Areas of interesting current support. Basic re- 

 search is being supported in the Arctic and 

 Antarctic, as discussed below: 



• In the Arctic. The Greenland Ice Sheet Pro- 

 gram is a cooperative effort of Denmark, 

 Switzerland, and the United States to extract 

 climatic records as far back as they have been 

 preserved in the annual layers of ancient ice. 

 Cores have been obtained from eight loca- 

 tions. Glaciologists, geochemists, and geo- 

 physicists are working to understand the gen- 

 eral characteristics of the ice sheet and to 

 deduce the successive climatic regimes since 

 its formation. Plans are being made to drill a 

 deep hole (3,000-(-m) to bedrock at a site in 

 central Greenland where the bottom ice is 

 predicted to be at least 400,000 years old. 



The three-year Research on Arctic Tundra Envi- 

 ronments (RATE) program in summer 1975 to de- 

 velop understanding of dynamics interactions be- 

 tween grazing and tundra vegetation and of the 

 biological controls for productivity in arctic lakes. 

 The grazing and tundra vegetation study is based 

 at Meade River near Atkasook, Alaska. The objec- 

 tive is to understand the feeding relationship and 

 transfer of energy between life forms. The study 

 has three parts. In the first, studies are made of the 

 landforms, soils, vegetational communities, herbi- 

 vore populations, and developmental patterns of 

 vegetation after disturbance. The second part has 

 studies of the physiological responses of the plants 

 to physical conditions, particularly their water re- 

 lations, photosynthetic capabilities, and nutrient 

 allocations. The third part has experiments to test 

 hypotheses on the impact of herbivory on indivi- 

 dual plants and on vegetation and soils. 



The RATE aquatic program is at Toolik Lake, 

 250 km south of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, along the 

 trans-Alaska pipeline route on the north side of the 

 Brooks Range. There are four objectives of the 

 aquatic program: (1) To develop an understanding 

 of the role of predators and grazers in determining 

 the biological structure of the communities one or 

 more trophic levels below them; (2) to develop a 

 comprehensive model of the processes limiting bi- 

 ological productivity in oligotrophic lakes on the 

 Alaskan North Slope, particularly deep ones, such 

 as Toolik Lake; (3) to collect baseline data from a 

 North Slope lake in the vicinity of major construc- 

 tion activities and potentially subject to future rec- 

 reational uses; and (4) to develop mathematical 

 models that will help predict biological conse- 

 quences of disturbances in North Slope lake and 

 pond areas, including road construction, nutrient 

 enrichment, oil spills, and reduction of fish popula- 

 tions. 



• In the Antarctic. The Ross Ice Shelf Project 

 (RISP) is a multidisciplinary effort to investi- 



204 NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 



gate the physical, chemical, biological, and 

 geological conditions in the ice shelf, in the 

 water mass beneath the ice, and in the soft 

 sediments and bedrock at the bottom of the 

 sea. It involves more than 70 people from 9 

 countries. The data obtained will be used to 

 interpret the past history and the present con- 

 ditions of this portion of Antarctica. 

 The drilling program will obtain ice cores and 

 open and maintain access holes that will allow 

 sampling of the water column, investigation of the 

 ice-water and water-sediment interfaces, collection 

 of aquatic biota, and sampling of the subsea sedi- 

 ments. 



In addition to drilling activities, the geophysical 

 and glaciological survey of the ice shelf was con- 

 tinued in 1976-77. The results have provided ice 

 thickness, subice water depths, snow accumulation 

 rates, and ice deformation data — all needed to 

 enhance understanding of the dynamics of this 

 major ice feature. Tidal measurements on the shelf 

 and oceanographic studies along the shelf edge, 

 using icebreakers, help define the interaction be- 

 tween the sea and the ice shelf. 



A krill life cycle and ecology project continues, 

 addressing biology and population dynamics, meta- 

 bolic pathways, and other areas. Researchers have 

 been able to sustain krill alive through several 

 molting cycles. Concern about the exploitation of 

 krill stocks arises from the absence of realistic 

 data on density, dimensions, frequency, and distri- 

 bution of krill swarms. Questions include: If man 

 harvests krill on a large scale, what effect will this 

 have on the recovery of whale stocks, or on the 

 average annual harvesting of whales? Will man be 

 competing with marine mammals'? Will heavy ex- 

 ploitation of krill stocks disturb the normal balance 

 in marine ecosystems? What might happen if over- 

 exploitation coincided with an unanticipated 

 change in environmental conditions, and the krill 

 population collapsed? 



In 1976, representatives of 10 aiitarctic treaty 

 nations, plus West Germany and Poland, met in 

 the United States for a conference on the conser- 

 vation of living resources of the southern ocean. 

 The group reviewed the present knowledge of 

 whales, seals, birds, squid, fish, and other orga- 

 nisms feeding on krill. The main recommendations 

 of the conferees were: 



1. Establish an international structure for 

 management and conservation of antarctic 

 living resources. 



2. Establish an international project for 

 obtaining basic data on all elements of the 

 antarctic ecosystem. 



Plans are being made to participate in the 

 implementation of these recommendations. 



