Documents

ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland

Attachment 55 to Information Paper 98 (IP098)

ATT055 to IP098: Broadband Calibration of Marine Seismic Sources – A Case Study

Summary:

At earlier meetings of the Committee for environmental protection there has been discussion of the problems associated with identifying the “footprint” of acoustic sources when in use in the Southern Ocean. Whilst there have been studies on research vessels elsewhere in the world no such data appeared to exist for research vessels operating within the CCAMLR or Treaty Area. Earlier papers from SCAR have urged that Parties interested in developing a deeper understanding of the possible interactions between marine mammals and acoustic systems should undertake targeted research in order to provide the relevant data on which management proposals could be based. The Alfred Wegener Institute undertook a characterisation of Polarstern with a characteristic air gun array, using a calibration system established in Norway. This paper was presented as a draft at the Cadiz Workshop on marine acoustics and is submitted here as an example of the research that SCAR has suggested is needed. It will be submitted for publication to a scientific journal this year.

ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland

Information Paper

IP076: SCAR Lecture: Climate Change: an Antarctic Perspective

by Valérie Masson-Delmotte

Summary of slide text and black and white overview of slides. See also the lecture slides and animation.

ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland

Information Paper

IP079: SCAR Report to XXIX ATCM

Summary:

SCARʼs main objective is to initiate, develop, and co-ordinate high quality international scientific research in the Antarctic region, and on the role of the Antarctic region in the Earth system. SCAR coordinates scientific research that adds value to ongoing national research by enabling national researchers to tackle issues of pan-Antarctic scale and having global reach. SCAR also provides objective and independent scientific advice on issues affecting the management of the environment to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings; the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR); and the Advisory Committee of the Agreement on Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP).

Through 2005, SCAR focused on ramping up the effort on its five major new Scientific Research Programmes (SRPs) that will be SCARʼs scientific flagships for the next 5–10 years, and published implementation plans for each. They are:

• Antarctica and the Global Climate System (AGCS), a study of the modern ocean-atmosphere-ice system;
• Antarctic Climate Evolution (ACE), a study of climate change over the past 34 million years since glaciation began;
• Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic (EBA), a study of the response of life to change;
• Subglacial Antarctic Lake Exploration (SALE), a study of the chemistry and biology of lakes long buried beneath the ice sheet;
• Interhemispheric Conjugacy Effects in Solar-Terrestrial and Aeronomy Research (ICESTAR), a study of the response of the Earthʼs outer atmosphere to the changing impact of the solar wind at both poles.

Particular highlights include the following: A major warming was revealed in the Antarctic winter troposphere that is larger than any previously identified regional tropospheric warming on Earth. The largest warming is close to 5 km above sea level where temperatures increased at a rate of 0.5 – 0.7° C per decade over the last 30 years. Numerical models show that the shift in the Southern hemisphere Annular Mode in the atmosphere in recent decades was probably due to anthropogenic forcing. This is the first evidence that the rapid warming on the Antarctic Peninsula is man-made. SCAR launched the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML), a major five-year international project to investigate Antarcticaʼs marine biodiversity. A science plan was published and expeditions are now being organised for the International Polar Year. The inventory of sub-glacial lakes increased to over 140, showing that they are widespread beneath Antarcticaʼs ice sheets. These lakes are believed to help to control ice flow.

Around 750 abstracts have been submitted for SCARʼs second Open Science Conference (Hobart, 12–14 July 2006), which should be very well attended. SCAR programmes were prominent among the proposals endorsed by the Steering Committee for the International Polar Year. 

ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland

Information Paper

IP087: SCAR’s Involvement in the International Polar Year (2007-2009)

Summary:

Along with IASC, SCAR is a member ex-officio of the IPY Joint Committee (JC) established by ICSU and the WMO on November 2004, for planning, coordination, guidance and oversight of the IPY. Of the 208 proposals approved by the JC, 97 were relevant to SCAR. 38 of these were Antarctic; 59 were Bipolar. This document focuses on these 97 proposals.

ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland

Information Paper

IP088: Practical Biological Indicators of Human Impacts in Antarctica (with COMNAP)

Summary:

Protection of the environment is a high priority for all nations that conduct science and operate in Antarctica. The Antarctic Treaty System, with its Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Fauna and Flora (1964) and its Protocol on Environmental Protection (1998), prescribes comprehensive protective measures and monitoring activities to assess outcomes. All signatories to the Antarctic Treaty pledge to uphold these principles in accordance with international requirements and domestic legislation regarding protection of the environment.

