Skip navigation


You are in:  Home » News

SCAR News - Archive from 2005

(Most recent first.)

IPY Committee approves first tranche of 135 proposals


At its meeting in Geneva on 15-17 November, the IPY Committee approved 135 of the 201 proposals that had been submitted for the June 30 and September 30 deadlines. These 135 now constitute the core of the IPY programme. Some of those not yet accepted may be assimilated within some of the approved proposals, or may be resubmitted for the (revised) 31 January final deadline. Some quite new proposals may also appear at that time. The lists of approved Antarctic or Bipolar proposals are now available on the SCAR IPY web site. The full list of approved proposals is available on the official IPY web site

SCAR participants in approved proposals are encouraged to examine the lists of approved proposals (i) to identify ones that could tie to SCAR activities but that do not seem to be so tied at present, and to work to tie those proposals to SCAR activities; and (ii) to look at possible cross disciplinary connections between proposals (e.g. between climate and biology), and to work to make those connections

SCAR's Parent Body, ICSU, Sets a New Course


From October 18-20, 2005, the SCAR Executive Director attended the 28th General Assembly of SCAR's parent body, ICSU, the International Council for Science, in Suzhou, China. ICSU is currently undergoing a major overhaul of the organisation. It is using teams of experts to review all of its activities, as the basis for streamlining what it does, and becoming more focused on key objectives. A key end result will be the production of a strategic plan, a draft of which (for 2006-2011) was provided at the meeting. In carrying out its reviews, ICSU has produced useful reports on data and information management, and on capacity building that will help SCAR in formulating its own ideas about the way forward. ICSU is now developing regional offices in Africa (Pretoria), Asia (Malaysia) the Caribbean and Latin America. SCAR should consider how it can capitalise on these initiatives.

Among other things, all ICSU bodies (like SCAR) are being encouraged to work much more closely with each other in the future than they have done in the past. SCAR is already working closely with two ICSU bodies (SCOR, the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research; SCOSTEP, the Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics, and WCRP, the World Climate Research Programme), and with several of ICSU's scientific unions.

ICSU in increasing its attention on the polar regions, having accepted the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) as an Affiliate organisation in November 2004.

ICSU's headquarters will move elsewhere in Paris, to save on costs.

SCAR Executive Director visits far-east polar institutes

Between October 10-27 the SCAR Executive Director visited the polar research institutes of Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), China (Shanghai), Korean (Ansan) and Japan (Tokyo), for discussions with polar scientists about how the Asian scientific community could become more involved in SCAR activities. SCAR is keen to be fully inclusive and to engage all of its Members. To be fully inclusive, SCAR needs more Asian involvement. Asian Members are invited to nominate possible candidates for: SCAR Fellowships; Membership of SCAR Action and Expert Groups; Membership of the steering groups or subgroups of the 5 SCAR SRPs; Officers of 3 SCAR SSGs; SCAR-led IPY projects; Speakers and attendees for the Open Science Conference in Hobart; and for serving time on secondment in the SCAR Office

New Website Available - U.S. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Office

http://usscar.tamu.edu/

The U.S. SCAR Office provides a focus for U.S. SCAR activities, a central location for information regarding SCAR, and easy access to SCAR
and other Antarctic websites. Important information, research opportunities, and funding announcements will be regularly posted to the
site.

The site also hosts the Antarctic Science Web Resource (ANSWER) e-mail service. If you wish to receive weekly updates of Antarctic news and
funding opportunities, please subscribe to the ANSWER e-mail notification digest system at: http://usscar.tamu.edu/answer

Please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the site and bookmark it for future reference. Suggestions, comments, and ideas about
materials to post to the site are not only welcomed but encouraged.

Feedback can be sent to: Chuck Kennicutt at: m-kennicutt@tamu.edu

Success with SCAR IPY proposal for capacity building

The International Project Office for the IPY has informed that SCAR and its partners have succeeded in getting approval from the IPY SteeringCommittee for our proposal (The Sixth Continent Initiative,IPY-6CI, ID No: 842) to undertake capacity building activities in Antarctica during the IPY.

Implementation Plans for SCAR Scientific Research Programmes

The Implementation Plans for the SALE (Subglacial Antarctic Lake Exploration), ACE (Antarctic Climate Evolution ), AGCS (Antarctica in the Global Climate System) and EBA (Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic) Programmes are now available:

SCAR encourages researchers interested in contributing to theseprojects to contact the programme managers. We are particularly keen tosee scientists from all SCAR Member countries listed as contributors.

New version of the Antarctic Digital Database

Paul Cooper (BAS) is in the final stages of preparing version 5 of the Antarctic Digital Database (ADD, http://www.add.scar.org) for release by the end of 2005. This release will incorporate new data for the Antarctic Peninsula, including a coastal change layer with the data recently published in Science; some sub-Antarctic islands where data are available; and a range of small corrections. However, the main focus of this release will be a comprehensive revision of the web-site, to enhance the service provided for users. Enhancements will include:

* Provision of data in a range of formats
* Flexible selection of the area of interest
* Interactive maps
* Web services
* Streamlined registration process
* On-line collection of fees for commercial use.

