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You are in:  Home » Publications » Bulletins » Bulletin 152

SCAR BULLETIN No. 152, January 2004

• SCAR Executive Committee Meeting Brest, France, 11–15 July 2003
• Joint Meeting of the SCAR and COMNAP Executive Committees
• List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
• XXVIII SCAR Science Week Bremen, Germany

Appendix 1

Joint Meeting of the SCAR and COMNAP Executive Committees
Brest, France, 11 July 2003
Draft Report

Opening formalities

K A Erb took the chair and opened the meeting.

Present:

COMNAP

K A Erb (Chairman); G Jugie (Chairman elect); O Watanabe, J Berguño; K A Pitt (Chairman, SCALOP); J C A Sayers, A Guichard (Executive Secretaries).

SCAR

J Thiede (President); R H Rutford (Past-President); C G Rapley, J López-Martínez, C Howard-Williams (Vice-Presidents); A Capra (Deputy Chief Officer, SSG Geosciences); S L Chown (Chief Officer, SSG Life Sciences); P D Clarkson (Executive Secretary).

The Chairman began by outlining recent COMNAP activities including the results of the elections to the Executive Committee held earlier in the week. G Jugie and M Augner were elected COMNAP and SCALOP Chairmen, respectively, (who will assume their positions from the COMNAP XVI meeting in July 2004), and J Berguño was elected as an additional member; A Guichard who will succeed J C A Sayers as Executive Secretary in September 2003.
J Thiede responded by outlining recent developments in the reorganization of SCAR that will be completed at XXVIII SCAR in July and October 2004. C G Rapley spoke of the improved communications between SCAR groups and R H Rutford reported the importance and effectiveness of including the SCAR Scientific Standing Group and Standing Committee Chief Officers in the SCAR Executive Meeting.

1. Data issues and the AMD

The meeting confirmed that the remaining payment to the NASA GCMD for work undertaken developing the AMD during the period July 2001 to December 2002 should be paid.
K A Erb noted that D Peterson, Chairman of JCADM, had met with an ad hoc COMNAP working group that had subsequently recommended COMNAP to continue funding the GCMD. COMNAP then discussed JCADM in plenary session and, while a variety of opinions was expressed, there was adequate support for the AMD project. K A Erb proposed to the Joint Executive Meeting that COMNAP would be prepared to pay one third (US $ 3,333) of the US $ 10,000 per annum to the GCMD to continue to maintain and populate the AMD, contingent on SCAR support for the activity and subject to a satisfactory proposal from D Peterson as Chairman of JCADM. The balance of US $ 6,667 would be paid by SCAR. This was agreed.

The proposal from D Peterson should include a statement of the work programme for the coming year and indicate clearly the targets to be achieved. JCADM would be required to provide annual reports to SCAR and COMNAP showing progress against previously established milestones.

The meeting agreed that STADM was still required to provide SCAR and COMNAP with independent oversight of the work done by the GCMD. STADM should report annually on the maintenance and effectiveness of the AMD. The membership of STADM should be one third COMNAP and two-thirds SCAR. D Peterson would need to be replaced now that he is Chairman of JCADM.

The meeting noted that the members of the Joint (SCAR–COMNAP) Committee on Antarctic Data Management (JCADM) are representatives (normally the managers) of the National Antarctic Data Centres (NADCs). The role of the Steering Committee for Antarctic Data Management (STADM) is to monitor progress on the development of the Antarctic Master Directory (AMD) and to provide SCAR and COMNAP with an independent assessment of the effectiveness of the current arrangements with the Global Change Master Directory (GCMD).

2. ATCM issues

The success of the SCAR presentation to XXVI ATCM was recognized and SCAR confirmed its intention to provide a similar presentation to XXVII ATCM in May–June 2004. K A Erb noted that he had heard many favourable comments from members of delegations and that COMNAP hoped to assist with preparations for subsequent presentations. He continued that COMNAP did not intend to propose a separate presentation but said that a scientific presentation that also conveyed a sense of the necessary associated logistics and operational support could make the presentation even more meaningful to Delegates. The joint Executive Committees agreed that this concept had merit and that they would seek to implement it.

K A Erb noted that COMNAP had been asked by CEP to review an earlier working paper submitted by the UK to the ATCM considering the operation of aircraft in proximity to concentrations of birds in the Antarctic, and that a COMNAP working group was now proposing a guideline with a standard limit of 500 m. K A Erb commented that this was only partly an operational issue and that SCAR input would be important. SCAR offered to request the Expert Group on Birds to provide advice to COMNAP on this matter prior to presentation of a paper to XXVII ATCM.

K A Erb also noted that COMNAP and SCAR had been asked by the ATCM to suggest indicators for the state of the Antarctic environment to be considered by a CEP intersessional contact group. He reported that COMNAP had discussed a number of possibilities including temperatures, waste retrograded from Antarctica compared to tonnage carried in and, perhaps, an indicator associated with fuel. COMNAP also expressed interest in the use of aerial photography and satellite imagery series over the longer term to show changes in the “footprint” of activities, particularly around stations. SCAR agreed that this would be a useful approach and suggested that changes in ice cover could also be incorporated.

K A Erb reminded the meeting that XXVI ATCM had proposed that a workshop on tourism should be held in Tromsø later this year and that SCAR and COMNAP had been invited to participate. SCAR explained that it did not normally have any involvement with the tourist industry and COMNAP expressed that its main concern is the disruption to programmes when help needed to be given to adventure tourism activities. It was agreed that both Executive Committees would follow the development of the workshop planning and decide on possible representation in due course.

SCAR reported on the establishment of an Expert Group to continue the study of the impacts of marine acoustic techniques in the Antarctic environment and asked if COMNAP could help to identify potential members of the group.

3. Potential SCAR programmes

COMNAP noted the important role that SCAR played in evaluating the scientific content of recent CEEs submitted by national programmes to the ATCM and also recognized the considerable work done by SCAR in advising on the scientific content of new and revised draft management plans for Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs). COMNAP also welcomed the continuing provision of advance information from SCAR on proposed programmes that would require major logistic operations. In this respect, C G Rapley was thanked for his earlier presentation on the current state of preparation for the IPY in 2007–08.

4. Medical issues

K A Erb reported on the establishment of a medical officers network, led by C Bachelard (France), working by e-mail on medical screening standards. A Coordinating Group, chaired by J R Dudeney, will oversee this work. It was emphasized that Terms of Reference for the network and the Group would focus on operational issues only and would not be concerned with medical research. SCAR and COMNAP should exchange membership lists of the COMNAP network and the SCAR Expert Group.
No further issues of common concern were raised and the meeting was closed.