Documents

SCAR XXIX WP15: Report of the SCAR Standing Scientific Group on Physical Sciences (SSG-PS)

Standing Scientific Group on Physical Sciences Report to the Delegates, SCAR XXIX July 2006

SCAR funding for the next 2 years (in USD) – $17K in both 2007 and 2008

Summary of five main achievements:

1. The cross-SSG workshop in Amsterdam established links with the Life Sciences SSG for the provision of future climate scenarios for the assessment of environmental change during the next century.
2. The MOSAK workshop on the Antarctic wind field produced an important report assessing our current understanding of the near-surface flow across the continent.
3. A cross SSG workshop on climatic, biological and cryospheric variability was organised for SCAR XXIX.
4. The PASTA Action Group has shown that the Antarctic plateau is the best place on Earth for surface-based astronomy.
5. The ISMASS Expert Group and the ITASE project have facilitated the publications of a major review of Antarctic mass balance through a special volume of Annals of Glaciology.

SCAR XXIX WP16: Report of the Joint Committee on Antarctic Data Management (JCADM)

Proposal to Reposition Antarctic Geographic Information within the SCAR Structure

That the Expert Group on Geographic Information (EGGI) be moved within the SCAR structure from its present position in the Geoscience Standing Scientific Group (GSSG), to become a permanent group under the aegis of the Delegates Committee on Outreach and Administration, reporting to the SCAR Executive Director. This would place it in an analogous position to the Joint Committee on Antarctic Data Management (JCADM). Member nations will be required to nominate points of contact for this group, and may nominate representatives who should be actively involved in the field.

SCAR XXIX WP17: Report on Antarctic Climate Evolution (ACE)

Summary

ACE promotes the exchange of data and ideas between research groups focussing on the evolution of Antarctica’s climate system and ice sheet. Although it has only been running officially since the beginning of 2005, its two-year planning phase and its origins from the former SCAR programme ANTOSTRAT, which ended in 2001, has allowed ACE to develop several advances in our understanding of Antarctic history. ACE’s role is to facilitate cooperation between earth scientists through meetings and symposia, to assemble the results of these collaborations in the scientific literature, and to promote the development and funding of international research collaborations. Full details of the ACE programme can be found on its website, launched in January 2005. This paper summarises ACE’s five main achievements to date, programme dissemination, progress against prior work plans, proposed work plans for the next two years, IPY contributions and supporting information.

SCAR XXIX WP18: Report on Antarctica and the Global Climate System (ACGS)

Introduction

This document reports on progress with the implementation of the SCAR AGCS SRP since it was established at SCAR XXIII in Bremerhaven, Germany in October 2004. It provides details of progress with the science, lists outputs and identifies targets for the next two years. AGCS consists of four science themes concerned with:

1. Decadal time scale variability in the Antarctic climate system
2. Global and regional climate signals in ice cores
3. Natural and anthropogenic forcing on the Antarctic climate system 4. The export of Antarctic Climate Signals.

SCAR XXIX WP19: Report on Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic (EBA)

Introduction

Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic (EBA) is a new and ambitious programme of research under the SCAR umbrella that sets out to:

• Understand the evolution and diversity of life in the Antarctic.
• Determine how these have influenced the properties and dynamics of present Antarctic ecosystems and the Southern Ocean system.
• Make predictions on how organisms and communities are responding and will respond to current and future environmental change.
• Identify EBA science outcomes that are relevant to conservation policy and to communicate this science to the SCAR Antarctic Treat System and other stakeholders by appropriate routes.

The structure of the programme is based around five major unifying key questions, drawn together as workpackages, that are addressed across the realms of terrestrial, limnetic and marine environments. In order to encourage integration of studies and findings across these realms and across the geographic spread of the Antarctic activities of contributing nations, the overall programme and workpackages have been intentionally structured so as to be jointly led by representatives widely recognized within the Antarctic marine, terrestrial and limnetic biological research communities. In doing so, the programme brings together a wide range of disciplines to tackle a series of well-focused questions. These disciplines include plate tectonics, climatology, glaciology, geophysics, oceanography, paleontology, molecular biology, taxonomy, biogeography, autecology, cellular and organism-level ecophysiology, and community ecology.

