You are in: Home » Publications » Reports » Report 16

Report 16

Appendix 6:

Three documents related to the evolution and implementation of the ANTOSTRAT subcommittee - July 1997 to July 1998.

APPENDICES

6A. Response to Consensus Statement on Hobart Workshop, Forwarded to SCAR Executive Committee Meeting, Capetown, 25-29 August, 1997

Message to SCAR Executive: Following the Hobart Workshop, ANTOSTRAT committee chairman Alan Cooper forwarded a message (8^th August 1997) to Peter Clarkson, Executive Secretary, SCAR, which provided a brief summary of proceedings and contained a copy of the consensus statement prepared at the concluding plenary session of the Hobart Workshop (see above). The issue was discussed at the SCAR Executive meeting in Capetown in August 1997.

Reply and response to the ANTOSTRAT committee consensus statement (see above): Text of a message received by Alan Cooper from Peter Clarkson, Executive Secretary, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, Cambridge, United Kingdom (26^th September 1997).

"Thank you for your letter reporting on the ANTOSTRAT Workshop on Late Phanerozoic Earth System Science, held in Hobart during July this year, and the accompanying statement developed at the workshop on Group of Specialists or Coordinating Committee On Antarctic Glaciation &endash; Onset and Development.

The SCAR Executive Committee read the report with great interest and appreciate the work which went into successfully running the workshop. The Executive looks forward to receiving the full report in due course.

The Executive appreciates the importance of the science discussed and the value of the proposed work program in supporting the science. It also noted your request for comment and response on the proposals contained in the letter and the statement. On the basis of the tasks outlined in the statement it considers that a Coordinating Committee under the Working Groups, rather than a Group of Specialists, may be the best mechanism to provide the coordination sought.

SCAR Executive would expect these documents and any workshop report to be referred to the Working Groups on Geology and on Solid-Earth Geophysics. This is the appropriate route for any proposal for a Coordinating Committee or Group of Specialists, and it is the responsibility of the Working Groups to put forward the appropriate proposals to the SCAR delegates when they meet. The delegates will decide on the preferred option to any proposal put forward by the Working Groups."

6B. Recommendations taken to SCAR XXV Meeting
(Concepcion, Chile; July, 1998)

The ANTOSTRAT Steering Committee requests that the Working Group On Geology and Working Group On Solid-Earth Geophysics consider the following recommendations. Recommendations 1 and 2 are based solely on the consensus statement from the ANTOSTRAT Hobart workshop. Recommendation 3 is a refinement based on Steering Committee discussions at the ANTOSTRAT Workshop on Antarctic drilling (Siena, Italy; May 10-14, 1998).

Recommendation 1:

Mindful that the Antarctic region has profoundly affected Earth's climate over the past 130 m.y. (i.e., since Early Cretaceous time), and the region is highly sensitive to climate variations on account of it polar position, and

Being aware that planetary climate has cooled by more than 6 degrees Celsius since Cretaceous time, and that currently-increasing CO2 levels may raise global temperature by an equivalent amount over the next few Centuries, and

Acknowledging the progress made by the SCAR Group of Specialists on Cenozoic Paleoenvironments ANTOSTRAT Project in providing a solid basis for Antarctic glacial history through seismic-stratigraphic investigations and circum-Antarctic drilling initiatives,

That SCAR approve implementation of a Coordinating Committee under the joint working groups on Solid Earth Geophysics and Geology, to ensure continued coordination of current investigations, and initiate new studies to advance understanding of changes in climate of the Antarctic region over the past 130 million years as a guide to possible anticipated changes to the Antarctic region from future planetary climate changes.

Recommendation 2

That the Coordinating Committee be asked to take on the following responsibilities

Promote and expedite science programs for gathering geoscience data on the following

1) inception of Antarctic glaciation since Cretaceous time, and geologic- and climate-processes related to variations in frequency and amplitude of these glaciations on time scales from millenia to millions of years

2) modeling past Antarctic climate and ice cover, taking into account different landscapes of the past, and linking these changes with global-climate- and seal-level-oscillations, as indicated by data from other regions

Promote workshops to discuss the use, acquisition, development and scheduling of new sediment sampling systems to acquire needed geologic "ground-truth" data, and encourage geophysical surveys to support the use of the sampling systems.

Organize symposia over the coming decade to facilitate presentation of new scientific findings, encourage new science programs, and monitor the directions of the overall Program.

Recommendation 3

Recognizing that ANTOSTRAT has over the past nine years, successfully promoted and coordinated geophysical and geological studies of the Antarctic continental margin directed toward understanding Cenozoic Antarctic glacial history, and

Being aware that the earth science community, including the international Ocean Drilling Program, recognize the name of, and understand the science goals of, ANTOSTRAT, and

Mindful that "name recognition" is important for maintaining the momentum of ongoing science activities of the former ANTOSTRAT project,

That the new group be called the ANTOSTRAT Coordinating Committee, to include some members of the former ANTOSTRAT Steering Committee (for continuity of needed expertise) and some new members (to provide expertise in new disciplines).

