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SCAR Newsletter: Issue 19, June 2009

Newsbar of various mini Antarctic images

Planning the 2010 SCAR Conference

2010 SCAR Open Science Conference and XXXI SCAR Meeting

The fourth SCAR Open Science Conference (OSC) will be held from 3-6 August 2010 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The theme for the OSC is "Antarctica - Witness to the Past and Guide to the Future". The International Scientific Organizing Committee for the OSC is now soliciting from the science community a list of session titles, names of potential session conveners, and names of potential keynote speakers - required by 10 July 2009. Note that this OSC will not focus on IPY, which will be the theme for the 8-12 June 2010 IPY conference in Oslo. Please submit the requested information to Carlota Escutia Dotti (cescutia@ugr.es) and John C. Priscu (jpriscu@montana.edu), who co-chair the organizing committee for the OSC. We would like to produce a draft of OSC session titles, names of potential session conveners and keynote speakers based on community input by 20 July 2009. The OSC is part of the XXXI SCAR meeting which has three sessions: SCAR Business meetings from 30 July - 2 August 2010; the OSC, from 3-6 August inclusive; and the Delegates meeting from 9-11 August inclusive.

Climate Change

Ice Bridge Supporting Wilkins Ice Shelf Collapses

(From NSIDC News) An ice bridge connecting the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula to Charcot Island disintegrated in early April. The event continues a series of breakups that began in March 2008 on the ice shelf, and highlights the effect that a changing climate is having on the region. Images from the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors on the Terra and Aqua satellites showed the shattering of the ice bridge between 31 March 2009 and 6 April 2009. The loss of the ice bridge, which was bracing the remaining portions of the Wilkins Ice Shelf, will allow a mass of broken ice and icebergs to drift into the Southern Ocean. Scientists at NSIDC and around the world have been watching the ice bridge since March 2008, anticipating its collapse. Now that it has broken up, researchers are closely monitoring the remaining portion of the Wilkins Ice Shelf to see if the loss of the ice bridge allows the ice shelf to collapse further. For updates and links to other news on the Wilkins Ice Shelf, see the Wilkins Ice Shelf News Web page.

Scientists rethink sea level rise from a melted west Antarctic

The potential contribution to sea level rise from a collapse of the west Antarctic ice sheet has been overestimated by around a half, according to a study published by Bamber et al. in Science. The new research suggests if the ice sheet collapsed sea level would rise by an average of 3.3 metres rather five or six, as previously thought. The largest increases would be around the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards of North America, with sea levels high enough to pose a serious threat to New York, Washington DC and San Francisco. Sea levels would rise to around 3.5 metres around Britain. For further details, read the full Science article, or listen to the Podcast.

Carbon dioxide emissions cause ocean acidification - Inter-Academy Panel statement on Ocean Acidification

The attached statement has been endorsed by 70 science academies from around the world and will be formally launched during the UNFCCC Bonn talks in early June 2009. The UK's Royal Society notes:- "The timing of this statement is deliberate. The acidification of the world's oceans, like climate change, is a direct consequence of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Deep and rapid cuts in CO2 emissions are the only solution, and yet ocean acidification is not yet on the agenda for the UNFCCC Bonn or Copenhagen climate talks in 2009. The objective of this statement is therefore to raise the profile of ocean acidification within the context of the UNFCCC talks, and to encourage climate negotiators to consider the additional impacts of ocean acidification when discussing global emission reduction targets.

The statement emphasises;

The statement concludes that deep and rapid reductions of global CO2 emissions by at least 50% by 2050 and much more thereafter are needed, and calls on world leaders to:

