United States Antarctic Program
Through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), the National Science Foundation (NSF), manages all U.S. scientific research and related logistics in Antarctica as well as aboard ships in the Southern Ocean. The Antarctic Program's goals are:
to understand the Antarctic and its associated ecosystems;
to understand the region's effects on, and responses to, global processes such as climate;
and to use Antarctica's unique features for scientific research that cannot be done as well elsewhere.