ARM representatives travel to Utqiaġvik, Alaska, for the occasion

The original version of this post is available on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) website.

From the study of seals, reindeer, and snowy owls to arctic sea ice levels, the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory’s 75 years of research in the northernmost community in the United States was worthy of a big celebration in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, from August 1 through 4, 2022.

Those participating in the celebration included Jim Mather, the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility’s technical director; Andy Glen, who manages ARM’s North Slope of Alaska (NSA) atmospheric observatory at Utqiaġvik; and NSA science liaison Mark Ivey.

The 75th anniversary of the lab, known as NARL, was an opportunity to celebrate the arctic research foundation built by the local Iñupiaq elders and guest researchers. The community of Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow) has been ground zero for arctic research, dating as far back as the first International Polar Year of 1881. That marks the year that the Signal Corps and the Smithsonian sponsored a permanent station for meteorological, magnetic, tidal, and pendulum observation.

In the early 1940s, NARL was established under the U.S. Navy to support petroleum exploration and Arctic research in what is now known as the Naval Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. In 1984, the facility was transferred to the local Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corporation (UIC). UIC Science, a subsidiary of UIC, continues to support the operations today.

Major DOE arctic science projects highlighted at the NARL 75th celebration included ARM and Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments-Arctic (NGEE-Arctic), both sponsored by DOE’s Office of Science.

For more information, read the full DOE Arctic Energy Office post.