Over the past decade the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) have been investigating the most practical and useful monitoring methods and design elements to determine the extent and significance of human impacts on the Antarctic to meet international and national obligations. In the course of this physical, chemical and biological measures have been considered in detail.

For the most recent discussions forty-four (44) participants from fourteen (14) countries gathered for two and a half days to discuss the status of biological indicators of human impact in Antarctica. The workshop was held in Bryan/College Station, Texas, USA from 16-18 March, 2005. The US National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs, COMNAP, SCAR and Texas A&M University provided financial support to convene the workshop. This paper gives the workshop terms of reference, general discussions, key findings and recommendations.

ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland

Information Paper

IP089: Plans for an Antarctic Climate Assessment – Trends and Impacts

Summary:

Following the production of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment early in 2005, the SCAR Executive Committee agreed at its meeting in Sofia (July 11-13, 2005) that a comparable and complementary assessment of the Antarctic should be produced for the guidance of policy makers in the Antarctic Treaty System and to inform the public. SCAR’s Executive Director and the Chief Officers of SCAR’s Standing Scientific Group on Physical Sciences and of SCAR’s Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System were charged with developing an appropriate document, for presentation in due course to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. It was agreed that the bulk of the work would take place through SCAR’s Scientific Research Programme on Antarctica in the Global Climate System (AGCS), led by Dr. John Turner of the British Antarctic Survey. The final draft of the report will be sent out for peer review prior to publication in the refereed scientific literature.

This plan is brought to the attention of the XXIX ATCM in the expectation that some Parties may wish to contribute to the Assessment in one way or another, and to stimulate debate about the possible direction that such an Assessment may take. We intend to form an international scientific steering committee, and would welcome suggestions for scientific participation in that committee.

ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland

Information Paper

IP098: Broadband Calibration of Marine Seismic Sources – A Case Study

Links to Attachment 55 (ATT055)

ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland

An overview of SCAR Papers submitted to ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006

ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland

Working Paper

WP037: Biodiversity in the Antarctic

Summary:

This paper discusses biodiversity in the Antarctic. It was presented as IP 85 at XXVIII ATCM (IP085), in Stockholm, as the document accompanying the SCAR Lecture. Delegates requested that it be brought back to the ATCM in Edinburgh as a Working Paper, so as to allow substantive discussion of the points raised. The text remains unchanged from XXVIII ATCM IP 85.

ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland

Working Paper

WP038: Proposal to List Southern Giant Petrel as a Specially Protected Species under Annex II

Summary:

This paper lays out the details to support the designation of southern giant petrel as a Specially Protected Species. It outlines the criteria, the procedure for proposal of a species for Special Protection, and recommends that the Southern Giant Petrel be considered for designation as a Specially Protected Species, with an associated Protection Action Plan.

ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland

Working Paper

WP039: Proposal to De-list Antarctic Fur Seals as Specially Protected Species

Summary:

At III ATCM in 1964 the Parties addressed conservation issues for the first time and approved the Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Flora and Fauna. In its Annex A were listed those species which were to be designated as Specially Protected Species. These comprised “All species of the genus Arctocephalus, Fur Seals” and “Ommatophoca rossii, Ross Seal”.

At XXVII ATCM SCAR was asked to examine the available data for the species currently in Annex A and provide a recommendation on the future of these listings. It provided a paper at ATCM XXVIII (WP 33) reviewing the data for Fur Seals, and recommended that, on the basis of their present populations and the trends of these populations, they could not be considered in any way threatened or endangered under the IUCN criteria. They were therefore no longer in need of special protection and should be delisted.

This proposal was supported by some Parties whilst others requested that SCAR provide further information, ensuring that the data assessed included all available data and that CCAMLR be consulted over seal mortality in CCAMLR fisheries. This paper provides the evidence in a format agreed at CEP VIII and a recommends that Fur Seals be delisted.

ATCM XXIX and CEP IX 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland

Working Paper

WP041: SCAR Report on Marine Acoustics and the Southern Ocean

Summary:

This paper provides recommendations arising from discussions at an international workshop on Marine Acoustics and the Southern Ocean, which was held in Cadiz, Spain, in January 2006. The purpose of the Cadiz workshop was to review improvements in knowledge and understanding of the interactions between marine mammals and noise generated by human activities in the Southern Ocean, as well as improving the original risk assessments for particular equipment types and considering the effectiveness of recommended mitigation measures.