SCAR XXIX WP20: Report on Inter-hemispheric Conjugacy Effects in Solar-Terrestrial and Aeronomy Research (ICESTAR)

Overview

Expected Overall Programme duration: 2005 – 2009

Estimated SCAR funding required for the next 2 years: $30,000 USD

• Co-Chair: Allan Weatherwax, Siena College (U.S.A.)
• Co-Chair: Kirsti Kauristie, Finnish Meteorological Institute (Finland)

Selected Achievements in 2005 – 2006

• ICESTAR hosts a Data Portal and Virtual Observatory Workshop in Toulouse, France, July 2005
• ICESTAR leads Heliosphere Impact on Geospace, a core project of the fourth International Polar Year programme
• ICESTAR leads an IPY-ICESTAR proposal effort submitted to the Norwegian Research Council
• ICESTAR scientists will present 38 papers at the Open Science Conference of the 2006 SCAR meeting in Hobart, Australia
• ICESTAR co-sponsored scientific sessions at both the European and American Geophysical Union Meetings in 2006

SCAR XXIX WP21a Report on Subglacial Antarctic Lake Environments (SALE)

SALE Performance Report – July, 2006

During the restructuring of SCAR, particular attention was paid to creating mechanisms to ensure that SCAR endorsed and supported science is of the highest caliber and quality. To this end, selection as a SCAR Scientific Research Program (SRP) requires program planning, preparation of a detailed proposal, review of the proposal by external and internal experts, review by COMNAP to assess feasibility and logistical considerations, revision of the proposal based on reviews, the development of an implementation plan, and regular program performance review. Documents produced during the formation of SCAR SALE, including the Final SRP Proposal and the Implementation Plan, are on-line at the SCAR SALE website.

Every two years, SCAR Scientific Research Programs (SRP) are required to provide a progress report to the Delegates. Every fourth year, external reviewers are asked to assess the performance of the program. This report is a summary of SALE activities for each performance criterion established by SCAR to judge whether the program is achieving its objectives and goals and whether the program supports SCAR’s mission.

SCAR XXIX WP21b: Report on Subglacial Antarctic Lake Environments (SALE) – Milestones 2005-2008

SCAR XXIX WP22: Memorandum of Association

SCAR XXIX WP23: Articles of Association

SCAR XXIX WP24: Rules of Procedure (Revised)

SCAR XXIX WP25: Explanatory Notes on Legal Matters

Summary

The purpose of this note is to explain the material provisions of the proposed constitutional documents of the Charity. These are the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association.

The Charity Commission recommends a standard form of Memorandum and Articles. However, the Memorandum and Articles have, to the extent that the Charity Commission are likely to accept, been amended to take into account the existing provisions of the SCAR Existing Entity’s constitution.

The numbering of the paragraphs below, where appropriate, corresponds with the numbering of the Memorandum and Articles. The defined terms used have the same meaning as those defined in the Memorandum and Articles. Whilst this note attempts to highlight some of the material provisions of the documents, please do read/review the documents in full.

SCAR XXIX WP26: SCAR Achievements

Executive Summary

SCAR provides facilitates and provides the framework for international collaboration in Antarctic science. As a key element of the International Council for Science (ICSU), SCAR adds value to national scientific research in the Antarctic by encouraging cooperation and synthesis so as to provide a pan-Antarctic view beyond the capability of any one country. For 50 years SCAR has helped to enhance the scientific understanding of Antarctica and its environs, and of the role of Antarctica in the global Earth System. SCAR also provides scientific advice to the Parties to the Antarctic Treaty, to encourage policymaking and good governance based on sound scientific information.

SCAR carries out its work in close association with other global research bodies, to ensure that Antarctic science plays its full part in global research programmes. SCAR’s focus over the past 15 years has been on the detection of global change in Antarctica, studies of the processes linking Antarctica to the global system, the extraction of Antarctica’s environmental history from ice cores and sediments, and assessment of the ecosystems on land and in the Southern Ocean and their response to change. The latest scientific programme was outlined at the beginning of the new millennium, and 5 core projects were approved in 2004, addressing the present climate system, climate evolution, biological evolution, lakes beneath the ice, and the effects of the solar wind.

