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SCAR Bulletin No 145, April 2002
SCAR Executive Committee Meeting
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 22 to 24 August 2001
Report of the Meeting
- Stations of SCAR Nations operating in the Antarctic, Winter 2001
- SCAR Executive Committee Meeting
- SCAR/COMNAP Executive Committee Meeting
Present: R H Rutford, A C Rocha-Campos, J Valencia, A D M Walker, C G Rapley, R Schlich, P D Clarkson.
The President welcomed members to the meeting and expressed the thanks of the Executive Committee to Dr J H Stel, Manager of The Netherlands Antarctic Programme, and the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) for hosting the meeting in the delightful ambience of the library at The Trippenhuis in Amsterdam.
1. Adoption of the Agenda
The Draft Agenda was adopted
2. Membership of SCAR
At XXVI SCAR it was announced that Peru proposes to apply for Full Membership of SCAR. A requirement for Full Membership is that the adhering body, normally the national academy of science, should be a Full National Member of ICSU. Peru has now taken steps to achieve this and the Executive Board will recommend Peruvian membership to the 27th General Assembly of ICSU in Rio de Janeiro, September 2002. If the Peruvian membership of SCAR is approved in principle by Delegates at XXVII SCAR in July 2002 then Full Membership will take effect from the date of approval of membership of ICSU at the ICSU General Assembly.
Estonia has offered to withdraw from Associate Membership of SCAR. A formal notice of withdrawal has been requested from the Estonian Academy of Sciences. The Executive expressed regret that Estonia had been obliged to withdraw and noted that Estonia was preparing to expand its Antarctic activities. It was agreed that Estonia should remain on the SCAR mailing list.
3. Report of the ad hoc Group on Transition
The draft report of the meeting held in Amsterdam, 20 - 22 August 2001 was tabled. The Executive adopted the report and will implement its proposals (see Appendix 1).
4. Antarctic Data
The first two quarterly reports by the GCMD on progress with the development of the AMD had been received, together with covering reports by L Belbin, manager of the project and M R Thorley, Chairman of JCADM. The Executive found these reports very difficult to interpret and to gauge the progress made. The covering reports were helpful in this but the Executive still regarded the reporting situation as unsatisfactory.
It was agreed that SCAR should pay the first two quarterly instalments subject to the receipt of an itemised invoice, and to the approval of COMNAP. The Executive also agreed that payment of future instalments would be subject to the receipt of satisfactory, comprehensible reports.
At the joint meeting of the SCAR and COMNAP Executive Committees (see Appendix), the COMNAP Executive agreed with the proposed course of action.
5. COMNAP and SCALOP
A joint meeting of the SCAR and COMNAP Executive Committees was held on 22 August 2001. A report of this meeting is given in the Appendix.
6. Groups of Specialists
6.1 Environmental Affairs and Conservation (GOSEAC)
The Executive agreed that GOSEAC should meet early in 2002. The Group should have a substantial agenda with matters arising from XXIV ATCM, including the consideration of 11 revised management plans for protected areas, and the completion of the scoping exercise for the State of the Antarctic Environment Report.
6.2 Seals
The Executive noted that the Antarctic Pack Ice Seals (APIS) programme was now in the data analysis stage. The results of this programme were eagerly awaited as the population statistics for the Ross Seal were necessary to complete the advice to the Antarctic Treaty on the case for continued Specially Protected status for this species.
6.3 Antarctic Neotectonics (ANTEC)
The Executive had received verbal reports of the progress being made by the Group of Specialists and looked forward to receiving a written report in due course. It was noted with satisfaction that the combined inputs from geodesists, geologists and geophysicists were proving to be particularly successful.
6.4 Subglacial Antarctic Lake Exploration (SALE)
The Group of Specialists had been established by Delegates at XXVI SCAR, July 2000, but there had been difficulties finalising the membership so that initial progress had been very slow. J C Priscu, co-convenor, had established a website and a list server for the group. A half-day workshop on subglacial lakes will be held in Amsterdam on 25 August 2001 in conjunction with the SCAR Biology Symposium. The Group of Specialists will hold a formal meeting in Bologna, Italy, 16 -18 September 2001.
H Miller had resigned as co-convenor of the group. J C Priscu will continue as Convenor. M C Kennicutt will continue as Secretary and will also act as Deputy Convenor as required.
