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Notes from the SCAR President, number 31 (25 October 2010)
Updates on Various Items
Colleagues,
I hope that everything is going well as we enter the main phase of the Antarctic field season over the next few months. These are always hectic times so I will keep this Note short and use it mainly to update you on a few important items.
I am very pleased to announce that KOREA has informed me that they will increase their level of membership participation in SCAR from C to B retrospectively to 2010! This increase in SCAR membership level is reflective of the growing Antarctic program in Korea which has included the launch of a new ice breaker and the announcement of construction of a second scientific station in Antarctica. Korea has shown great vision and leadership in expanding its Antarctic program on many fronts and I look forward to Korea's increased participation in SCAR activities. This materially improves SCAR's ability to fund core activities as we develop consensus for an overall membership fee increase in 2012.
I and the Secretariat continue to work on a revision to the draft Strategic Plan 2011-2016. A next revision is near completion and a professional editor is being engaged. The document has significantly evolved from the first draft and has greatly benefitted from the wide and thoughtful comments. I hope you will be pleased with the final product and that it represents a common census of where SCAR would like to be in six years and how to get there. We are on schedule to finish the Plan by year's end.
The Census for Antarctic Marine Life (CAML) is drawing to a close and celebrated a memorable London Finale entitled a "Decade of Discovery" that included international press conferences, presentation on CAML's highlights, displays, and other events you can find widely reported by searching the web and the program websites: the Census of Marine Life and the Census of Antarctic Marine Life. The CAML video "Oceans of Ice" shown in London is available on YouTube. I recognize the leadership of Michael Stoddart and Victoria Wadley for making this program a reality and carefully guiding the complex activities over the duration of the program. This would not have been possible without the support of the Australian Antarctic Division. CAML will be a benchmark not only for future studies of change in the Southern Ocean but also as an exemplar of the highest quality science. A high bar has been set for future community-wide collaborations demonstrating how the whole can produce scientific advances in a way that no single investigator, project or country could achieve alone. The Sloan Foundation had the vision and foresight to recognize the need for a polar aspect to the CoML, not only in the south but also in the north. Without the financial support of the Sloan Foundation the life sciences community would not have been able to achieve so much in such a short time.
I am also pleased to report that, by design, we have recently increased our interactions with SCAR ICSU Union members including a letter of support to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) for a Symposium on Antarctic Astronomy at their next General Assembly in 2012 in China; proposal of a symposium with IACS/International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) in Siena at the time of ICSU General Assembly in 2011 hosted by the Italians and entitled "Polar Grand Challenges"; and recent contacts between the SCAR Secretariat and the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) Secretariat exploring ways to encourage closer relations. On the ICSU front, Dr. Deliang Chen has agreed to an agenda item to be presented jointly by SCAR and IASC (International Arctic Science Committee) at ICSU's next General Assembly in 2011 on IPY legacies issues. SCAR provided a letter of support for New Zealand's offer to host the ICSU General Assembly in 2014 at the same venue as the SCAR meetings. The Secretariat is also working on letters to each SCAR ICSU Union member to encourage inclusion of links on their web pages to those SCAR programs most relevant to them (with SCAR doing the same) and asking for suggestions on how we might work more closely together. These are all directed at increased engagement of ICSU and SCAR's Union members.
All for now and I wish everyone the best and a safe Antarctic field season!
Chuck K.
President of SCAR
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