|
Submitted by Roland Schlich, Liaison Officer of IUGG to SCAR
SCAR, the Scientific
Committee on Antarctic Research, is an interdisciplinary committee
of ICSU and it is charged with the initiation, promotion and co-ordination
of scientific research in Antarctica. SCAR evolved from the Special
Committee on Antarctic Research established by ICSU to co-ordinate
the scientific research of the twelve nations active in Antarctica
during the International Geophysical Year 1957-58.
The membership
of SCAR comprises the National Committees of national scientific
academies or research councils of those nations which are active
in Antarctic research, relevant ICSU Scientific Unions, and Associate
Members which are those national scientific organisations planning
to become active in Antarctic research.
SCAR Delegates
meet biennially to determine SCAR policy and strategy. The Delegates
elect a President and four Vice-Presidents from amongst themselves
who, together with the Immediate Past President, constitute the
Executive Committee which is responsible for conducting the day-to-day
administration of SCAR through its Secretariat at the Scott Polar
Research Institute in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
The membership
of SCAR numbered in 1999, 26 Full Members (National Committees),
7 ICSU Union members and 6 Associate Members. In 2002 the membership
was 27 Full Members (Peru became Full Member in 2002), 7 ICSU Union
members and 4 Associate Members (Estonia withdrew in 2001).
The publication
of SCAR Bulletins (nos 132-147) within Polar Record, and as a separate
for internal SCAR distribution and SCAR Reports (nos 16-22) continued
throughout the 1999-2002 period. The SCAR Bulletin and SCAR Report
are also reproduced on the SCAR website and may be reached from
the SCAR homepage at <www.scar.org>
Up to 2002 SCAR
had eight permanent Working Groups, comprising nationally appointed
representatives, and these form the international fora for the discussion
of national research in Antarctica. There were several Groups of
Specialists created for a limited time-span in response to specific
scientific problems, whose members were appointed by SCAR for their
experience and expertise.
Following the
review of the ad hoc Group on SCAR Organisation and Strategy, SCAR
operates now with three Standing Scientific Groups (Geosciences,
Life Sciences, Physical Sciences). The new structure will enable
SCAR to address inter-disciplinary science more efficiently and
integrate more effectively with other international and global programmes.
Each group elects three officers, comprises a maximum of four national
representatives and is structured in several sub-groups (Action
Groups, Expert Groups, Scientific Programme Planning Groups and
Scientific Research Programmes) to accommodate their various activities.
The scientific and business meetings of the three Standing Scientific
Groups will be held two-three months before the Delegates Meeting
and are open to all interested scientists. Two Delegate Committees
were created to discuss scientific and organisational matters and
two Standing Committees were established one on the Antarctic Treaty
System, and the second on SCAR Finance. In addition to these Standing
Committees a SCAR-COMNAP Joint Committee on Antarctic Data Management
has been created to advise SCAR and COMNAP on all aspects of Antarctic
data matters (the new structure of SCAR and its subsidiary groups
is shown in the attached diagram).
A meeting of the SCAR Executive Committee was held in Goa, India,
20-24 September 1999. The meeting was held in conjunction with the
eleventh annual meeting of the Council of Managers of National Antarctic
Programmes (COMNAP XI) and its Standing Committee on Antarctic Logistics
and Operations (SCALOP).
SCAR was represented
at the Twenty-third Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Lima,
Peru, by the President, the Executive Secretary and the Convenor
of the Group of Specialists on Environmental Affairs and Conservation.
The Executive Secretary represented SCAR at the annual meeting of
the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators held in
Hambourg, Germany, during June 1999.
During the year
the members of the ad hoc Group on SCAR Organisation and Strategy
were appointed and the Group held his first meeting in Cambridge,
United Kingdom, in August 1999 under the chairmanship of Dr P.M.
Smith. The establishment of the Group had been decided at the XXV
SCAR Meeting in Concepción and was tasked to conduct an internal
review of SCAR and to make recommendations on how SCAR should change
internally to meet the changing environment of global science outside
of SCAR and the Antarctic.
Thirteen workshops
and four symposia were organised by the permanent Working Groups.
Earth Sciences:
the workshop held by the Antarctic Offshore Stratigraphy Project
(ANTOSTRAT) focusing on Late Cenozoic Glaciations; the workshop
held by the Working Group on Solid-Earth Geophysics to continue
development of the Antarctic Digital Magnetic Anomaly Map; the 8th
International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences held in Wellington,
New Zealand, during July 1999; the workshop held by the Working
Group on Geodesy and Geographic Information to continue development
of the Antarctic Place-names Gazetteer; the 2nd Symposium on Geodetic
Infrastructure for Antarctic (GIANT) held in Warsaw, Poland, during
July 1999.
Atmospheric
and Solar-Terrestrial Sciences: the workshop held by the Working
Group on Physics and Chemistry of the Atmosphere on Antarctic Climate
Variability organised jointly with the Group of Specialists on Global
Change and the Antarctic (GLOCHANT); the workshop held by the Antarctic
Geospace Observatory Network (AGONET) to continue the collation
and integration of data and to develop the database for data on
magnetometry, riometry, very low frequency radio waves and the horizontal
vector velocity of the ionosphere.
Life Sciences:
the workshop held by the Subcommittee on Evolutionary Biology of
Antarctic Organism of the Working Group on Biology on current status
and trend; the workshop held by the Regional Sensitivity to Climate
Change in Antarctic Ecosystems Programme (RISCC); the workshop and
symposium held by the Ecology of the Antarctic Sea-ice Zone (EAZIZ);
the 2nd International Symposium on Krill held in Santa Cruz, United
States during August 1999.