More greenhouse gas methane emerging from warming Arctic permafrost

The Alfred Wegener Institute reports (30 March 2009) that higher temperatures in Arctic permafrost soils alter the community of methane-producing microorganisms and lead to an increased emission of methane. Results come from work in the Laptev Sea, a shallow shelf sea close to the coast of Siberia. Caused by overflooding with relatively warm sea water, this so-called 'submarine permafrost' is about 10º C warmer than the permafrost on land. Permafrost covers about 25% of the earth's land area and stores huge amounts of organic carbon. In the absence of oxygen, the climate relevant trace gas methane is generated by decomposition of organic carbon. Special microorganisms (methanogenic archaea) are responsible for the generation of methane. The microorganisms generate methane even in deeply frozen permafrost layers of about -7° C. If these temperatures are experimentally increased by some degrees, the organisms' metabolic activity increases and thus also the production of methane in permafrost. Submarine permafrost has developed in a former landmass which was flooded due to the raised main sea level after the last glacial. It is therefore originally a terrestrial permafrost deposit. In contrast to current terrestrial permafrost with a mean temperature of -12° C, submarine permafrost has already been warmed to a temperature of -2° C. By comparing the two communities of microorganisms generating methane in both permafrost regions, AWI could show that the composition of methane-producing microorganisms in submarine permafrost is different from that in terrestrial permafrost, and adapted to the warmer conditions. The data suggest that the atmospheric warming we observe leads to an increased emission of the climate relevant trace gas methane in earth's vast permafrost regions today.

Arctic Dipole is the Major Driver for Arctic Sea Ice Minima

New research is now available on the causes of the arctic summer sea ice minimum in 2007 and other previous minima. Dr Jia Wang of NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory and his colleagues recently published an article in Geophysical Research Letters to explain that the Arctic Dipole (DA) is the major driver for the Arctic sea ice minima. The previous record lows of arctic summer sea ice extent are found to be triggered by the arctic atmospheric Dipole Anomaly (DA) pattern. This local, second-leading mode of sea-level pressure anomaly in the Arctic produced a strong meridional wind anomaly that drove more sea ice out of the Arctic Ocean from the western to the eastern Arctic into the northern Atlantic during the summers of 1995, 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2007. In the 2007 summer, the DA also enhanced anomalous oceanic heat flux into the Arctic Ocean via Bering Strait, which accelerated bottom and lateral melting of sea ice and amplified the ice-albedo feedback. A coupled ice-ocean model was used to confirm the historical record lows of summer sea ice extent. For more information, see the full paper.

Energy and Climate Change - a Statement from SCAR's Members (the Academies)

In December 2009, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will hold a major international conference on climate change at which Ministers are expected to agree on a new way forward to manage the use of energy, so as to minimize global warming over the 21st century. In preparation for that conference, there will be this year a number of smaller meetings in various places to bring scientists together to prepare scientific advice for those Ministers. SCAR has done its best to provide such advice to the Parties to the Antarctic Treaty, through the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) in April (see ATCM Information Paper 05). The scientific academies that form SCAR's Members have themselves recently provided governments with advice on the use of energy in relation to global warming. It is this advice, and the outcome from the December UNFCCC meeting in Copenhagen, that will form the context for the development of the next version of SCAR's strategic plan in Buenos Aries in August 2010.

Online version of the International Antarctic Weather Forecasting Handbook

The latest version of the International Antarctic Weather Forecasting Handbook is now available on the Internet. This is basically the 2004 hardcopy version plus the 2009 supplement and update. It's very much easier to use now since you can search the entire volume for a word or phrase. Visit the Handbook website. We are looking for updates on the station information from any of the SCAR nations.

International Polar Year News

Ministers Sign 2009 Declaration on the IPY and its Legacy

This year's Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting began in Washington DC on April 6 2009 with a joint meeting of the Parties to the Antarctic Treaty and the Member States of the Arctic Council, who came together in the persons of their various Environment Ministers to sign a joint Ministerial Declaration on the International Polar Year and Polar Science. The declaration is a call to arms for more research in the polar regions and for implementing the IPY legacy. The meeting was opened by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who underlined the intention of the new US administration to focus on the issue of climate change.

Treaty Parties Resolve to Commit to Observing Systems and Data Exchange

The XXXII Antarctic Treaty Meeting, in Baltimore (6-17 April) approved a Resolution on the Legacy of the International Polar Year, in which Treaty Parties are urged to:

Read the full text of the Resolution.