6C. Recommendation Approved by SCAR Delegates
at SCAR XXV (Concepcion, Chile; July, 1998)

The following is the verbatim text of the recommendation developed by the Joint Working Groups of Geology and Solid Earth Geophysics and presented to SCAR delegates at SCAR XXV. The recommendation was approved, thereby establishing the ANTOSTRAT Subcommittee.

ANTOSTRAT Subcommittee on Late Phanerozoic Glacial History

Under the Joint Working Groups of Geology and Solid Earth Geophysics

Objectives

Recognizing that the Antarctic cryosphere has evolved in a complex non-linear fashion during Late Phanerozoic time (Cretaceous to the present), and that the history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet can only adequately be documented with geologic samples and regional geophysical surveys (seismic), the joint working groups propose to establish a subcomittee to promote and coordinate efforts with ANTIME to acquire stratigraphic data via coring and drilling operations in conjunction with needed geophysical surveys to document ice sheet evolution during Late Phanerozoic.

Recognizing also that ANTOSTRAT (Antarctic Stratigraphy) and ANTIME (Antarctic Ice Margin) have different and complementary objectives (see Addendum I), the subcommittee shall:

I. Coordinate field activities, data, and technology

Promote and coordinate proposals to the Ocean Drilling Program for Antarctic margin drilling;

Oversee the Antarctic Seismic Data Library System (SDLS) in support of Antarctic coring and drilling operations;

Encourage development and use of shallow drilling systems to acquire needed stratigraphic samples from Antarctica;

II. Synthesize glacial history

Encourage the use of stratigraphic samples to constrain models for the onset and evolution of the ice sheet during the Late Phanerozoic;

Integrate the results of their studies with those of the ANTIME Project; and

Conduct workshops and symposia to report science results and facilitate cooperative research projects

Membership

There would be a maximum of 9 members, with new members recommended by vote of the subcommittee and approved by the joint Working Group. Five members of the prior ANTOSTRAT Steering Committee would be retained on the subcommittee for a 2-year term to provide needed continuity and momentum for ongoing projects (e.g., ODP). Four new members would be added following compilation of a short list of candidates, selection by the subcommittee and approval by the joint Working Group

The Subcommittee would initially be:

Discipline	Name	Comment
Geophysics/ANTOSTRAT	A. Cooper*
Geophysics/ODP	P. Barker*
Geophysics/ODP/ANTIME	P. O'Brien*
Geology/fast-ice drilling	P. Barrett*
Climate modeler	** 1	(new position)
Shallow drilling systems	** 2	(new position)
Geology/ANTIME	** 3	(new position)
Ice-sheet modeler	**	(new position)
SDLS Coordinator	G. Brancolini*

* Denotes prior member of the ANTOSTRAT steering committee.

** Short list of names being compiled.

[12/98 postcript: Robert Oglesby (1), Yngve Kristoffersen (2), and Ian Goodwin (3) have been

selected for the new positions on the steering committee. One position remains open.]

With the likely ending of ODP drilling operations around Antarctica in early 2002, the work of the subcommittee would be reviewed and evaluated by the joint Working Group at the SCAR XXVII meeting in 2002.

Projected meetings

The ANTOSTRAT Subcommittee expects to organize workshops and symposia to facilitate most of its activities. Occasionally, members will attend important outside meetings to formally assure representation of Antarctic coring/drilling interests. For the coming few years, activities at the following meetings are planned.

Year	Meeting
1999	International Conference on Scientific Drilling (May 26-29; Vancouver, Canada) (Attend to assure Antarctica's involvement in future Ocean Drilling Plans)
1999	Cape Robert's Workshop on Ross Sea Drilling, in conjunction with ISAES (July 1999; New Zealand) (No funds requested)
1999	Subcommittee planning meeting and Workshop on drilling priorities and SDLS future operations, in conjunction with ISAES (July 1999; New Zealand)
2000	Workshop on Antarctic shallow drilling technologies (Spring 2000; UK likely venue)
2000	Workshop on Antarctic margin drilling results -- ODP, Cape Roberts, and others (Summer 2000; Pacific Grove, USA likely venue)
2001	Regional working group meetings for Antarctic coring and drilling (Several locations)
2002	International ANTOSTRAT Symposium (Italy)

Addendum I. Comparison of ANTOSTRAT and ANTIME

	ANTOSTRAT (Antarctic Offshore Stratigraphy)	ANTIME (Antarctic Ice Margin)
Objectives	Long-term thresholds in Pre-Pleistocene ice sheets (e.g. Onset, First major expansion, Transition from Pliocene to Pleistocene conditions) 10,000 years to 1 Million years environmental change	Short-term changes in Pleistocene-Modern ice sheets Annual/Decadal environmental change
Geologic age range	200,000 years to 130 Million years	0 to 200,000 years
Methods	Deep drilling Deep seismic Paleomagnetic dating Biostratigraphy Sequence stratigraphy Ice cores not available yet	Shallow coring Shallow seismic 14C, 210Pb dating Paleobiology Geomorphology Ice core correlation