Documents

Report on a Formal Meeting of the SCAR Working Group on Glaciology

Reykjavik, Iceland, 25-31 August 1985

A formal meeting of the SCAR Working Group on Glaciology was held in Reykjavik, Iceland, during the International Glaciological Society’s Symposium on Glacier Mapping and Surveying. The WG met all day on 25 August. Working parties convened for special purposes during evenings of the following week.

Those present were P. Skvarca, Argentina; V. Morgan (for W. Budd), Australia; C. Maran- gunic, Chile; H. Kohnen, FRG; K. Kusunoki, Japan; 0. Orheim, Norway; D. Drewry (for G. Robin), UK; C. Swithinbank, UK; V. Kotly- akpov, USSR; C. Bull, USA (Secretary). Apolo- gies for absence were received from C. Lorius, France, T. Chinn, New Zealand. Official Observer: J. Simoes, Brazil.

The Secretary explained that he had written to all WG members to announce this meeting, but had received no responses from those not named above. Other countries interested in glaciological research in Antarctica had been invited to send observers.

Coastal and Shelf Ecology of the Antarctic Sea-Ice Zone (CS-EASIZ): a SCAR Programme of Marine Research for the Coastal and Sheff Ecosystem of Antarctica

Science Plan and Implementation Plan

December 1994

Contents

• Executive Summary
• Science Plan
• Implementation Plan
• Appendix

Executive Summary

This document describes the Science Plan for CS-EASIZ (Coastal and Shelf Ecology of the Antarctic Sea-Ice Zone).

The aim of the CS-EASIZ Programme is to improve our understanding of the structure and dynamics of the Antarctic coastal and shelf ecosystem (ACSE), the most complex and productive ecosystem in Antarctica, and likely the one most sensitive to global environmental change. Particular attention will be paid to those features that make the biology of this ice-dominated ecosystem so distinctive, and to understanding seasonal, inter-annual and long-term changes.

Six key scientific questions have been identified, and for each of these between two and seven research areas recommended. The heart of the CS-EASIZ Programme will be the Core Programme, a series of basic measurements to be undertaken on the ice, water-column and benthic sub-systems of the ACSE. These measurements have been carefully designed to be both simple and relevant, and to encourage participation by a maximum number of the coastal marine research stations around Antarctica.

For those nations wishing to undertake more extensive work, a Wider Programme has been devised as a guide to those areas of coastal marine ecology most in need of attention. This has involved the identification of key organisms, key ecological processes and key biological communities for.future research. The Science Plan also discusses the development of new techniques, modelling, diversity studies. physiological work and molecular genetics.

It is proposed that CS-EASIZ will start in the 1994-95 season, and run for ten years. A dedicated cruise has been scheduled for the 1996-97 season, and a timetable of worlcshops and symposia proposed.

The unique characterofCS-EASIZ is its coherent approach to the ecology ofthe coastal and shelf marine ecosystem, integrating work on the ice, water

SCAR Group of Specialists on Global Change and the Antarctic (GoS/GLOCHANT) and SCAR Group of Specialists on Southern Ocean Ecology (GoSSOE)

February 1996

Contents

Part A
Executive Summary of GLOCHANT Activities 1990-1995

Part B
Report of the Third Meeting of the Group of Specialists (GLOCHANT Ill)

Part C
Report of the joint meeting of GLOCHANT Planning Groups 1 & 5 & GoSSOE/CS-EASIZ

Appendices

SCAR Group of Specialists on Environmental Affairs and Conservation (GOSEAC)

October 1996

Contents

• Report of GOSEAC V meeting, 1994 
• Report of GOSEAC VI meeting, 1995
• Report of GOSEAC VII meeting, 1996 

SCAR Group of Specialists on Global Change and the Antarctic (GLOCHANT)

November 1996

Contents

• Report of bipolar meeting of GLOCHANT/ IGBP-PAGES Task Group 2 on Palaeoenvironments from Ice Cores (PICE), 1995
• Report of GLOCHANT Task Group 3 on Ice Sheet Mass Balance and Sea-Level (ISMASS), 1995
• Report of GLOCHANT IV meeting, 1996 
• GLOCHANT IV Appendices

SCAR Group of Specialists on EnvironmentalAffairs and Conservation (GOSEAC)

May 1997

Contents

• Report of GOSEAC VIII Meeting, June 1996
• Appendices

SCAR Group of Specialists on Global Change and the Antarctic (GLOCHANT)

January 1998

Contents

• Report to XXIV SCAR
• Appendices

SCAR Antarctic Offshore Statigraphy Project (ANTOSTRAT)

April 1999

Contents

• Report of a Workshop on Antarctic Late Phanerozoic Earth System Science, Hobart, Australia, 6-11 July 1997
• Appendices

SCAR Group of Specialists on Environmental Affairs and Conservation (GOSEAC)

August 1999

Contents

• Report of GOSEAC IX Meeting, July 1997
• Appendices
• Report of GOSEAC X Meeting, September 1998
• Appendices

SCAR Group of Specialists on Environmental Affairs and Conservation (GOSEAC)