Significant past achievements include the following:

1. Coordinating a major international investigation (BIOMASS) to establish the functional ecosystem processes of the Southern Ocean ecosystem, including establishing the key role of krill. The BIOMASS programme provided the technical basis for the creation of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
2. Providing new insights into understanding the diversity, ecology and population dynamics of the benthic organisms beneath the Antarctic Sea Ice, and their sensitivity to environmental change. The data are used to test general ecological theory, and to assess the response of the biota to global change.
3. Establishing the International Survey of Antarctic Seabirds, to document the distribution, abundance and long-term trends in Antarctic and Subantarctic seabirds. Data are used to monitor the effects on birds of national Antarctic programmes, fishing and tourism, to identify critically endangered species, and (with BirdLife International) to select Important Bird Areas (IBAs) for conservation and management. This also contributes to the development of regulations by CCAMLR.
4. Establishing the ways in which land, lake and pond life respond to the dramatic climate changes affecting the Antarctic Peninsula, the mainland coast, and the subantarctic islands, where surface temperatures have warmed by up to 3oC in 50 years, and springtime exposure to ultraviolet rays has increased dramatically. The data provide the basis for defining biodiversity regions, and identifying protective physiological and biochemical processes determining community response to stresses.
5. Discovering a major warming of the Antarctic winter troposphere, 5 km above sea- level, that is larger than any other tropospheric warming on Earth.
6. Confirming that while the Antarctic Peninsula has warmed significantly in recent years, air temperatures in East Antarctica have remained steady or cooled slightly.
7. Finding an explanation for the collapse of the Larsen-B Ice Shelf east of the Antarctic Peninsula. Global warming has strengthened of the prevailing westerly winds, bringing more warm air across the Peninsula in summer.
8. Providing the basis for determining the mass balance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and hence determining where and whether it is growing or shrinking, and at what rates. Data are essential for modelling potential changes in sea-level.
9. Developing a climatology of Antarctic sea ice, as the basis for understanding the processes of ice formation, for validating satellite data, and to feed into coupled ocean- ice-atmosphere models.
10. Using radar profiling and shallow coring to create an unprecedented spatio-temporal array of information about the evolution of the ice sheet as the basis for exploring the variability and recent evolution of Antarctic climate over the past 200 to 10,000 years.
11. Encouraging the development of a unified and integrated approach, through rock drilling, ice coring, offshore drilling and piston coring, to the collection, analysis and numerical modelling of paleoenvironmental data on the history of the ice sheets and climate since extensive glaciation began 36 million years ago.
12. Bringing together the community seeking to penetrate and study sub-glacial lakes, so as to generate collective plans and guiding principles for exploration, research, data management and environmental stewardship.
13. Providing a wide range of geographic and scientific maps, databases and related products including: the Composite Gazeteer of place names; the on-line Map Catalogue; the Antarctic Digital Database of topographical information; the Reference Antarctic Data for Environmental Research meteorological data set; the Antarctic Biodiversity Database; the Antarctic Bedrock Mapping database; the Seismic Data Library; the Geodetic Control database; the Digital Magnetic Anomaly dataset; and the Common Geodetic Reference System.
14. Providing (with COMNAP) an Antarctic Data and Information Management System (JCADM), which brings together the managers of all the National Antarctic Data Centres and submits metadata on datasets to the Antarctic Master Directory.
15. Providing scientific advice on conservation and environmental management issues including protected areas, specially protected species, pollution and monitoring, environmental impact assessment and marine acoustics to the Antarctic Treaty System. This included the development with IUCN of the first Antarctic Conservation Strategy.
16. SCAR is playing a key role in planning and implementing the International Polar Year of 2007-2009.

