In 1996, the Congress of the United States appropriated one million USD to support an Arctic Research Initiative within NOAA. In cooperation with the Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research, NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research used those funds to support research projects in two principal areas: natural variability of the Western Arctic/Bering Sea ecosystem, and anthropogenic influences on the Western Arctic/Bering Sea ecosystem. Support for the Arctic Research Initiative is ongoing.[citation needed]
Arctic Sea Ice Thickness Network - consists of two types of sensors.
Standard sea-floor mooring technology is used to deploy upward looking sonar (ULS) to provide a view of ice thickness as ice drifts through the field of view of the ULS.
Ice-mounted buoys are used to provide direct measurements of ice thickness as it evolves over the seasons at a given point in the ice. The buoys also directly measure thickness of snow cover on the ice, temperature profiles from above the ice, through the ice and in the water column. The buoys also measure air temperature and sea level pressure.
Arctic Ocean Observations Network - A component of a larger international effort. NOAA supports oceanographic moorings in the northern Bering Sea and the Bering Strait.