Documents

SCAR XXIX ANNEX: Budget Allocations, Predicted Income and Planned Expenditure 2004-2008

SCAR XXIX IP01: Informal Report of the SCAR Open Science Conference, Hobart, Tasmania, 12-14 July 2006

Report on SCAR Science Week (8-14 July, 2006) (based on a report by Ian Allison)

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia1 8-19 July 2006

SCAR XXIX IP02: Report of Chief Officers’ Meeting

Report from the SCAR SSG Chief Officers Meeting, Sofia, 0915-1705, July 10, 2005

Attendees:

J. Turner (SSG-PS), A. Huiskes (SSG-LS), A. Capra (SSG-GS), D. Walton (SC-ATS), T. de Bruin (JCADM), C. Summerhayes (Secretariat), M. Kaczmarska (Secretariat), P. Clarkson (Secretariat)

The Chief Officers’ (COs’) Meeting took place in Sofia on July 10th, 2005, prior to the SCAR Executive Committee Meeting, on 11-13th July 2005. The main purpose of this meeting was to enable the Chief Officers to meet to discuss potential interdisciplinary linkages between the three SSGs, and to discuss other topics from the agenda of the Executive Committee meeting that were of mutual interest, in preparation for that meeting, The COs’ meeting proved to be successful and it was agreed that it should take place regularly in advance of SCAR Executive Committee Meetings in the future.

SCAR XXIX IP03: Report of Cross-SSG Linkages Meeting

SCAR Cross-Linkages Workshop 22 – 24 November, 2005
Free University, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands

Objectives

1. To explore or clarify the potential interdisciplinary linkages between SCAR’s research programmes.
2. To establish what relevant data are already available.
3. To set out a plan for acquiring data needed to develop linkages.

SCAR XXIX IP04: SCAR Strategic Plan 2004-2010

Executive Summary

SCAR, the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, is the principal organisation dealing with Antarctic scientific research. Formed in 1958 to continue activities begun during the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58, it is an interdisciplinary committee of the International Council for Science (ICSU). Its area of interest includes Antarctica, its offshore islands, and the surrounding Southern Ocean including the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

SCARʼs mission is “to be the leading independent organisation for facilitating and coordinating Antarctic research, and for identifying issues emerging from greater scientific understanding of the region that should be brought to the attention of policy makers”. To achieve its mission, SCAR aims to achieve five main objectives:

1. 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;
2. to provide objective and independent scientific advice to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings and other organizations on issues of science and conservation affecting the management of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.
3. to facilitate free and unrestricted access to Antarctic scientific data and information;
4. to develop scientific capacity in all SCAR Members, especially with respect to younger scientists, and to promote the incorporation of Antarctic science in education at all levels;
5. to communicate scientific information about the Antarctic region to the public.

To ensure that it can deliver effectively on these objectives, SCAR has undergone a major reorganisation that was completed in 2004 with

1. the transformation of its Secretariat into an Executive Office headed by an Executive Director,
2. the creation of a streamlined structure led by Standing Scientific Groups on Geosciences, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences,
3. a more focused scientific research programme,
4. a new Constitution and Rules of Procedure, and
5. a new financial strategy.

SCAR is focusing its efforts on five Scientific Research Programmes addressing major topical issues of the day. These programmes are:

• Subglacial Lake Exploration (SALE)
• Antarctica and the Global Climate System (AGCS)
• Antarctic Climate Evolution (ACE)
• Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic (EBA)
• Inter-hemispheric Conjugacy Effects in Solar-Terrestrial and Aeronomy Research (ICESTAR)

The bulk of the activities contributing to these programmes will be funded nationally. SCARʼs international coordination is intended to add value to those national efforts.

SCAR also supports a variety of other scientific activities in which value is added to national efforts through international cooperation. These activities are coordinated by Action Groups operating for short periods, and Expert Groups where more time is needed to achieve success.

SCARʼs activities will make significant contributions to achieving the goals of the International Polar Year (IPY) (2007–09). SCAR will work with partner organisations to influence the development of the IPY.