SCAR XXIX WP27: SCAR/COMNAP Brochure

Overview

SCAR and COMNAP are two complementary components of the Antarctic Treaty System and work together, under the auspices of the Antarctic Treaty, to support Antarctic Research. SCAR brings together researchers from 32 countries working together to initiate, develop and co-ordinate scientific research in the Antarctic region, and on the role of the Antarctic region in the Earth system. COMNAP brings together the National Antarctic Programs from 31 countries working together to improve the way they plan, manage and conduct their expeditions in the Antarctic, the bulk of which is focused on the support of scientific research. The SCAR and COMNAP Executive Committees meet at least annually to discuss common concerns and to coordinate where appropriate. SCAR and COMNAP’s complementarity and partnership is particularly important for the success of the Antarctic component of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2009. The IPY can lead not only to a significant step up in our knowledge of the Antarctic region, but also to a legacy of observing systems that will continue to support enhanced understanding and improved forecasts of the effects on the rest of the world of change in the Antarctic region. This paper gives an overview of the two groups.

SCAR XXIX WP28: Capacity Building and Education Plan

A Strategy for Capacity Building (Education and Training)

prepared by the Secretariat with the assistance of Professor Azizan Abu Sameh (University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur), Dr Bryan Storey (University of Canterbury, New Zealand) and Dr Sergio Marenssi (Argentine Antarctic Institute)

Executive Summary

SCAR is committed to helping scientists in all of its Member countries to participate in understanding scientifically the physical, biological, chemical and geological processes at work in the Antarctic region, to use that understanding to predict change both there and elsewhere in the world, and to provide objective and independent advice to policy makers, especially the Antarctic Treaty System. To achieve that goal requires that efforts be made to raise national scientific capacities, especially in developing countries. SCAR is also committed to promoting the incorporation of Antarctic science in education at all levels. The SCAR Strategic Plan 2004-2010 called for SCAR to develop a strategy setting out how it proposes to meet those objectives. This document is that Strategy. It explores ways in which SCAR can work with its Members, with COMNAP and with others to meet the stated needs.

The document describes the current situation, then spells out the scope, aims and objectives of the strategy. The strategy is designed to help Members’ scientists achieve the following objectives:

1. to engage in high quality international scientific research in the Antarctic region, and on the role of the Antarctic region in the Earth system;
2. to participate in, contribute to, and benefit from SCAR’s main programmes and other activities;
3. to provide free and unrestricted access to their Antarctic scientific data and information, and make best use of others’ data and information;
4. to provide objective and independent scientific advice to their own governments and to Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings and other organizations on issues of science and conservation affecting the management of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.
5. to make best use of Antarctic examples to illustrate key scientific principles in schools and universities.

The strategy recommends the application of ten principles, and emphasises the importance of developing partnerships to take the programme forward. It lists a number of possible mechanisms for achieving the aims and objectives, and notes that the International Polar Year provides an excellent opportunity to start a wide range of capacity building and education initiatives. It sets out a mechanism for implementation, which will be coordinated by a Capacity Building and Education Group working to clearly defined targets within a specified timeframe. Finally it provides a set of performance indicators that can be used to assess progress over time.

This document was approved in draft by the SCAR Executive Committee meeting in Sofia in July 2005, and circulated by e-mail for consultation with national committees and delegates in August 2005. The final version was approved by the XXIX Delegates’ meeting in Hobart (July 2006), pending minor amendments. Delegates noted that depending on consultation with and feedback from COMNAP, the draft may be modified in future to take COMNAP requirements into account.

SCAR XXIX WP29: SCAR Fellowship Programme

SCAR Fellowship Programme

Proposal for the 2007-2009 seasons

On the basis of advice from a review panel, the Executive Committee meeting in Sofia approved the award of four SCAR Fellowships in 2005 for the 2005-2006 season (WP29). For the 2007-2008, and 2008-2009 seasons it is proposed that two or three of the annual SCAR Fellowships in each season be allocated to support fieldwork in Antarctica as a contribution to the IPY proposal on the 6th Continent Initiative, which is led by the International Polar Foundation with SCAR as a partner. The plans for this activity are described in WP29. Delegates are asked to approve SCAR’s IPY Fellowship Plan as described in WP29, and to decide on the number of Fellowships to be allocated for fieldwork during the IPY.

