Over the last several months the NSF Division of Polar Programs has appointed new program directors within Antarctic Earth Sciences, Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems, Arctic System Science, and Antarctic Research Facilities and Special Projects.
On 28 September 2011, NSF awarded CH2M HILL the Arctic Research Support and Logistics Contract to provide research support and logistics services for NSF-sponsored research in the Arctic.
As a result of broad discussions between the NSF and the USGS about how to manage NICL in the future and how NICL relates to various mission goals of each agency, the agencies have concluded that it will be better to dissolve the past relationship.
The Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) and the Ice Drilling Design and Operations group (IDDO) were established by the National Science Foundation effective October 2008 to coordinate long-term and short-term planning in collaboration with the greater U.S. ice science community, and to be the principle supplier of ice drilling and ice coring support and expertise for NSF-funded research.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Director Mark Myers has informed NSF's Office of Polar Programs that USGS intends to continue to operate the National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL) for the foreseeable future.