SCAR recognises the growing importance of working in partnership with other organisations having a global remit and including Antarctic interests, in order to place SCARʼs research firmly in the global context.

SCARʼs Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System will work closely with the Standing Scientific Groups and the Executive Committee to bring key scientific issues to the attention of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

In order to improve for the benefit of scientists the way in which data and information are managed and made available, SCAR will

1. review the activities of the Joint SCAR/COMNAP Committee on Antarctic Data Management (JCADM) and the Expert Group on Geographical Information (EGGI), andp
2. work with JCADM and EGGI and the scientific community to develop a strategy for data and information management.p

SCAR will also develop a strategy setting out how it proposes to meet the requirement to develop scientific capacity in all SCAR Members, especially with respect to younger scientists, and to promote the incorporation of Antarctic science in education at all levels. One key element of this strategy will be the development of a Fellowship programme building on the scheme that was supported in 2003-04 by the Prince of Asturias Prize.

SCAR will in addition develop a strategy to meet the requirement to communicate scientific information about the Antarctic region to the public. Steps have already been taken in this direction with renewal of the SCAR web site, and production of a SCAR poster and Power-Point presentation that are available on the web site.

To ensure that progress is made in these different areas, the members of SCARʼs Executive Committee will each carry a responsibility for a specific activity from a list including: the Antarctic Treaty System; Scientific Affairs; Administration; Data and Information Management; Finance; Communication; and Capacity Building and Education.

SCAR XXIX IP05: SCAR Communications Plan

Executive Summary

One of SCAR’s five primary goals is “to communicate scientific information about the Antarctic region to the public.” Accordingly, the SCAR Delegates meeting in Bremerhaven in October 2004 approved development of a Communication Plan as a key management tool for achieving SCAR’s long-term goals. This strategic decision accords with the recognition by SCAR’s parent body, ICSU, in its Strategic Plan 2006-2012, that: “Scientists and their representative organisations have to accept increasing responsibility and develop new mechanisms to share their understanding with many different stakeholders in society. Renewed efforts have to be made to ensure that [the voice of the science community] is heard where it is most needed.

The overall objectives of the SCAR Communications Plan are to:

• raise the visibility of SCAR and its activities;
• promote the concepts that inspire SCAR’s agenda;
• raise awareness of the importance of scientific research in the Antarctic region;
• ensure successful implementation of SCAR’s research programmes and activities;
• develop cooperation with partners and supporters;
• mobilise human and financial resources;
• link Secretariat staff more effectively with the SCAR Executive Committee, National Committees, scientific activities and programmes, and partners;
• link SCAR more effectively with other Antarctic organisations; and
• help to build the capacity of new Members to enable them to participate in and benefit from SCAR activities and programmes.

The Plan identifies a suite of target communities or audiences, each of which will require the SCAR message tailored in a different way. Because many of these communities are at the national level, the task of communicating SCAR’s message has to be shared between the SCAR Secretariat acting centrally and at the international level, and the National SCAR Committees acting nationally and at the local level.

Key audiences for the SCAR message include: the scientific research community; the pre- university school population; the general public, including the media; policy makers; decision-makers and funders; and SCAR’s management.

The Plan describes a variety of communications tools that may be adapted for the purpose at hand, and a mechanism for evaluating the performance of communication efforts.

Where appropriate, SCAR’s communications at national and/or international levels should be carried out jointly with the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes (COMNAP).

The Plan was approved by the Executive Committee at its meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, July 11-13, 2005, following consultation with national committees and delegates by e-mail.

SCAR XXIX IP06: SCAR Publications since XXVIII SCAR

SCAR XXIX IP07: Report of SCAR History Group

Overview

Estimated SCAR funding required for the next 2 years (in USD): 5.000 USD

Summary of five main achievements (highlights):

1. Establishment of action group consisting of polar scientists, historians of science and other scholars interested in history of Antarctic research.
2. Organisation of the first workshop on the history of Antarctic research at Munich on 1-2 July 2005.
3. Collection of papers and review process of the contributions of the 1st workshop.
4. Publication of the proceedings of the 1st workshop.
5. Organisation of the 2nd workshop to be held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile in Santiago (Chile) on 21-23 September 2006 has already started.