SCAR XXIX WP30: Status of National Reporting

Status of National Reporting to SCAR

SCAR Members have traditionally provided hard copies of Annual Reports containing detailed description of all their activities undertaken in the Antarctic, and with a special emphasis on activities related to SCAR. The number of National Reports submitted to SCAR has decreased since 2000-2001. In addition some Members complained at having to write long reports to SCAR in addition to their own institutional Annual Reports. In response to recommendations made at the SCAR Delegates meeting in 2004, the SCAR Secretariat produced in 2005 a template for National Reporting to SCAR (see Annex 1) that was designed to reduce the amount of time needed for preparation of national Reports to SCAR. The template is meant to help the SCAR National Committees to focus on the vital part of each country’s contribution to Antarctic research, to provide an indication of the research being undertaken that is relevant to SCAR, and to provide an updated information and contact address for anyone requiring further information.

National Reports to SCAR, based on the new template, should be made available electronically as soon as the field season in the Antarctic is over. Electronic version of each Report is easily available to all other SCAR members via the SCAR website. However, hard copies of the Reports are also acceptable. The template covers essential contact information on the National Committees, Delegates, and the scientists involved in any of the SCAR Standing Scientific Groups, Scientific Research Programmes, Action and Expert Groups, Data Management, existing data centres and databases. The template also calls for provision of an update on achievements and deliverables of each country’s research in the Antarctic. This information will help SCAR inform all of its Members about what the others are doing. It will also provide the Secretariat with the information it needs to bring public attention to the role Antarctic science plays in global research.

SCAR XXIX WP31: New Template for National Reporting

SCAR XXIX WP32: Future of the Standing Committee on ATS

Introduction

The ATS Standing Committee was established as part of the re-organisation of SCAR and was intended to replace many of the functions that GOSEAC (the Group of Specialists on Environmental Affairs and Conservation) had previously provided. The membership was fixed at three (DWH Walton -UK, MC Kennicutt -USA, M Stoddart -Austral) with the assumption that the tasks were principally ones of co-ordination of material prepared by specialists within SCAR for submission to the elements of the ATS. The Chair of the ATS Committee was tasked with providing the presentation of the papers at the ATCM and more general representation of the SCAR community at both the CEP and the ATCM generally, as well as working with the chosen lecturer to ensure the quality and content of the SCAR Lecture. Representation of SCAR at CCAMLR remained with E. Fanta (Brazil), until she was appointed Chair of the CCAMLR Scientific Committee, at which point the SCAR representative became G Hosie (Austral).

With the retirement of DWH Walton after XXIX ATCM in Edinburgh this is an opportune moment to look at the future development of the Committee and how representation of SCAR interests and advice can most effectively be delivered in the future.

SCAR XXIX WP33: SCAR’s Relations with ICSU Unions

How can SCAR benefit more from interactions with Scientific Unions, and vice versa? 

Delegates are asked to suggest ways in which SCAR’s links with ICSU’s scientific unions can be strengthened. Union Representatives are asked to give brief presentations on their Union’s work in relation to SCAR’s activities. SSG Chief officers and Union Representatives to suggest a programme of and timetable for future collaborative work.

Many of the International Scientific Unions are Members of ICSU. SCAR is one of ICSU’s Interdisciplinary Bodies.

At its 28th General Assembly, in Suzhou China, in October 2005, ICSU approved a Strategic Plan for the period 2006-2011. Among other things, the Plan reviewed the relations between its Unions and its Interdisciplinary Bodies, and concluded:-

Page 50 A recurrent theme in the assessment and review process has been the need for improved communication and coordination between the activities of the Interdisciplinary Bodies and the Scientific Unions. It is important that the wealth of expertise that exists within the Scientific Unions is utilized to the fullest extent, and, vice versa, the programmes of the Interdisciplinary Bodies have much to offer to the Unions.

The Plan called for the following actions:

• (on page 50) “The Scientific Unions will be encouraged to develop mechanisms for increased collaboration with Interdisciplinary Bodies.”
• (on page 51) “Interdisciplinary Bodies will be encouraged to strengthen their ties with Union ….. Members……”

This paper explores possible ways forward to achieving these actions.