SEARCH for DAMOCLES and Beyond: An International Approach to Studying the Changing Arctic

The Arctic system is presently changing at a rate never observed before. The changes are of pan-Arctic scale and affect the Arctic's physical, biogeochemical and human domains with complex interactions between them. Observing, understanding and responding to these environmental changes pose a significant challenge to the Arctic science community because they require projects and programs well beyond the scale of typical research efforts. For example, present efforts in building a pan-Arctic, cross-domain, long-term observing system heavily rely on stable international collaborations. As a response to this challenge new international partnerships are being formed and large programs are being coordinated and implemented. Here we discuss one example of a large international effort, SEARCH for DAMOCLES and describe its impacts on our capability to study Arctic environmental change.