Report also includes progress against prior work, proposed work plan for the next two years, IPY contributions, recommendations and membership.

SCAR XXIX IP08: Activities of the Secretariat

Activities of the SCAR Secretariat since XXVIII SCAR and Plans for 2007 and beyond.

SCAR XXIX IP09:The Awards Scheme

Overview

At recent meetings of the SCAR Executive Committee there have been some initial discussions on the proposal to institute a SCAR medal for outstanding service to SCAR or to Antarctic science. This matter was discussed at the Executive Committee Meeting in Sofia (July 11-13, 2005), following which this paper has been further developed through e-mail consultation with the Executives and Chief Officers, and approved by the Executive Committee for presentation to the XXIX Delegates meeting.

SCAR XXIX IP10: Report of the Standing Committee on ATS (XXVIII ATCM)

Introduction

ATCM XXVIII took place in Stockholm from 6 -17 June 2005. J.Thiede, DWH Walton, CP Summerhayes, PD Clarkson and MI Kaczmarska attended on behalf of SCAR. The SCAR delegation also hosted D Carlson, Executive Director of the IPY Programme Office during the second week. Prof Steven Chown came for three days in the first week to deliver the SCAR Lecture.

The meeting took place in the Technical Museum and was very well organised by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It proved to be a very busy meeting with 72 Working papers and 125 Information Papers, the bulk of which were taken by the Committee for Environmental Protection. his paper summarises SCAR activity at the ATCM. 

SCAR XXIX IP11: Report of the Standing Committee on ATS (XXIX ATCM)

Introduction

1. The meeting in Edinburgh took place at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre from 12-23 June 2006. A Committee on Environmental Protection (CEP) Workshop on strategy and planning on 9-10 June 2006 preceded this.
2. The SCAR Delegation comprised Colin Summerhayes, David Walton and Marzena Kaczmarska for the whole period, with the addition of Steven Chown for the CEP week, Jörn Thiede for the first three days and Valerie Masson-Delmotte for the SCAR lecture. SCAR hosted a short reception immediately after the lecture to bring delegates together. Walton, Chown and Summerhayes also attended the CEP Workshop prior to ATCM.
3. One day was devoted entirely to the IPY, and the ATCM agreed an IPY Declaration. The IPY will remain on the agenda for reporting and discussion until at least 2009. The IPY Programme Office attended the meeting in its own right.
4. Romania began to take an active part this year and wishes to join SCAR to develop its science programmes. Belarus was admitted as an Observer country for the first time. The Czech Republic indicated its ongoing interest in joining SCAR, and that it plans to form an appropriate national committee.
5. This was a good meeting for SCAR with plenty of evidence in both the CEP and the ATCM reports of the range and importance of the advice and information we provide.

SCAR XXIX IP12: Annual SCAR Report to ATCM (Edinburgh)

Executive 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.

