THE MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION COMPENDIUM

BILATERAL / CANADA
First Update; pages 601-607


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Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Canada on Cooperation in the Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS), Washington, D.C., 1994

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Done at Washington, D.C. 18 April 1994
Entered into force 18 April 1994
Primary source citation: Copy of text provided by the U.S. Department of State


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AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA ON COOPERATION IN THE BOREAL ECOSYSTEM-ATMOSPHERE STUDY (BOREAS) ACCORD ENTRE LE GOUVERNEMENT DES °TATS-UNIS D'AM°RIQUE ET LE GOUVERNEMENT DU CANADA CONCERNANT LA COOP°RATION DANS LE CADRE DE L'°TUDE DE L'ATMOSPHRE ET DES °COSYSTEMES BOR°AUX (BOREAS) WHEREAS:

The Government of the United States and the Government of Canada, herein referred to as "the Parties," have identified a mutual interest in conducting a joint study to better understand the interaction between the boreal forest biome and the atmosphere; and

The Parties wish to establish a framework for cooperation; The Parties, therefore, agree as follows:

ARTICLE 1 PURPOSE

The purpose of this Agreement is to provide the basis for cooperation between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), an agency of the Government of the United States of America and Energy, Mines and Resources (EMR), a department of the Government of Canada, herein referred to as "the Participants", regarding the joint U.S.-Canada Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS).

ARTICLE 2 OBJECTIVES

A. The Parties shall undertake BOREAS to study the interactions between the boreal forest biome and the atmosphere in order to clarify the roles of these interactions in global change. The study will focus on processes that can be appropriately addressed in a one-year intensive field measurement project supported by three to four years of less intensive in situ and remote sensing monitoring.

B. The specific objectives of BOREAS are:

1. to improve understanding of the biological and physical processes and states which govern the exchanges of carbon, water, trace gases, energy, and heat between boreal forest ecosystems and the atmosphere with particular reference to those processes and states that may be sensitive to global change;

2. to develop the use of remote sensing techniques to transfer understanding of the above processes from local scales to regional scales; and

3. to provide personal development, research, and educational opportunities for individual researchers sponsored by both Parties participating in BOREAS.

ARTICLE 3 PARTICIPATION

A. The Parties shall conduct BOREAS as part of the U.S. and Canadian Global Change Research Programs. The goals and objectives of BOREAS are compatible with and have been endorsed by the International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP). Preliminary scientific planning has determined that BOREAS will be a joint U.S.-Canada initiative in which NASA will lead the U.S. participation in this study and will coordinate the involvement of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) of the Surveys, Mapping, and Remote Sensing Sector will act on behalf of EMR to implement the Canadian contributions to this study. CCRS has been designated to lead the Canadian participation in the study in cooperation with the Canadian BOREAS Coordinating Committee (CBCC). The CBCC will coordinate the involvement of Forestry Canada, Environment Canada, Agriculture Canada, the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

B. BOREAS will consist of a three to four year period of low level in situ monitoring observations of two boreal forest biome sites in central Canada. These roughly 400-600 square kilometer sites are the Prince Albert National Park region in Saskatchewan and the Nelson House region near Thompson, Manitoba. In the summer of 1993, one pilot intensive observation campaign was conducted. In 1994, up to five intensive field campaigns will be conducted to cover mid-winter, spring thaw, and early, mid-, and late growing season conditions. These intensive field campaigns will involve approximately 75 Principal Investigator-led international teams, extensive in situ observations at each site, several U.S. and Canadian remote sensing aircraft, and satellite observations. It is planned to base the smaller aircraft (e.g., NASA helicopter and C-130) at Prince Albert and Thompson, the larger aircraft (e.g., NASA DC-8) at Saskatoon and/or Churchill, and the NASA ER-2 at Spokane, Washington.

C. A data and information system, the BOREAS Information System (BORIS), will be established to provide the BOREAS Science Team members with a data system from which data for the whole project may be queried, accessed, and extracted. Participating scientists will be expected to submit their data to BORIS in a timely fashion. All those participating in BOREAS shall have access to BORIS and all BOREAS data distributions will be through BORIS, or through the long-term archive to follow BORIS.

ARTICLE 4 RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PARTICIPANTS

A. NASA, for its part, will use its best efforts to ensure fulfillment of the following responsibilities:

1. Participate with CCRS in the planning of the coordinated U.S. and Canadian aircraft and ground-based measurements to be obtained in order to fulfill the scientific objectives of the joint mission;

2. Coordinate the involvement of other U.S. agencies in BOREAS;

3. Arrange, jointly with the participating Canadian agencies, for the provision of required lodging for the U.S. component of the joint team;

4. Provide NASA aircraft equipped with instrumentation for the BOREAS study. Additionally, arrange for proper operational and associated ground support for the NASA aircraft, and coordinate flight of the other U.S. aircraft (e.g., aircraft provided by NOAA, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and the University of Wyoming) participating in the campaign;

