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SCAR Newsletter: Issue 5, January 2006


SCAR News

SCAR XXIX Meeting, Hobart, Tasmania, July 2006.

For registration and more information go to: www.scarcomnap2006.org

NEW! Extended deadline for abstract submissions: 13 February 2006

The XXIX SCAR meeting will comprise:

Revised date for submitting abstracts for 2nd SCAR Open Science Conference on "Antarctica in the Earth Syst.em"

Wednesday 12th to Friday 14th July 2006, Hotel Grand Chancellor, Hobart, Australia.

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION EXTENDED TO MONDAY FEBRUARY 13 2006 - please tell your colleagues!

This international and interdisciplinary meeting will cover all aspects of current Antarctic research, and particularly those that address the close couplings between Antarctic processes and the other parts of the Earth System. Topics include (but are not restricted to):
· present and future Antarctic climate and links to the rest of the globe
· palaeo-climate of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean
· subglacial hydrological processes and ice-bedrock processes
· evolution of the Antarctic continent and its role in global systems
· molecular and genetic biology of Antarctic ecosystems
· biodiversity of the Southern Ocean
· sun-earth interactions in polar regions
· Southern Ocean biogeochemistry and its response to climate change

For more information and submission of abstracts: http://www.scarcomnap2006.org/scarosc.php

New web page of the National SCAR Committee of Spain

National SCAR Committee of Spain has just established the web page: www.uam.es/cn-scar.

We hope this page will contribute to improve the communication with the national and international scientific community
and to promote the SCAR objectives. The web page is bilingual (Spanish-English).

Any comments contributing to improving the content are welcome and shall be sent to Jerónimo López-Martínez, the President of the National SCAR Committee in Spain, at jeronimo.lopez@uam.es

SCAR Medals

SCAR encourages all its National Committees and SCAR Delegates as well as all SCAR Scientific Groups (e.g. SRPs, Action Groups etc.) to propose candidates for two SCAR Medals. The first medal is "The SCAR Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research", and the second medal is "The SCAR Medal for International Scientific Coordination". Self-nomination is not an option. There are no formal criteria for determining the recipients of the two SCAR Medals. It is expected that the exceptional nature of the candidates' qualifications will justify the award. For these awards there are no age limits. Awardees for the two SCAR Medals will be selected by an Awards Committee from nominations received by the Secretariat. The nominations for the awards at XXIX SCAR Meeting in 2006 should be sent to SCAR Secretariat by 1 February 2006. Please provide up to 1 page A4 of explanation why this particular candidate is nominated, what achievements/skills/values made you choose her/him to be awarded. The presentation ceremony will be held in Hobart during the SCAR Open Science Conference.

IPY Committee approves first tranche of 139 proposals

At its meeting in Geneva on 15-17 November, the IPY Committee approved 139 of the 201 proposals that had been submitted for the June 30 and September 30 deadlines. These 139 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 siteSCAR 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.

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

Canada contributes $150 million to support International Polar Year

The Canadian International Polar year Secretariat announced on october 28th that the Deputy Prime Minister had announced that the federal government would contribute $150 million dollars to support IPY. Details about Canada's involvement in the IPY can be found at www.ipy-api.ca.

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 was production of a strategic plan, available from www.icsu.org/2-resourcecentre/. 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

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 these projects to contact the programme managers. We are particularly keen to see 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.

DOME C ice core shows present levels of CO2 in atmosphere 'highest for 650,000 years'

Antarctic ice shows current levels of carbon dioxide are 30% higher than at any time in the past 650,000 years. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4467420.stm

Southern Ocean likely to become more acid with global warming, affecting ecosystem

