Book excerpt: "Executive Summary: The Arctic has become a focus of scientific research through its role as both an amplifier and driver of global climate change. Policy imperatives involving Arctic climate change range from marine shipping to resource extraction, the vulnerability of civil and private infrastructure, and the preservation of endangered biotic and cultural assets. Just as the environment and decision-making contexts are rapidly changing, so has the scope and nature of observing strategies to monitor and understand Arctic system change. The concept of an integrated Arctic observatory dates to the late 1990s with early planning of the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) initiative. The multidisciplinary Arctic Observing Network (AON) has been implemented with guidance from SEARCH workshop reports, the 2006 "Toward an Integrated Arctic Observing Network" report by the National Research Council, and meetings organized through the SEARCH Observing Change Panel. The International Polar Year (IPY) of 2007-2008 provided substantial resources to put in place key pieces of an AON. We are now ready to review options and approaches to guide observing system design and optimizing a sustainable system. This Arctic Observation Network Design and Implementation (ADI) Task Force report provides guidance to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other agencies interested in the AON. This report focuses on the continued development of the AON, with the following major goals: ? assess the present state and near-term implementation plans of the AON and related efforts, ? synthesize lessons learned from other observing systems, ? identify and assess promising approaches and tools for system design and optimization, ? offer and discuss specific design options and approaches, and ? provide a summary of ADI Task Force findings and recommendations. The ADI Task Force efforts to engage a broad set of contributors included a community survey and two workshops (in 2009 and 2012) to discuss observing systems and approaches. Outcomes of the workshops and community survey are provided in this report; these serve as the foundation for the Task Force recommendations"--Page 1.