The Russian Research Vessel, /Professor Khromov/
Photo courtesy of A. Ostrovskiy

The 2009 Russian-American Long-term Census of the Arctic (RUSALCA) mission sailed 400 kilometers farther north than it had in 2004 into a region of extreme sea ice cover change. RUSALCA performs a comprehensive biodiversity and change mission every four to five years in addition to continuously monitoring the changing flux of heat, salt and nutrients through the Bering Strait. Because the ice edge was so much farther north, multi-disciplinary sampling of the Arctic Ocean was completed in an area never before sampled in such a comprehensive way. NOAA's Climate Program Office, Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, and National Marine Fisheries Service jointly contributed to this interagency and international project, which was conducted aboard a Russian research vessel and covered both U.S. and Russian portions of the Arctic Ocean.

On NOAA's Ocean Explorer website, Kathleen Crane, U.S. Mission Coordinator for the RUSALCA program, blogs about how the RUSALCA mission is an excellent example of working across borders to achieve greater scientific outcomes. Read more about the 2009 RUSALCA expedition here.

To learn about NOAA's activities in the Arctic region, visit's the Arctic theme page.