6.5 Global Change and the Antarctic (GLOCHANT)
The President welcomed A H L Huiskes, acting Convenor of GLOCHANT, to the meeting. He presented the report of the GLOCHANT VIII meeting held in October 2000 and reported on subsequent developments.
The Executive agreed to the following changes to membership of the Group
of Specialists: M Lange to represent IASC and C Schlüchter to represent
IGBP; J Turner (Working Group on Physics and Chemistry of the Atmosphere),
A C Clarke (EASIZ programme), T H Jacka (ISMASS programme), and I D Goodwin
(ANTIME and ITASE programmes) to be members of the Group. The Executive also
agreed that A H L Huiskes should continue as Acting Convenor until XXVII SCAR.
The Executive noted that GLOCHANT will have run for 10 years by XXVII SCAR which is the normal life-span for a Group of Specialists. In addition, the implementation of the changes under the SCAR re-organisation will mean that there will inevitably be some re-structuring of the whole SCAR global change programme.
The Acting Convenor was asked to encourage the contributors to the SCAR global change synthesis volume to ensure they completed their chapters in time for a draft to be tabled at XXVII SCAR.
The Executive noted the request from the Climate and Cryosphere (CLIC) programme for SCAR co-sponsorship. It was agreed that SCAR should co-sponsor the programme and that the relevant Working Groups should be asked to develop an appropriate programme for providing an Antarctic contribution.
7. Working Groups
There were no formal reports from the Working Groups but the Executive recalled various ongoing activities. The discussion focused on the practical measures necessary to integrate the existing Working Groups into the new structure of three disciplinary Scientific Standing Groups (Geosciences, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences) that will be formed at XXVII SCAR. The Executive Secretary will expand the outline arrangements, proposed by the ad hoc Group on Transition and adopted by the Executive, into a set of guidelines for Chief Officers that will be distributed in March 2002.
8. SCAR Meetings
8.1 XXVII SCAR
Copies of the First Circular for XXVII SCAR, Shanghai, China, 15 - 26 July 2002, were distributed during the Executive Meeting. Copies were also being sent by mail during August 2001 and the information will be available shortly on the XXVII SCAR website http://www.scar27.org. In due course it will be possible to register for the meeting via the website. The President and Executive Secretary met with members of the Local Organising Committee who will also visit the SCAR Secretariat for further discussions on detailed arrangements.
8.2 XXVIII SCAR
The pattern of events for the XXVIII SCAR meeting to be held in Bremerhaven during 2004 had now been established. This will comprise a one-week meeting in June or July 2004 during which there will be a two-day science symposium and the Scientific Standing Groups will meet. The Meeting of SCAR Delegates will be held three months later at a venue to be determined.
9. Antarctic Treaty Meetings
9.1 XII ATSCM, The Hague
The SCAR Observers' Report of XII ATSCM was tabled.
9.2 XXIV ATCM, St Petersburg
The President reported on events at the meeting, noting particularly that consensus had been achieved on the establishment of an Antarctic Treaty Secretariat to be located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He noted that modalities for the operation of the Secretariat and the method of funding the Secretariat had still to be agreed.
The President also reported on the requests that had been made to SCAR. These
included the completion of the scoping exercise for the State of the Antarctic
Environment Report, and advice to COMNAP on scientific aspects of "worst case" and other scenarios for environmental incidents that COMNAP would contribute to the discussions on the development of an annex on environmental liability to the Protocol. SCAR will also contribute to the intersessional contact groups that will examine the eleven revised management plans for protected areas. SCAR should also provide advice on species to be considered for listing as Specially Protected Species under Annex II to the Protocol. It was noted that the protection for Antarctic meteorites requested by SCAR was adopted as a Resolution rather than a Measure and was not as robust as SCAR would have liked. SCAR should also consider further matters such as cumulative impacts and the practical interpretation of the term "dependent and/or associated ecosystems".
SCAR expressed concern at the proposal to drill a further 50 m in the existing
hole above Lake Vostok.
9.3 XXV ATCM
XXV ATCM is scheduled to be held in Warsaw, Poland, 3 - 14 September 2002. These dates have still to be confirmed.
10. Relationships with ICSU bodies
10.1 ICSU
The SCAR Report to ICSU for 2000 was tabled for information. It was noted that the Executive Director of ICSU had recently resigned.
