Due to the government shutdown, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced Tuesday that funds for its management and coordination of the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) will be depleted on or about October 14, 2013.

Based on this development, the NSF has ordered its Antarctic support contractor to start planning and putting into action caretaker status for research stations, ships and other USAP assets.

According to a statement from the USAP, the program will be staffed at a minimal level under caretaker status to guarantee human safety and protect government property, including the three main research stations, ships and associated research facilities. All activities not associated with human safety and preservation of this property will be suspended.

The statement points out that some activities cannot be restarted once seasonally dependent time frames for research and operations have expired, the seasonal workforce is sent home, science activities are stopped and operations are diminished.

NBC News reports that the shutdown will dramatically impact the science community that relies on the USAP for research projects. People impacted by USAP’s announcement include graduate students, contractors and other countries, like France and Italy, that depend on the U.S.’s sea-ice runway to work on their own research projects.

“The potential loss of data which would be collected by American scientists, and shared with other research teams, would have an impact on the science we conduct,” said Jane Francis, director of the BAS, in a statement obtained by the BBC. “At present, BAS is working on the assumption the US financial situation will be resolved soon, and any joint work can go ahead as planned. We are monitoring the situation on a daily basis.”

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