Antartica landscape

History

The plans for the IGY, the International Geophysical Year, 1957-58, included a major Antarctic component.

At the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) Antarctic meeting held in Stockholm on 9 – 11 September 1957, it was decided that there was need for further international organisation of scientific activity in Antarctica, and that a committee should be set up for this purpose. The Bureau of ICSU invited the twelve nations actively engaged in Antarctic research to nominate a delegate each to a Special Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR).

Delegates were also invited from the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), the International Geographical Union (IGU), the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and the Union Radio Scientific Internationale (URSI). The following permanent delegates were nominated: Argentina – Captain L. de la Canal; Australia – Professor J. van Mieghem; France – Mons. B. Imbert; Japan – Professor T. Nagata; New Zealand – Dr. E. I. Robertson; Norway – Professor L. Harang (also representing URSI); South Africa – J.J. Taljaard; United Kingdom – Dr G. de Q Robin; United States – Dr L.M. Gould; USSR – Dr M.M. Somov; IUBS – Dr A. Brunn; IUGG – Ing. Gen. G. Laclavère; and IGU – Dr V. Schytt.

The first meeting of SCAR was held at the Hague from 3 – 6 February 1958 and all the participating nations and societies were represented except New Zealand and South Africa. Dr R. Fraser and Colonel E. Herbays represented ICSU. The meeting elected Ing. Gen. G. Laclavère President, Professor K.E. Bullen Vice-President, and Dr V. Schytt Secretary. The main task of the committee at the first meeting was to “prepare a plan for the scientific exploration of Antarctica in the years following the completion of the International Geophysical Year programme”. A Finance Committee was also formed. Three working groups were set up to discuss and prepare future research programmes and each later reported their recommendations to the Committee.

Subsequently SCAR was renamed the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

Delegates at the VI SCAR meeting in Boulder, Colorado, USA in August 1962

Geographical Scope

For the purposes of SCAR, in 1958 “Antarctica” was defined as being bounded by the Antarctic convergence, and also including the Sub-Antarctic islands on which International Geophysical Year observations were being made.

In 2005, this definition was enlarged as follows (from the SCAR Strategic Plan 2004-2010): SCAR’s area of interest includes Antarctica, its offshore islands, and the surrounding Southern Ocean including the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the northern boundary of which is the Subantarctic Front. Subantarctic islands that lie north of the Subantarctic Front and yet fall into SCAR’s area of interest include: Ile Amsterdam, Ile St Paul, Macquarie Island and Gough Island.

International Polar Year 2007-2008

The International Polar Year (IPY) 2007–2008 became the largest coordinated research programme in the Earth’s polar regions, following in the footsteps of its predecessor, the IGY. An estimated 50,000 researchers, local observers, educators, students, and support personnel from more than 60 nations were involved in the 228 international IPY projects (170 in science, 1 in data management, and 57 in education and outreach) and related national efforts. IPY generated intensive research and observations in the Arctic and Antarctica over a two-year period, 1 March 2007–1 March 2009, with many activities continuing beyond that date.

For more information on the IPY, see “Understanding Earth’s Polar Challenges: International Polar Year 2007-2008” on the ICSU website.

Further information:

Publications on the History of SCAR:

A Brief Account of the Evolution of SCAR, 1958-2006 by Peter D.Clarkson.

A History of SCAR, 2004-2010. C.P. Summerhayes, 2011. SCAR Occasional Publication. SCAR, Cambridge. ISBN 978 0 948277 26 9

Analysis: Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, M. Kennicutt, 2010. Published by Research Media.

Science in the snow – sixty years of international collaboration through the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, David W H Walton, Peter D Clarkson and Colin P Summerhayes: 321 pp., 2nd edition 2018. Cambridge, SCAR. ISBN 978 0 948277 56 6

SCAR Website Archive:

The British Library holds a UK web archive showing a wide range of websites and, through copies taken at regular intervals, how they have developed over time.  The SCAR website has been part of the archive since March 2012, showing the various version and the change over time.

To access the full list of captures, showing the development of the site over time, visit the UKWA Pywb Access page.

Tinker-Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica

The “Tinker-Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica” was presented to an individual in the fields of Antarctic science and/or policy who demonstrated potential for sustained and significant contributions that would enhance the understanding and/or preservation of Antarctica. The Tinker Foundation’s goal was to establish a prestigious award that recognizes excellence in Antarctic research by honouring someone in the early to mid-stages of his or her career.

The Tinker-Muse prize provided recognition of the important work being done by the individual and to call attention to the significance of understanding Antarctica in a time of change. The Prize was awarded by the Tinker Foundation and administered by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) between 2008 and 2018, closing after the tenth award in July 2018.

View the Tinker-Muse Prize legacy website