10.2 SCOR (and IOC in Southern Ocean)
The President of SCAR met with the President of SCOR, Professor R A Duce, in April 2001 and issued a joint statement on co-operation between SCAR and SCOR and collaboration with SCAR, SCOR and IOC on co-ordination of research in the Southern Ocean. SCAR has been invited to attend the SCOR Executive Committee Meeting to be held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, during the IAPSO/IABO Joint Scientific Assembly, 21 - 28 October 2001, and the President proposed to attend the meeting. This was seen as a valuable development to strengthen links between SCAR and the oceanographic organisations. The Executive noted that the ad hoc Group on Transition had proposed that there should be an oceanographic group within the new Scientific Standing Group on Physical Sciences.
11. Relationships with other bodies
11.1 IASC
It was noted that SCAR was not represented at the recent meeting of the IASC Council Meeting. The Executive Secretary was asked to contact the IASC Secretariat to determine if there were items of interest to SCAR from the meeting.
11.2 GIWA
SCAR was invited to participate in the GIWA Methods Training Workshop in Bangkok, Thailand, in May/June 2001. The original invitation was to Dr D W H Walton who was unable to attend. Dr C Howard-Williams (New Zealand) expressed his interest and intention to attend the workshop. In the event, the workshop was postponed but confirmation of the new dates was so late in coming that Dr Howard-Williams was unable to re-arrange his schedule and there was no time to find an alternative SCAR representative. As a result, SCAR was not represented but Dr Howard-Williams is continuing to monitor developments.
11.3 UNEP
UNEP invited SCAR to contribute to a Regionally-Based Assessment of Persistent Toxic Substances. Dr J H Priddle agreed to undertake this project for the Antarctic region and will be submitting a report at the end of November 2001. The commitment is to report on the extent and availability of data for the Antarctic region.
11.4 TEA
Teachers Experiencing the Antarctic and Arctic is a major United States educational programme. The organisers wish to expand the programme outside the United States and are requesting an opportunity to make one or two presentations at XXVII SCAR in Shanghai. While the Executive welcomed this initiative it was agreed that a poster display would be more appropriate than a verbal presentation. The President offered to write to the US Polar Research Board confirming this decision.
12. Finance
12.1 2000 Financial Statements
The SCAR Financial Statements for 2000 were tabled. After some explanation and improvement of the presentation, the Executive adopted the statements.
12.2 2001 and 2002 Budgets
The SCAR Budget for 2001 showing income
and expenditure to date was tabled. The budget was revised to accommodate additional
expenditure that had been agreed
since XXVI SCAR. It was noted that the budget allocations for a number of activities
had yet to be paid and the Executive Secretary was asked to determine the status
of these.
The Budget for 2002 was tabled for review. The decision on whether or not to fund a request for new activity was deferred until more information has been received.
12.3 National Contributions
The current status of National contributions to SCAR for 2001 was tabled and the Executive Secretary reported on current status of arrears in contributions. It was noted with satisfaction that some members with serious arrears in contributions had made positive steps to clear these. The Executive noted that one National Committee had been making reduced annual payments. It was agreed that the deficits should be aggregated and the National Committee advised of its total outstanding contributions. If the total of outstanding arrears reaches the equivalent of 3 years contributions the National Committee shall be asked if it wishes either to transfer to Associate Membership or to withdraw from SCAR.
12.4 ICSU grant for 2000
The report of the ICSU grant to SCAR for 2000 was tabled for information. The Executive congratulated Y Le Maho and his colleagues on the research undertaken with the grant.
12.5 Increased levels of Funding
There was considerable discussion on possible methods for increasing the overall annual income of SCAR. There is some urgency for this increase as the recommendations for re-organisation are implemented, especially with respect to the appointment of an Executive Director.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
| ANTEC | Group of Specialists on Antarctic Neotectonics |
| ATCM | Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting |
| ATSCM | Antarctic Treaty Special Consultative Meeting |
| COMNAP | Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes |
| GIWA | Global International Waters Assessment |
| GLOCHANT | Group of Specialists on Global Change and the Antarctic |
| GOSEAC | Group of Specialists on Environmental Affairs and Conservation |
| IABO | International Association for Biological Oceanography |
| IAPSO | International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean |
| IASC | International Arctic Science Committee |
| ICSU | International Council for Science |
| IOC | Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission |
| SALE | Group of Specialists on Subglacial Antarctic Lake Exploration |
| SCALOP | Standing Committee on Antarctic Logistics and Operations |
| SCAR | Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research |
| SCOR | Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research |
| TEA | Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic |
| UNEP | United Nations Environment Programme |
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