5. Organize and conduct the BOREAS aircraft expeditions in consultation with EMR;

6. Provide certain Core Measurements for BOREAS (through in-house labor or contracted support), including agreed-upon surface measurements, tower-based measurements, automatic meteorological stations, aircraft remote sensing measurements and in situ measurements, satellite data, and Geographic Information System (GIS) components. These will be provided in accordance with applicable U.S. laws and NASA data policies;

7. Process, correct, quality assure, and document agreed-upon Core Measurement data and deliver them to the BORIS in a timely fashion;

8. Coordinate and execute agreed-upon joint instrument calibration and comparison experiments and analyses;

9. Participate jointly with CCRS and the other participating agencies in the analysis and publication of the data and results obtained from this cooperative project;

10. Support, staff, and manage the U.S. BOREAS Project office, including the BORIS;

11. Provide funding for U.S. proposals and sponsor the participation of the foreign scientists selected under the joint U.S.-Canada solicitations for scientific participation in BOREAS; and

12. Provide certain support services to be performed in Canada in fulfillment of the objectives of BOREAS. These services include, but are not limited to, the following: BOREAS infrastructure, trails, vehicles, aerial photography, flux towers, site research facilities (including laboratory and storage space), site managers, liaison-field support, field site security, and labour at the study sites. NASA will procure these support services through CCRS by separate contract or other appropriate agreement. In connection with such a procurement, NASA will not pay as an allowable cost, salaries of Canadian government employees.

B. EMR, for its part, will use its best efforts to ensure fulfillment of the following responsibilities:

1. Participate with NASA in the planning of the coordinated U.S. and Canadian aircraft and ground-based measurements to be obtained in order to fulfill the scientific objectives of the joint mission;

2. Coordinate the involvement in BOREAS of Environment Canada, Forestry Canada, Agriculture Canada, the NRC, and other Canadian participants, and provide a link for discussions with the NSERC;

3. Obtain from Canadian authorities necessary authorization in order to conduct the subject scientific project. In addition, EMR will assist and guide NASA in complying with Canadian government legislation and regulations with respect to aircraft activities and surface level operations;

4. Arrange, jointly with NASA, for the provision of required lodging for the Canadian component of the joint team;

5. Provide CCRS aircraft equipped with instrumentation for the BOREAS study. Additionally, arrange for proper operational and associated ground support for the CCRS aircraft and coordinate other Canadian aircraft (e.g., aircraft provided by the Institute of Aerospace Research (IAR) Twin Otter and the Ontario Center for Remote Sensing's Navajo Chieftain) participating in the campaign;

6. Participate with NASA and the other participating agencies in the organization and conduct of the BOREAS aircraft expeditions;

7. Coordinate the provision of meteorological data provided by Environment Canada, including satellite cloud images, and assistance in forecasting, for planning of aircraft missions for the duration of the BOREAS mission;

8. Provide or arrange for the provision of certain core measurements for BOREAS (through in-house labour or contracted support), including agreed-upon surface measurements, tower-based measurements, automatic meteorological stations, aircraft remote sensing measurements and in situ measurements, satellite data, and GIS components. In particular, provide agreed-upon Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), Multispectral Scanner System (MSS) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Local Area Coverage (AVHRR LAC) data. These will be provided in accordance with Canadian data distribution agreements with satellite operators and data distributing companies;

9. Process, correct, quality assure, and document agreed-upon core measurement data and deliver them to the BORIS in a timely fashion;

10. Coordinate and execute agreed-upon joint instrument calibration and comparison experiments and analyses;

11. Participate jointly with NASA and other participating agencies in the analysis and publication of the data and results obtained from this cooperative project;

12. Support, staff, and manage the Canadian BOREAS Secretariat;

13. Provide funding for CCRS proposals selected under the joint U.S.-Canada solicitations for scientific participation in BOREAS and communicate information on the funding commitments of the other Canadian agencies involved in BOREAS; and

14. On behalf of NASA, arrange for the provision of the support services to be performed in Canada in fulfillment of the objectives of this Agreement, as described in paragraph A.12 of NASA's responsibilities above, pursuant to the requirements of a contract or other appropriate arrangement entered into with NASA.

ARTICLE 5 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

The Participants' technical points-of-contact to be responsible for coordinating the agreed-upon functions and responsibilities of each Participant are as follows:

The NASA technical point-of-contact:

Manager Terrestrial Ecology Program Science Division Office of Mission to Planet Earth NASA Headquarters Washington, DC 20546 USA TEL: (202) 358-0272 FAX: (202) 358-2771

The EMR technical point-of-contact:

Director General Canada Centre for Remote Sensing Energy Mines and Resources Canada 588 Booth Street 3rd floor, Room 327 Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0Y7 CANADA TEL: (613) 947-1222 FAX: (613) 947-1382

ARTICLE 6 FUNDING ARRANGEMENTS

Each Party agrees to bear the costs of discharging its respective responsibilities as outlined above under this Agreement. The activities of the Parties and the Participants under this Agreement are subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

ARTICLE 7 PUBLIC INFORMATION

The Parties agree that the release of public information regarding this project may be made by the appropriate Party for its own portion of the Program as desired and, insofar as participation of the other Party is involved, after suitable consultation.

