Skip navigation


You are in:  Home » International Polar Year

International Polar Year

Progress Report for SCAR

  1. Notes on the first meeting of the ICSU-WMO Joint Committee for IPY 2007-2008 (the ‘IPY Steering Committee’), ICSU headquarters, Paris, March 7-9, 2005-03-22
  2. Notes on the IPY 2007-2008 Open Consultative Forum, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, March 10-11, 2005

1. ‘IPY Steering Committee’ Meeting

Jeronimo Lopez Martinez
Chris Rapley
Ian Allison
Edith Fanta
Robin Bell
Vladimir Kotlyakov
Eberhard Fahrbach (not able to attend this meeting)
Colin Summerhayes

Thus SCAR is making an appropriate contribution to the decision making process.

Some 869 Expressions of Interest (EoI) were received by the IPY Secretariat at BAS in Cambridge. These were grouped broadly under the following headings: Biology, Data and Information, Education and Outreach, Geology, Glaciology, Legacy, Meteorology and Climate, Oceanography, Remote Sensing, Social Science, Space and Astronomy. The Committee then analysed these subsets and then grouped the EoIs into clusters of closely related projects. Within each cluster one or more major projects were identified as potential lead projects around which the other EoIs could collect. In due course (ideally by end March) the Committee Co-Chairs will write to potential lead projects if they will take on the task of overall coordination, and to each EoI proponent asking them to consider joining with one of the lead projects. This strategy should lead to the identification of some 50 major projects operating under the IPY umbrella. Lead groups will prepare 6-page full proposals (following guidelines from the Secretariat) for submission by June 30. Each major project will be required to form a project steering committee. Each project will prepare its own data management plan, following a core data management policy and strategy.

SCAR is making a significant contribution to IPY science. The SCAR scientific research programmes (AGCS, ACE, SALE, EBA and ICESTAR) had submitted EoIs for consideration. The Committee considered that these EoIs formed the basis for lead projects in their respective areas (see below)

The project clusters are as follows:

1. Biology

Marine Biodiversity (EBA-CAML)
Biodiversity of Terrestrial Environments & Lakes
Life in Polar Regions: Patterns, Evolution & Adaptation
Life under Natural & Anthropogenic Changes: Stress, Responses & Adaptations
Migrations: Invasions, Expansions, Reductions
Natural Resources: Uses, Management & Conservation

2. Cryosphere

Terrestrial Cryosphere
Permafrost
Glaciers and Ice Caps
Subglacial lake (SALE)
Sea-ice and iceberg (SCAR-AsPect)
Paleoclimate (ice core)
Antarctic ice sheet
Greenland ice sheet
Evolution of polar glaciation
Snow Properties
New technology
Network/Observatory

3. Human Studies

Exploring the unknown
Change: adaptation & vulnerability
Northern resources
New risks and stresses
Transitions and border zones
Rapid change 0 societal responses
Local and indigenous visions
Preservation of legacies
Science infrastructure

4. Geology

Paleoclimate (ACE)
Geophysical observatories
Plate tectonics and gateways
Exploration beneath the ice; traverses; Earth history
Resources

5. Atmosphere and Climate

Clouds, aerosols & atmospheric chemistry
Multidisciplinary observing systems
Weather & climate (including improved forecasts)
Teleconnections between polar and mid-latitude
Hydrological cycle & freshwater budget
Paleoclimate and climate compilations
Ecosystem response to change and variability in the physical environment

6. Oceans

Ocean circulation
Arctic,
Antarctic (AGCS-CASO)
Bipolar
Biogeochemistry and ecosystems
Arctic,
Antarctic,
Bipolar
Coasts and margins
Arctic,
Antarctic,
Bipolar

7. Space/Data

ICESTAR/IHY (SCAR)
IPY Astronomy
IPY SPARC
IPY data

The EoIs and the proposed clusters will shortly be made available on the IPY web site (http://www.ipy.org/).

The Committee agreed that it needed special subcommittees for Data and Information Management, and for Education and Outreach. The membership and terms of reference for these two bodies will be announced on the IPY web site shortly.

The ‘Steering Committee’ will arrange for presentations on the IPY to be given at key scientific meetings, using a ‘community’ IPY presentation pack.

A full report on the meeting will shortly be available on the IPY web site.

2. The Open Consultative Forum

This was the third such forum, the other two having been organised by the IPY Planning Committee that proceeded formation of the ‘Steering Committee’. A number of national representatives attended, along with a number of representatives of international bodies. Full details will shortly be available on the IPY web site. Some 70-80 people attended altogether.

The Committee Chairs and Secretariat explained the IPY process and set out the progress to date. National representatives and international representatives were invited to set out their proposed efforts in the context of IPY. The participants had a fruitful dialogue on the way forward. A full report of the meeting will shortly be available on the IPY web site.