Finally, the fee structure for commercial use of the ADD has remained unchanged since the first release in 1993, and no longer reflects the value of the data. A new fee structure that will reflect both the importance of the ADD to a publication and the volume of publication will be put in place with the new revision; all existing licenses must be upgraded to use the new site. Bona-fide scientific use and personal non-profit use will remain free of charge.

EOS Publishes article on the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting

On August 9th, 2005, the scientific magazine EOS published an article based on the SCAR lecture to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Stockholm

John Turner wins the International Journal of Climatology Prize

The Royal Meteorological Society of the UK has awarded John Turner, Chief Officer of SCAR's Standing Scientific Group for the Physical Sciences, and a senior scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, the International Journal of Climatology Prize for his papers on the climate of the Antarctic, which include "The El Nino-Southern Oscillation and Antarctica". International Journal of Climatology 24: 1-31; 2004.
www.scar.org/information/elnino/index.html

SCAR Bulletins 157 and 158 now available on-line.

To economise on costs, the Secretariat is now making the SCAR Bulletin available on-line. If you would like copies you can download them from the publications page at www.scar.org/publications/bulletins/. The latest additions are the April and July 2005 issues, Bulletins 157 and 158. These documents are in PDF format. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, which you will need to read any documents in that format, you can download it from this same web page.

SCAR Executive Committee approves SCAR Communications Plan.

SCAR Awards 4 Fellowships for 2005-2006

At its meeting in Sofia (July 11-13, 2005), the Executive Committee agreed to provide 4 fellowships for the year 2005-06. The fellowships go to scientists from the USA, New Zealand, Argentina and Brazil, to carry out research in Australia, the UK, Canada and Belgium. Click here for further details

Independent Reviewers say that the Joint Committee on Antarctic Data Management (JCADM) is "cost effective, specialized, user-oriented and up-to date"

The recent evaluation of the JCADM's work by a group of independent reviewers took place in The Netherlands on 31 March - 1 April 2005. Over last few years JCADM has created more National Antarctic Data Centres (NADCs), and trained people to operate them and populate them with data and metadata. JCADM's work has increased the submission of metadata sets to the Antarctic Master Directory, and more and more users are using the Directory. JCADM's Chief Officer, Taco de Bruin hopes to expand JCADM's services to the scientific community, and to involve more scientists in submitting metadata to the Directory and downloading metadata from it in the near future.
"The SCAR Open Science Conference in Hobart, Tasmania, scheduled for July 2006, will be an excellent opportunity to strengthen the links between the Data Managers and the scientific communities", Taco de Bruin says. Another next step for JCADM is to develop links to several allied data and information groups (such as National Ocean Data Centres) and to continue capacity building (training more NADC operators).

9th SCAR International Biology Symposium Breaks Records


The 9th SCAR International Biology Symposium, meeting in Curitiba, Brazil, from July 25-29, is breaking several records.
350 people attended, significantly more than any previous such meetings. And this is the first time that the Symposium has been held in South America. This is also the meeting at which the Implementation Plan is being finalised for the new major SCAR Scientific Research Programme on "Evolution and Biodiversity in Antarctica", to mark which the Symposium bears the same title. Representatives are present from 32 countries, achieving the goal of bringing people together and encouraging networking and collaboration. There are 246 presentations including around 100 posters. This event is important for Antarctic science and in stimulating the development of future generations of Antarctic biologists.

Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) authorised by G8 meeting in Scotland (July 8, 2005)

G8 leaders meeting at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, July 8, 2005, authorized a plan to implement the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (www.epa.gov/geoss/) to thwart pollution and global warming, as part of the G8's "Plan of Action: Climate Change, Clean Energy and Sustainable Development". In particular, the G8 will work to strengthen existing climate observing systems in Africa, through the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), initially to developing fully operational regional climate centres in Africa. But the GEOSS is not just about Africa, it is a global initiative involving the world´s space agencies, the UN agencies like WMO, UNEP, FAO, and UNESCO and its Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, and the main research organisations including ICSU, the IGBP, and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). GEOSS will include space-based and in situ observations on the ocean, ice and atmosphere from the Southern Ocean and from Antarctica.
SCAR has an opportunity to make a significant contribution to the development of the south polar elements of the GEOSS.

Professor Zhanhai Zhang appointed as SCAR Vice President

SCAR hosts CLIVAR/CliC/SCAR Southern Ocean Implementation Panel meeting

On June 27-29, SCAR hosted in Cambridge a workshop of the Southern Ocean Implementation Panel that is co-sponsored by CLIVAR, CliC and SCAR, to discuss Modes of southern hemisphere climate variability

The goals of the workshop were to review the present understanding of the major modes of variability in southern hemisphere climate, the potential for predictability of the climate at mid- to high-latitudes of the southern hemisphere, to identify gaps in our understanding and to discuss field and modelling efforts to fill these gaps.