SCAR XXIX IP13: Report of Acoustics Workshop, Cadiz, January 2006

Introduction

1. At XXIII ATCM in 2000 some Parties first expressed an interest in the potential effects of marine acoustic equipment on marine animals in the Southern Ocean, asking for an assessment of the available evidence to guide them in permitting procedures. At that time there were differences between national permitting agencies in assumptions about the level of impact on marine animals that acoustic equipment could have, resulting in differing requirements for environmental impact assessment and mitigation.
2. In order to provide all Parties with an up to date assessment of what was known SCAR convened an international workshop in Cambridge in 2001 from which an Information Paper (IP24) and Working Paper (WP23) were provided to XXV ATCM for discussion.
3. This first assessment reviewed the literature, considered the available evidence for mitigation measures and suggested a number of conclusions. Principal amongst these were that acoustic releases and similar low power sources were not considered any threat, that the evidence available did not justify a ban on seismic surveys or scientific echo-sounders in Antarctic waters, that mitigation strategies should be investigated to evaluate their effectiveness, and that further research and monitoring should be undertaken by the agencies to fill some of the considerable lacuna in the available evidence.
4. The field of marine acoustics is however one of continuing and rapid development at a global scale. Since many of the species about which concern had been expressed (especially cetaceans) are migratory it was considered important to continue to review new evidence and update Parties on its significance. Accordingly SCAR held a second international workshop in Cambridge in 2004, using it to provide IP 78 for XXVII ATCM. In this paper a summary of major advances was provided (dealing specifically with considerations of Temporary Threshold Shift in animal hearing, and lessons drawn from beaked whale strandings) whilst the bulk of the paper provided the first systematic risk evaluation of 10 equipment types, linking the consequences and the likelihood in a matrix system. A much fuller account of the workshop conclusions has been posted as a SCAR Report on the SCAR web site.
5. The discussion engendered at XXVII ATCM by this paper indicated that many Parties wished to be kept up to date with developments in this highly technical field. SCAR was therefore asked to bring a further report to XXIX ATCM, which reflected the latest scientific understandings generally and how these were relevant to the Southern Ocean.
6. To consider the evidence SCAR convened its third international workshop, this time kindly hosted by the University of Cadiz in Spain in January 2006 over a period of three days. The open workshop was advertised through SCAR and COMNAP to all countries active in the Antarctic. Of particular importance was the participation of the Scientific Director of the International Whaling Commission as well as scientists who had taken part in the recent Marine Mammal Commission workshops on marine acoustics as well as ASCOBANS (Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas) and ASCOBAMS (Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area).
7. In addition SCAR had requested COMNAP to determine as far as possible details of all the marine acoustic equipment currently in use on research and national logistic vessels operating in the Southern Ocean. This has been submitted as an Information paper by COMNAP.
8. 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.
9. As well as individual scientific papers the participants had available the draft report from the Marine Mammal Commission International Workshop in London in 2004, the report “Marine mammal populations and ocean noise – determining when noise causes biologically significant effects” published in 2005 by the US National Research Council, various reports submitted to the Scientific Committee of the IWC, a paper detailing the development of an acoustic model for Polarstern undertaken by AWI, and a progress report on discussions of a workshop at Oxford in October 2005 on international priorities in marine acoustic research.

SCAR XXIX IP14: Report of SCAR Observer to XXIV CCAMLR

Report of the Twenty-fourth Meeting on the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources

Hobart, Australia, 24 October to 4 November 2005

by Graham Hosie
SCAR Observer to CCAMLR

SCAR XXIX IP15: SCAR’s Partnerships on Global Change Research

Delegates are asked to note and approve developments, including the proposed co-sponsorship of ICED, and to ask ICSU to ensure that its review of IGBP and WCRP takes account of the need for such bodies to create stronger links to ICSU’s Interdisciplinary Bodies (including SCAR), to obtain full value from the investments in environmental research both globally and regionally.

SCAR XXIX IP16: The Cryosphere Theme Document

Progress on the Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership (IGOS-P) Cryosphere Theme

The IGOS Cryosphere Theme is a combined initiative of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) Project of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). The Theme intends to create a framework for improved coordination of cryospheric observations conducted by research, long-term scientific monitoring, and operational programmes, and to generate the data and information needed for both operational services and research.

The Concept paper on an IGOS-P Cryosphere Theme (IGOS-P CRYO) was presented during the XXVIII SCAR Meeting in Bremerhaven, Germany in 2004. The details of the arrangement were spelled out in Paper 40. The Chief
Officer of the SSG Physical Sciences indicated that the IGOS Cryosphere Theme proposals would be helpful to those working in this field. The Delegates welcomed the initiative and endorsed it.

SCAR XXIX IP17: Report on SCAR’s Involvement in the IPY

Report to the XXIX SCAR Delegates Meeting on IPY Developments

By ad hoc SCAR Advisory Committee on the IPY

SCAR XXIX IP18a: Action List, SCAR Delegates’ Meeting, Bremerhaven, October 2004

Action List, SCAR Delegates’ Meeting, Bremerhaven, Germany, 4-8 October 2004

SCAR XXIX IP18b: Action List, SCAR Executive Committee Meeting, Bremerhaven, October 2004

Action List, SCAR Executive Committee Meeting, Bremerhaven, Germany, 9 October 2004