USAP Updated Science Planning Process

To better support our scientific community and deliver on our logistical commitments, the U.S. National Science Foundation has created an improved science planning process that will ensure required USAP logistical resources for awarded science efforts are reserved through the completion of the grant.

An Antarctic fieldwork proposal will mature through four major phases taking a minimum of 16 months from the June proposal due date before first deploying. The amount of time needed to plan successful Antarctic fieldwork relates directly to the proposal's size, complexity, and resource requirements. Proposals that are logistically unsupportable will be returned.

NSF has divided Antarctic field science support into six levels and each level requires a different amount of time to plan the logistics support. The higher the support level, the more time is needed between the June proposal due date and possible first deployment.  Sharing these levels and approximate timelines will allow the science community to develop proposals more aligned to USAP planning realities.  Support Levels are described more in Phase 2.

The final level determination is made by NSF and will be communicated back to the Principal Investigator at the conclusion of Phase 2 which occurs every January.

More information on the amount of time required to plan for Antarctic fieldwork can be found in Phase 2 and Phase 3.

Continue to Phase 1