January 2001

Contents

• Report of GOSEAC XI Meeting, Montevideo, Uruguay, 19-23 July 1999
• Appendices

SCAR Antarctic Offshore Stratigraphy Project (ANTOSTRAT)

February 2001

Contents

• Report of a Workshop on Geological Studies to Model Antarctic Paleoenvironments over the past 100 Million Years, Wellington, New Zealand, 10-11 July 1999
• Appendices

Reports of Working Group Meetings

held as part of the 19th Meeting of SCAR, San Diego, California USA June 1986

SCAR Working Group on Geodesy and Geographic Information

May 2001

Contents

• Report of the Second SCAR Antarctic Geodesy Symposium, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, 14-16 July, 1999
• Appendices

SCAR Working Group on Geodesy and Geographic Information

January 2002

Contents

• Report of the Thrid SCAR Antarctic Geodesy Symposium, St Petersburg, Russia, 18-20 July, 2001
• Appendices

Report of the GOSEAC XII Meeting

College Station, Texas, United States, 24-27 April 2002

SCAR Group of Specialists on Environmental Affairs and Conservation (GOSEAC)

Discourse on the GOSEAC XII Meeting

Report of the 5th SCAR Antarctic Geodesy Symposium

Lviv, Ukraine, 14-17 September 2003

SCAR Working Group on Geodesy and Geographic Information

April 2005

Introduction

This fifth SCAR Antarctic Geodesy Symposium (AGS03) was held at the University “Lviv Polytechnic”, Lviv. It was attended by 38 participants, which included repre- sentatives of nine SCAR countries. (See list of attendees in Appendix 1).

The activities included a welcome reception for participants at the Assembly Hall of the University “Lviv Polytechnic”, a walking tour of the University and a symposium dinner held at Olesʼko Castle.

The symposium commenced with opening addresses from the University Administration, SCAR Geosciences SSG, Ukrainian Antarctic Centre and the Public Geodetic Service of Ukraine. They were followed by an overview of the Ukraine National Antarctic Program by Dr Milinevsky from the Ukrainian Antarctic Centre detailing geodesy activity in the Argentine Island archipelago.

The program included 36 presentations and a GIANT Business meeting (see Program in Appendix2). It contained a strong focus from Ukraine and Polish scientists on atmospheric studies related to GPS. Dr Milinevsky presented the history and status of the tide gauge at the Faraday/Vernadsky Antarctic station which was installed in 1947 and provides an important record of long term sea level variation due to climate change.

Professor E Dongchen from China confirmed in his paper that Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar is potentially a very useful technique to be utilized in Antarctica for measuring ice surface elevation providing it is well controlled with GPS positions.

Australia presented a background paper on the Evolution of the GIANT program, the recent field activity during the very successful Prince Charles Mountains Expedition of Germany and Australia (PCMEGA) and preliminary tectonic motions from their continuous GPS stations in Antarctica

Italy presented activities and impressive results from their Victoria land Deformation network ( Dr Alessandro Capra) and Dr Sarti proposed to upgrade local geodetic ties at collocated sites to improve the Antarctic and global reference frames.

Dr Alexander Yuskevitch from Russia summarised the methods of the fundamental astronomic geodetic network (FAGN) and the on going development of the high precision geodetic network (H-PGN).

Dr Mullins presented details of the status of development of continuous remote GPS stations by the United States in the Trans Antarctic Mountains, which are designed to run through the Antarctic winter.

Dr Schenke from the Alfred Wegner Institute, Germany, gave details of the coordination of Antarctic bathymetric data and the IHO project for coordination of data in the Southern ocean.

The symposium concluded with a GIANT business meeting. Dr Capra summarised progress against milestones of the program set during the XXVI SCAR in Shanghai in 2002. A joint proposal from Italy and Australia was endorsed to study and to improve the stability of the Terrestrial Reference Frame over Antarctica as the basis for precise measurement of small tectonic motion. The need to identify suitable projects for the International Polar Year 2007/2008 was noted. A proposal by Italy to host a further symposium in the series (2005) was unanimously endorsed.

It was a most a successful event which was extremely well hosted by the University Lviv Polytechnic and the Ukrainian Antarctic Centre.

Most participants provided final versions of their papers or abstract summaries and these are published in this report.

John Manning,
Convenor, GIANT

Proposals, Science and Implementation Plans:

• Proposal for a SCAR Scientific Research Programme on Antarctic Climate Evolution (ACE)
• Science Plan for a SCAR Programme on Antarctica and the Global Climate System (AGCS)
• Evolution and Biodiversity in the Antarctic (EBA), Science Plan SCAR 2004
• Science and Implementation Plan for a SCAR research Programme Interhemispheric Conjugacy Effects in Solar Terrestrial and Aeronomy Research (ICESTAR)
• Science and Implementation Plan for a SCAR Scientific Research Programme Subglacial Antarctic lake Environments (SALE)

August 2005

The SCAR Communications Plan

June 2006

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.

Implementation Plans of SCAR’s Research Programmes:

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

September 2006

SCAR Strategy for Capacity Building (Education and Training)

November 2006

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 the 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.