International Arctic Research Center

The International Arctic Research Center was established in 1999 as a cooperative research institute supported by both the U.S. and Japanese governments. Funding comes from the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. and from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

IARC serves as a focal point of excellence for international collaboration and provides the arctic research community with an unprecedented opportunity to share knowledge about science in the Arctic, with an emphasis on global climate change research. The primary mission of the IARC is to nurture, integrate and synthesize research being conducted internationally by individuals and groups in order to distinguish between natural and man-made changes in the present global warming trend. This effort will make the prediction of global temperatures in the future more accurate. More than 20 international groups and more than 60 scientists are collaborating with IARC, allowing the institute to meet the UAF mission and goals in a concrete way.

IARC is devoting specific effort to answering the following three questions: (1) Is climate change due to natural or man-made causes? (2) What parameters, processes and interactions are needed to understand and predict future climate change? and (3) What are the likely impacts of climate change?

IARC conducts an internationally popular summer school for young researchers and holds workshops on the integration and synthesis of research. IARC also supports several K – 12 outreach projects.

IARC is located in the Syun-Ichi Akasofu Building adjacent to the Elvey Building on the Fairbanks campus. For more information call 907-474-7176 or visit www.iarc.uaf.edu.