Presentations Now Available Online: A Celebration of International Polar Year 2007-2008

The US National Academy of Sciences, together with the National Science Foundation, held a celebration on 6 April 2009 to recognize the achievements of the International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY). The meeting included highlights of IPY projects, including such topics as climate change, sea ice stability, Antarctic ecosystems, and people in the Arctic. Presentation videos detailing various aspects of IPY research are available on the National Science Foundation website.

The posted presentations include:

Biodiversity

Penguins Scooped by Their Own Poop

Scientists have discovered 10 emperor penguin colonies along the Antarctic coast by scanning satellite photos (from the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica) for the reddish-brown stains of their guano. The approach - apparently the first time anyone has used satellite images to locate the breeding populations of an animal - could prove to be a valuable new way to monitor how penguins are responding to climate change. Of the 34 previously known colonies, six had disappeared; the ice in those places was squeaky clean. The researchers also found 10 unknown colonies, represented by washes of guano, they report online this week in Global Ecology and Biogeography. "The big question is, why are some of the colonies missing?" says penguin biologist Phil Trathan of the British Antarctic Survey, who carried out the research with cartographer Peter Fretwell. Trathan suspects climate change; the lost colonies were generally farther north, in areas with warmer temperatures. For more details, read the full ScienceNOW article.

Ancient Ecosystem Discovered Beneath Antarctic Glacier

Scientists have found life in an ecosystem trapped underneath a glacier in Antarctica for nearly 2 million years. The microbes, they suggest, are surviving the dark, oxygen-free waters by drawing energy from sulphur and iron. The findings provide insight into how life may have survived "Snowball Earth" - periods when some scientists speculate that the planet was entombed in ice - and hint at the possibility of life in other inhospitable environments, such as Mars and Jupiter's icy moon Europa. For more details, read the full ScienceNOW article.

SCAR MarBIN Test Drive

After months of efforts, SCAR-MarBIN V2.0 is ready for a large scale test drive. We have developed a completely new data portal, which we hope you will find more attractive, more intuitive and more powerful. Please bear in mind that this is still a BETA version, and that some fine-tuning might still be needed. We count on your feedback to help us improve our tool. Visit the SCAR-MarBIN V2.Obeta website at its temporary address.

For the record, at the end of IPY (31 March 2009), SCAR-MarBIN has reached and surpassed all of its objectives:

Read the press release. A poster and brochure are also available for download. An article, 'Timely information about Antarctic marine biodiversity', will be published in Nature in the next few weeks.

Australia provides support for SCAR's Marine Biodiversity Information Network (SCAR MarBIN)

As pointed out in SCAR Circular 779 on April 3, 2009, SCAR's Marine Biodiversity Information Network faces certain funding constraints. Some support has been obtained from the TOTAL Foundation, and other sources are being approached. Thanks to the new Australian Antarctic Division's Chief Scientist, John Gunn, Australia has now stepped up to the plate with a financial contribution to Belgium to help to manage SCAR MarBIN for the next 2 years. John says, "Since SCAR MarBIN's inception, Australia has been a strong supporter of the Facility's goals and remains convinced that SCAR-MarBIN is an extremely important component of our collective Antarctic data management network. The marine data aggregator services provided by SCAR MarBIN, coupled with it role in coordinating and exposing the Register of Antarctic Marine Species (RAMS) are underpinning Antarctic scientific research, particularly that being conducted by the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML) Project. It would be a tremendous pity if all of the efforts involved to date were devalued by the closing of the Facility due to lack of ongoing funding. SCAR MarBIN is an excellent example of a modern data service that has achieved considerable outcomes with relatively few resources by harnessing the power of collaborative networks, by focusing on outreach and by having excellent technical staff. It can be difficult to make the case for funding when an activity might be seen as a 'public good' and where pay-offs may be indirect and often realised in the medium to long term. My anticipation is that in the fullness of time, as other nations establish mature approaches to data management, these nations will rise to share the task of creating a polar data commons - something we will all benefit from but which none of us can build on our own. It is the sum of all our national efforts that will make the difference in the end and which will provide an effective pan Antarctic data management system, capable of supporting Antarctic science in the 21st Century."

