It is the aim of the proposed project to support the interdisciplinary research in theEurasian Arctic by implementing a common information system between institutionsparticipating in QUEEN (Quaternary Environment of the Eurasian North).Under the auspices of the ESF (European Science Foundation), the programmeQUEEN aims to combine information obtained by Russian and Western projects toprovide a common picture of present and past environmental changes across theArctic. Regions of particular importance for understanding the Arctic's role in globalclimate change are the Eurasian shelves and the land south of these, includingSiberian permafrost. Henceforth changes of the Arctic environment will have amajor impact on the European climate because a predicted temperature increasewill reduce the Arctic sea ice cover, and the Arctic soils are possible sources offurther greenhouse gases.Special effort in QUEEN is devoted to the correlation of records from differentsources across the Arctic. The compilation of data, necessary for the large scaleassessments, can be provided by the supporting action QUEEN/PANGAEA. It willhelp to extend the use of the data beyond the scope of individual research with acatalytic effect for the data exploitation. This project will support the QUEENprogramme by building up a network to establish a technical and communicationinfrastructure between the participating institutes. As a central part of the network,the information system PANGAEA (PaleoNetwork for Geological and EnvironmentalData) will manage, publish, archive and distribute any site related data from(paleo)environmental research. The data will comprise results from the analysis ofmarine, terrestrial and lacustrine sediments and ice cores. As contractors twoRussian, a Norwegian and a Swedish institute will be included. Six other institutesare joined as minor subcontractors.