A June 2005 report from the UK's Royal Society, entitled "Ocean acidification due to increasing
atmospheric carbon dioxide", shows that the dissolution of increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the ocean causes it to become more acid. That means "that even at a modest future projection of CO2 emissions, of about 900 Gt C, direct impact of ocean acidification is very likely to cause the Southern Ocean to become undersaturated with respect to aragonite. This would lead to severe consequences for organisms that make the aragonite form of CaCO3 shells and plates." The report goes on to say "Southern Ocean food webs are of particular concern. Calcifying organisms in the Southern Ocean will be among the first to be affected from ocean acidification. Aragonite-producing pteropods are the dominant calcifiers in the Southern Ocean. These pelagic molluscs account for a significant proportion of the biological pump of the Antarctic polar front, and in the
Ross Sea...... These pelagic molluscs are an important food source for marine predators in the Antarctic food web and sometimes replace krill as the dominant zooplankton group in parts
of the Southern Ocean......In the event that pteropods were eliminated from the Southern Ocean, there would be a reduction in the biological pump to the deeper oceans of particulate inorganic and organic carbon in the region..... . Changes to ... the carbon cycle of the Southern Ocean ..... will
have large-scale ramifications for this and other interconnected ecosystems.

Ocean Warming threatens Antarctic wildlife - special report by Guardian Unlimited quoting work by Dr Mike Meredith.

· Sea ice melts and glaciers shrink at accelerating rate
· Decline in stocks of krill hits entire food chain

Scientists working in Antarctica have discovered an alarming rise in sea temperature that threatens to disrupt populations of penguins, whales, seals and a host of smaller creatures within a few decades.

The new study shows the ocean west of the Antarctic Peninsula has warmed by more than a degree since the 1960s - confounding computer models and experts who believed that a combination of ice, winds and currents would keep the water cool and shield fragile marine creatures from the effects of climate change. This is the first evidence that the key Southern Ocean is getting warmer: a finding with potentially severe implications for wildlife.

IASC new Executive Secretary appointed.
Office will relocate to Stockholm, Sweden by the end of year 2005

Dr. Volker Rachold has been appointed the new Executive Secretary of the
International Arctic Science Committee effective from 1 January 2006.

With the retirement of the present Executive Secretary of IASC, Dr. Odd
Rogne, the IASC Secretariat will move from Oslo to Stockholm at the end
of 2005. The new IASC Secretariat will be hosted by the Swedish
Polar Research Secretariat with the generous support from the Swedish
Research Council. The office will be located at the Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat
is a governmental agency with the task of planning and coordination of
Swedish research activities in the Arctic and Antarctica.

For further information on IASC and these changes, please go to:

From the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat

The International Polar Foundation

The International Polar Foundation (IPF) was established in Brussels in 2002 as a foundation for the public good under Royal Statute. In 2004 H.R.H Prince Philippe of Belgium became the Honorary President. The IPF's mission is to communicate to and educate the public on the reality of climate change through the findings of Polar science and thereby convince society to act responsibly to ensure a sustainable world for future generations. To this end, a number of initiatives have been launched, aimed at providing an inspiring and positive image of the role of scientific activity, particularly in the Polar Regions. In 2004, the Belgian Government commissioned the IPF to design a new research station in East Antarctica. The previous station closed forty years ago in 1967, and the opening of the new station during the International Polar Year 2007 has become a source of national pride. The IPF has a number of key projects to demonstrate the pivotal role of the Polar Regions in the Earth system and to encourage constructive responses to sustainable development issues. These include the Polaris Climate Change Observatory in Brussels, and the Domus in Terra facility which will inform visitors about potential paths towards a more sustainable relationship with the Earth.

Amongst the IPF's existing communication platforms are its scientific website, www.sciencepoles.org, which provides a concise and accessible overview of polar science and research findings as well as recent and forthcoming developments across a range of scientific disciplines. Similar in approach and representative of the IPF's other work in this domain is a recent special Polar Research edition of RTD Info, the European Commission's quarterly magazine on European research which the IPF was asked to produce and edit. The IPF's Educational platform includes educational tools such as the recent 'Polar Regions and Climate Change' CD-ROM which was edited and distributed in six languages, and the www.educapoles.org website which aims to provide interesting information and activities for school age children in an attractive and stimulating format. The website is meant to educate children on important issues while demystifying science and encouraging more young people to adopt scientific careers. The IPF is headquartered in Brussels and has local 'antennas' in France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The development of Canadian and US antennae is currently in progress. More information on the IPF and all its projects is available on the IPF website, www.polarfoundation.org.

Forthcoming Events

Events of interest to the SCAR Community are listed at: www.scar.org/events/
Newsletter prepared by Colin Summerhayes and Marzena Kaczmarska, SCAR Secretariat. Please send feedback to info@scar.org.