Well said, John. Now, if only others shared that view and opened their wallets!

Science and Society

A New Social Contract for Science

Now that Jane Lubchenco has been appointed the new Head of the USA's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it is worth reflecting on her notion of a new social contract for science. She argued that the immediate and real challenges facing humankind had not been fully appreciated nor properly acknowledged by the community of scientists whose responsibility it is, and will be, to meet them. These challenges, global warming foremost among them, threatened the integrity of the life-support system of our planet and the ecosystem goods and services that it delivers. They are vastly different in magnitude and scale and kind from past changes that we may have faced; even our best records and models offer little guidance concerning the scale and character of likely responses to these challenges. The world at the end of the last millennium is fundamentally different from the one in which the current scientific enterprise developed. Business as usual, and models based on the science of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s will not suffice in the face of these formidable challenges for society, which will affect human health, the economy, social justice and national security. Society has a contract with science; it invests in science because it expects two outcomes; (i) the best possible science (greater knowledge about how the world works), and (ii) the production of something useful. The rationale for public investment in science, as well as specific decisions about the allocation of resources, are tied to expectations that something beneficial to society will emerge. At the end of the last millennium the role of science to discover and communicate new knowledge and to train the next generation had not changed, but the needs of society had. One of the critical emerging needs was for a greater role for science in informing decision-makers faced with increasingly large and rapidly growing environmental problems - providing knowledge about how to manage the planet. Lubchenco's new social contract for science envisaged that scientists will (i) address the most urgent needs of society, and (ii) communicate their knowledge and understanding widely so as to inform decisions by policy makers, to help society move towards a sustainable biosphere. The contract would not be a call to abandon fundamental research, but to invest fundamental research in a broad spectrum of areas where new knowledge is urgently needed. Pressing needs include communicating the certainties, uncertainties and seriousness of different environmental or social problems, providing alternatives to address them, and educating citizens about the issues and especially about how the environment works and what that means for the future of humanity. The environment, concludes Lubchenco, is not a marginal issue, it is the issue of the future, and the future is here now. That was written in 1997 when Lubchenco, a Professor of Marine Biology and Distinguished Professor of Zoology at Oregon State University, became President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was subsequently elected Chairperson of SCAR's parent body, the International Council for Science (ICSU). Her social contract remains as valid now in 2009 as it was in February 1997. It was published in Science, vol 279, January 1998. SCAR does its bit to meet the requirements of the new social contract by providing advice to the Parties to the Antarctic Treaty, and by devising research to address challenging societal issues - especially the questions of changing climate and changing biodiversity. Nevertheless we should not be complacent; the task ahead is huge and these issues should continue to take centre stage in our future strategic plans.

Data and Information

Researcher argues for publishing data

As we move in to the 21st century, reasons abound for making scarce Antarctic and Southern Ocean data readily available to all. These vast regions are horribly under-sampled. The more data of all types that we can get into the public domain the more we can compensate for that incredible handicap, which prevents us from fully understanding the processes governing environmental change across the region. Sitting on our own little data sets is no help at all. It will not win us a pan-Antarctic view. Sharing is in everyone's best interests. So why doesn't it happen? Why are the nations who signed up to Article III 1 c of the Antarctic Treaty not making a commitment to it? Many of the answers are to be found in a paper by Mark Costello. Scientists do need a system for publishing data in the same way that they publish papers, and for getting recognition for it. But, hey guys, why wait? Don't delay - do it today! It's SCAR policy after all.

