LTER Network Office Overview

The mission of the the LTER Network Office is to provide a central point of contact and collective expertise to support the objectives of the LTER Network by:

• Providing an efficient computational and communication infrastructure
• Developing and deploying state-of-the-art techniques in information management
• Maintaining a strong public outreach program
• Coordinating interactions with other scientific networks, agencies, and entities
• Providing administrative support
• Contributing to an efficient and effective environment in which site, cross-site, and synthetic research and education can be conducted.

The LTER Network Office was created by the National Science Foundation in 1983 to support and coordinate network and site activities of the U.S. Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. With more than two dozen sites participating in the Network within the United States, rapidly advancing technology, and a growing collaboration with over 25 countries participating in the International Long Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network, the complexity of facilitating collaborations among sites and maintaining supporting infrastructure has created great challenges and an even greater need for a strong and dedicated Network Office.

The LTER Network Office is housed at the University of New Mexico (UNM). The Office is contracted, through UNM, with NSF to provide support and coordination functions for the entire LTER Network. The formal contracting agreement is called the Cooperative Agreement and contains detailed requirements for accomplishing the mission of the Office (in support of the overall LTER vision, mission, goals and objectives). See attached file for the LNO Organizational Overview