conceptual and predictive global change models, tofacilitate the differentiation between natural and humaninducedchange, and to study the human impacts ofchanges. These efforts are enhanced by the Center forGeochemical Analysis of the Global Environment (GAGE),which promotes fundamental research in the developmentand application of analytical methods that reveal past andpresent changes in Earth’s climate, its land surface, andmajor biogeochemical cycles.INSTAAR’s Teaching Mission is directed toward fosteringan appreciation and understanding of the biological,chemical, and physical processes operating in continentaland ocean environments. The Mountain Research Stationand other study sites in the mountains of Colorado aid theeducational efforts of the Institute. INSTAAR supports theUniversity of Colorado’s educational mission and providesinterdisciplinary graduate and undergraduate classes andresearch opportunities; the Institute has led educationefforts that integrate students across multiple departmentsand colleges. Our teaching mission includes internationaleducational experiences for University of Colorado students,training of foreign students, and volunteer outreach to communityschools and various other external constituencies.INSTAAR’s Societal Mission consists of activities inresearch, education, and science leadership. These activitiesaddress critical concerns involving issues such as ecosystemresilience, biodiversity, water resources, agriculture, nationalsecurity, and resources in sites ranging from the alpine areasof the Rocky Mountains to the remote regions of the world.Our expertise is applied to predictive understanding of environmentalprocesses, including the maintenance of waterquality and anticipating and responding to long-term environmentalalterations. Changes and disturbance in highlatituderegions not only affect the lives of indigenous residentsbut also, through global teleconnections, have a bearingon the lives of people everywhere.Information regarding theInstitute of Arctic and AlpineResearch, the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER)Program, the Mountain ResearchStation, and the journal Arctic,Antarctic, and Alpine Researchis available on the World WideWeb at, respectively:instaar.colorado.educulter.colorado.edu:1030/www.colorado.edu/mrs/instaar.colorado.edu/AAAR/INTRODUCTION | 3