SCAR Representative appointed to ICSU Data Committee

On SCAR's recommendation, Kim Finney, Chief Officer of SCAR's Standing Committee on Antarctic Data Management (SCADM) has been appointed to ICSU's new Strategic Coordinating Committee on Scientific Data and Information. The new Committee will:
"establish and assert a visible and effective strategic leadership role, on behalf of the global scientific community, in relation to the policies, management and stewardship of scientific data and information. It will be charged with producing a sustainability plan for maintaining the established strategic coordination and leadership role of ICSU for consideration by the next ICSU General Assembly (2011)." Part of the work of the Committee will be to examine the current ICSU data management structure of World Data Centres, and to recommend a modern data and information management infrastructure from which we should all benefit. Our own in house development of a data and information management strategy (led by Kim) will inform these new developments. In addition, as they come on line we will undoubtedly benefit from them. This initiative will enable us globally to contribute more effectively to the data management side of the IPY legacy, on which our science depends.

Education and Training

IPY International Early Career Researcher Symposium

The IPY International Early Career Researcher Symposium will take place from 4 to 8 December 2009 in Victoria, B.C., Canada. The Symposium is organised in conjunction with the 2009 ArcticNet Science Meeting, which will be held after the Symposium in Victoria. With the support of IPY Canada, ArcticNet, and the Northern Research Forum, the Symposium will bring together Arctic and Antarctic early career researchers from across the world with experts to build skills, knowledge, and networks. The workshop is based around seven themes:

The training sessions will give concrete and useful advice, insight, and skills to help early career researchers meet the demands of polar science. The Symposium will also provide an unmatched opportunity to meet and collaborate with fellow early career researchers, and build the networks that will strengthen polar research in the future. Lodging and food will be included and travel support will be available. Registration will be capped at 120 participants. Please visit the workshop website for more information and to register for future information packages and application forms.

Advanced Biology Training Course in Antarctica, January 2010

A National Science Foundation sponsored course, entitled "Integrative Biology and Adaptation of Antarctic Marine Organisms", will be held in Antarctica at the United States' McMurdo Station for one month, starting January 2010. This is an international course, open to all nationalities. Applications are invited from graduate students currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career faculty who are interested in the study of extreme environments and the biology of Antarctic organisms. Full scholarships are available for each participant accepted into the course to cover the cost of travel from home institution to Antarctica, and room and board while in Antarctica. The emphasis of the Antarctic Biology Course is on integrative biology, with laboratory- and field-based projects focused on biological adaptations in an extreme environment, with an emphasis on rapid climate change in polar regions. A diverse teaching faculty will offer students the opportunity to study a wide range of Antarctic organisms (bacteria/archaea, algae, invertebrates, and fish), as well as studying several different levels of biological analysis (molecular biology, biomechanics, physiological ecology, species diversity, and evolution). The deadline for receipt of completed applications is August 1, 2009. For more information and on-line applications, please visit the course website.

Outreach

Want to give a presentation on SCAR? Start here

Chuck Kennicutt has recently updated the Powerpoint slide presentation on SCAR. Members of the SCAR community are welcome to use it or to adapt it for their own local or regional needs. You can find the slides under the heading Other SCAR Presentations on the Communications page. On that page you will also find Powerpoint presentations from previous SCAR lectues to the ATCM, which you may find useful in your own talks and lectures.

If you wish to make up your own Powerpoint slides on SCAR matters, you can use the new designs of the SCAR Powerpoint templates (see the heading Templates on that same web page). These are actually located on the Members' page, for which you will need the Members username and password, which can be supplied to SCAR users by the Secretariat (info@scar.org).

Partnerships

SCAR and IASC sign Agreement with International Permafrost Association (IPA)

On 27 March, at the Arctic Science Summit Week in Bergen, SCAR, IASC and IPA signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding their intention to work closely together. Full details are available under IPA on the Geo-Science page of the SCAR website.

Other SCAR-related Newsletters

NOTUS: The newsletter of SCAR's Antarctica in the Global Climate System

The latest issue of the NOTUS newsletter can now be downloaded from the AGCS website.

News from SCAR-MarBIN

The latest issue of the SCAR-MarBIN newsletter is also available for download. The contents are:

View the latest issue of the Newsletter (size: 10MB).

Latest Newsletters from other groups

Events

Events of interest to the SCAR Community are listed on the Events page.

Newsletter prepared by Colin Summerhayes and Rosemary Nash, SCAR Secretariat. Please send feedback to info@scar.org