ARTICLE 8 SCIENTIFIC DATA

The Parties agree that there shall be no period of exclusive use of BOREAS data by the BOREAS Science Team. The BOREAS investigators shall have a reasonable period of time from the completion of the BOREAS field expedition to perform documentation, verification, and correction of their data prior to public release of the data sets. Each BOREAS investigator shall be expected to provide copies of the data collected to BORIS for deposit in the BORIS archive on a schedule that shall permit the archive to be released to the international scientific community as soon as possible, and in accordance with the data handling procedures adopted by the BOREAS Science Team.

The Parties agree that the results of the investigations shall be made available to the scientific community in general through publication in appropriate journals or other established channels. In the event such reports or publications are copyrighted, the Parties shall have a royalty-free right under the copyright to reproduce, use, and distribute such copyrighted work for their own purposes.

ARTICLE 9 INVENTION AND PATENT RIGHTS

The Parties agree that nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as granting or implying any rights to, or interest in, patents or inventions of the Parties or their contractors or subcontractors.

ARTICLE 10 LIABILITY

The Parties agree that, with respect to activities undertaken pursuant to this Agreement, neither Party shall make any claim against the other with respect to injury or death of its own or its contractors' or subcontractors' employees or investigators' employees or with respect to damage of any kind to or loss of its own or its contractors' or subcontractors' or investigators' property caused by either Party, or the Party's contractors, subcontractors, or investigators, whether such injury, death, damage or loss arises through negligence or otherwise, except in the case of willful misconduct. The Parties agree, in the event of damage to third parties for which there is liability under national or international law, to consult promptly as to the possibility of an equitable sharing of any payments that have been or may be agreed in settlement.

This cross-waiver of liability shall not be applicable to claims between a Party and its contractors and subcontractors or to claims made by a natural person.

ARTICLE 11 IMMIGRATION DOCUMENTATION, AIRPORT AND CUSTOMS FEES

Both Parties will make best efforts, as appropriate, to arrange for the appropriate governmental authorities to waive any immigration documentation fees for persons working on BOREAS; to waive any landing, navigation, airways or airport entry and departure fees for aircraft required for BOREAS; and to provide free customs clearance of equipment and data required for BOREAS.

ARTICLE 12 EXCHANGE OF TECHNICAL DATA AND GOODS

Each Party shall furnish to the other Party only those technical data and goods necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of the furnishing party under this Agreement. It is the intent of the Parties to effect such a transfer without restrictions as to use or disclosure, subject to the following:

1. In the event a Party finds it necessary to furnish technical data in carrying out its responsibilities under this Agreement that are proprietary, and for which protection is to be maintained, such technical data shall be marked with a notice indicating that it shall be used and disclosed by the receiving Party and its contractors and subcontractors only for the purposes of fulfilling the receiving Party's responsibilities under this Agreement, and that the technical data shall not be disclosed or retransferred to any other entity without prior written permission of the furnishing Party. The receiving Party agrees to abide by the terms of the notice, and to protect any such marked technical data from unauthorized use and disclosure.

2. In the event a Party finds it necessary to transfer technical data and goods in carrying out its responsibilities under this Agreement that are export-controlled, the furnishing Party shall mark such technical data with a notice and identify such goods. The notice or identification shall indicate that such technical data and goods shall be used and such technical data shall be disclosed by the receiving Party and its contractors and subcontractors only for the purposes of fulfilling the receiving Party's responsibilities under this Agreement. The notice or identification shall also provide that such technical data shall not be disclosed, and such technical data and goods shall not be retransferred, to any other entity without prior written permission of the furnishing Party. The Parties shall abide by the terms of the notice or identification and shall protect any such marked technical data and identified goods. Nothing in this article requires the Parties to transfer technical data and goods contrary to national laws or regulations related to export controls or control of classified data.

3. The Parties are under no obligation to protect any unmarked technical data or unidentified goods.

ARTICLE 13 SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES

The Parties agree that any dispute as to interpretation or implementation of this Agreement shall be resolved through consultation between the Parties. The dispute shall be first referred to the NASA Associate Administrator for Mission to Planet Earth and the Assistant Deputy Minister (Surveys, Mapping and Remote Sensing) of EMR for resolution. Any dispute which cannot be resolved at this level shall be referred to the NASA Administrator and the Deputy Minister of EMR for settlement.

ARTICLE 14 AMENDMENTS

This Agreement may be amended by written consent of the Parties.

ARTICLE 15 ENTRY INTO FORCE AND TERMINATION

This Agreement shall enter into force upon signature. It shall remain in force for three years after the completion of the final BOREAS campaign. Either Party may terminate this Agreement upon ninety day's written notice following consultation with the other Party.

DONE in duplicate at Washington on this 18th day of April, 1994, in the English and French languages, each version being equally authentic.

FAIT en deux exemplaire á...á Washington le 18 jour de avril 1994, en langues fran*aise et anglaise, chaque version faisant 'galement foi.

[Signature] FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA POUR LE GOUVERNEMENT DES °TATS-UNIS D'AM°RIQUE

[Signature] FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA POUR LE GOUVERNEMENT DU CANADA