Antarctic Treaty News

SCAR played a prominent role in the XXVIIIth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) in Stockholm, June 6-17, 2005. SCAR presented a number of Information Papers and Working Papers, and provided the annual SCAR Lecture, which was given by Professor Steve Chown, of South Africa, before the King of Sweden and distinguished guests. The title of his talk was “Biodiversity: Antarctic Moves in Life’s Grand Game”. SCAR’s President Professor Jörn Thiede also spoke before the King on “Scientific Challenges in Antarctic Research”.

A highlight of the meeting was that the lawyers reached agreement on liability arising from environmental emergencies. This will now form Annex VI to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. It requires operators to undertake reasonable preventive measures to reduce the risk of environmental emergencies and their potential adverse impact, and to establish contingency plans for dealing with such emergencies.

The ATCM’s Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) asked SCAR

  1. to assess the status of the Southern Giant Petrel and Macaroni Penguin, which are classified as “Vulnerable” globally, to see if they merit adoption as “Specially Protected Species” by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties, and
  2. to assess if continuing special protection was needed for fur seals, which are still listed as “Specially Protected Species” despite massive increases in their numbers, and the status of the Ross Seal.

The CEP approved the “Practical Guidelines for Developing and Designing Environmental Monitoring Programmes in Antarctica”, that had been developed by the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes (COMNAP), based on joint workshops by SCAR and COMNAP.

Peter Clarkson retires as Executive Secretary.

On June 18th, after many years of service to SCAR, Peter Clarkson takes his well deserved retirement.
Peter has done a great job for SCAR, but is now headed for a new life. He tells us that he doesn´t intend to stop working. He has lots of ideas for writing on polar matters, and will carry on lecturing on tourist ships to Antarctica and providing assistance on Antarctic matters when called for.
Peter is the official SCAR Memory Bank. Although he has passed on much of his extensive knowledge to his successors, we shall miss his wise advice, and indeed his warm companionship. But he will still be in Cambridge, and has told us we can call on him from time to time when we need a hand in the office (or to dredge the Memory Bank for some particular information). He will work for SCAR on contract in July, to train Marzena Kaczmarska, the new SCAR Executive Officer.

In future please send your SCAR business requests or information to Marzena Kaczmarska (mik24@cam.ac.uk). You will still be able to contact Peter for a while on his e-mail (pdc3@cam.ac.uk), for personal correspondance.

SCAR co-sponsors first science planning workshop for Climate and Ecosystems in the Southern Ocean

Subglacial Lakes paper appears in EOS

SCAR Scientific Research Programmes Plan Implementation

Russia to resume Vostok drilling

SCAR Education Programme provides portal into education aids focusing on Antarctica

SCAR is developing a Capacity Building and Education Programme, which includes examples from national education programmes. The latest example is from the British Antarctic Survey. SCAR Members are encouraged to use these examples as models in developing their own approaches at the national level, and to provide the SCAR Secretariat with links to their own Antarctic education programmes in any language at primary or secondary schools level, or at graduate or postgraduate level.

SCAR Appoints Executive Officer

SCAR Annual Report

SCAR launches Fellowship Programme 2005-2006.

SCOR co-sponsors SCAR Expert Group on Oceanography

SCAR Biodiversity Programme

Researchers are asked for their views on the development of SCAR's programme on the Evolution of Biodiversity in the Antarctic.

Joint Committee on Antarctic Data Management (JCADM)

Germany's SCAR National Committee launches it's website

Annoucing the launch of the ICESTAR web site.

SCAR co-sponsors meeting to develop Cryosphere observing scheme.

First Workshop on the History of Antarctic Research

Progress report on International Polar Year 2007-2008

SCAR Article for Geoscientist; Antarctica and Climate Change

SCAR nominated to participate on new International Polar Year Joint Committee for planning and coordination of the International Polar Year

SCAR's Executive Director visits Antarctica

SCAR Report on 2004 CCAMLR Meeting

A report by the SCAR representative, Dr Edith Fanta, on the proceeding o the 23rd session of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Hobart, Australia, 25 October to 5 November 2004

Report on the SCAR-sponsored Workshop on 'Recent High Latitude Climate Change', Fairbanks, Alaska, 6-8 December 2004

The attached report gives a flavour of the meeting. The organisers are now moving on to the more difficult task of writing a review paper on the subject. The picture of change that we have seen over the last 50 years is somewhat strange, and in many ways at odds with what the models predicted - greatest temperature rise over the Arctic land areas rather than the sea ice zone, increasing Antarctic sea ice rather than retreat, the Peninsula as an exceptional area of warming with little change across the rest of the continent, and so on. But at least we have plenty to investigate.

SCAR co-sponsors International Conference

IXth International Antarctic Biology Symposium

These meetings take place every 4 years and provide a forum in which to air the most recent and important results on all aspects of biological research in Antarctica and its surrounding seas and islands, and in which to explore connections to the global system. The third announcement for this SCAR meeting that will take place in Curitiba, Brazil, from 25-29 July, is now available on the web. Please see our Events page www.scar.org/events/.7 January 05