The Group
of Specialists on Global Change and the Antarctic (GLOCHANT)
held its seventh annual meeting in New Hampshire, United States,
during April 1999 with its principal item of business being the
continuing development of a synthesis of the current status of Antarctica
and the Southern Ocean. It also initiated or co-sponsored six workshops
during the year. All these programmes will contribute to the relevant
programme of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)
and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).
The Group
of Specialists on Environmental Affairs and Conservation met
in Montevideo, Uruguay, during July 1999. Its major concern is the
provision of scientific advice on Antarctic environmental matters
to SCAR for forwarding to the Antarctic Treaty.
The Joint Committee on Antarctic Data Management met in Ottawa during
June 1999 in conjunction with the Arctic data management group.
The Twenty-sixth biennial meeting of SCAR was held in Tokyo, Japan,
10-21 July 2000. The Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes
(COMNAP XII) and its Standing Committee on Antarctic Logistics and
Operations (SCALOP) met at the same place during the first week.
All eight permanent Working Groups and the Joint Committee on Antarctic
Data Management also met during the first week.
On the Executive
Committee, Dr F J Davey (New Zealand) and Dr R Schlich (France)
completed their terms of Office as Vice-presidents but Dr R Schlich
was eligible for re-election. Professor C G Rapley (United Kingdom)
and Dr R Schlich (France) were elected Vice-Presidents. Dr R H Rutford
(United States), President elected in 1998 and the immediate Past
President Professor A C Rocha Campos (Brazil), together with the
Vice-Presidents Dr J Valencia (Chile) and Professor A D M Walker
(South Africa) completed the Executive Committee.
The principal
item for discussion at the XXVI SCAR was the report of the ad hoc
Group on Organisation and Strategy. Delegates adopted all the recommendations
in the report, with some modifications to some of them. It was agreed
that the ad hoc Group on SCAR Organisation and Strategy should be
disbanded and replaced by an ad hoc Group on Transition, comprising
the Executive Committee and five members from the SCAR community,
to implement the adopted recommendations of the ad hoc Group on
SCAR Organisation and Strategy.
SCAR was represented
at the Third Meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection
in The Hague, The Netherlands, during September 2000 and at the
immediately following Twelfth Antarctic Treaty Special Consultative
Meeting, by the President, the Convenor of the Group of Specialists
on Environmental Affairs and Conservation and the Executive Secretary.
The Executive Secretary also represented SCAR at an Antarctic Treaty
Meeting of Experts held in London, in April 2000, to discuss guidelines
for Antarctic shipping and related activities.
Delegates agreed
that the SCAR Working Groups on Geology and on Solid Earth Geophysics
should combine to a single Working Group on Geosciences and that
the other six SCAR Working Groups should continue. It was also agreed
that the existing four Groups of Specialists should continue and
that a new Group of Specialists on Antarctic Subglacial Lakes should
be established.
Thirteen workshops
and four symposia were organised by the permanent Working Groups.
Earth Sciences: the workshop held by the Antarctic Offshore
Stratigraphy Project to consider further research proposals around
Antarctica in relation to the Ocean Drilling Program; two workshops
held by the Working Group on Geodesy and Geographic Information
on Antarctic Geodesy, in Nice during April 2000 and in Wuhan, China,
during July 2000. A full colour map sheet showing the bedrock relief
of the Antarctic continent (BEDMAP) has been published and a new
Antarctic Magnetic Anomaly Map has also been compiled.
Atmospheric
and Solar-Terrestrial Sciences: three small symposia on "Climate
Variability and Change in the Antarctic from Observations and Modelling
Experiments", on "Chemical Processes in the Antarctic
Troposphere and Stratosphere", and on "Antarctic Precipitation
and Mass Balance" were held by the Working Group on Physics
and Chemistry of the Atmosphere during XXVI SCAR; workshops on "Astronomy
and Astrophysics in Antarctica" and on "The Role of Antarctica
in Understanding Solar-Terrestrial Relations" were organised
by the Working Group on Solar-Terrestrial and Astrophysical Research.
Life Sciences:
the Group of Specialists on Seals and the Subcommittee on Bird Biology
met during the week preceding the SCAR Meeting, the Subcommittee
on Evolutionary Biology of Antarctic Organisms held a workshop to
develop the Evolution in Antarctica science plan.
The Group
of Specialists on Global Change and the Antarctic held its eighth
annual meeting at Rosendaal, The Netherlands, during October-November
2000 to develop new initiatives.
A meeting of the SCAR Executive Committee was held in Amsterdam,
The Netherlands, during August 2001. The meeting was held in conjunction
with the thirteenth annual meeting of the Council of Managers of
National Antarctic Programmes (COMNAP) and its Standing Committee
on Antarctic Logistics and Operations (SCALOP). The ad hoc Group
on Transition, appointed by the SCAR Executive Committee to provide
the detail for implementing the changes to SCAR's structure and
organisation, also met in Amsterdam.
SCAR was represented
at the Twenty-fourth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM)
and the Fourth Meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection
(CEP), held in St Petersburg, Russia, during July 2001, by the President
and the Executive Secretary. SCAR submitted several information
and working papers to the meeting of CEP and submitted jointly with
COMNAP a working paper on environmental liability. The highlight
of the meeting was the achievement of consensus on the location
of the proposed Antarctic Treaty Secretariat in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Seven workshops
and three symposia were organised by the permanent Working Groups.
Earth Sciences:
a symposium on the Antarctic Offshore Stratigraphy Project (ANTOSTRAT)
was held in Erice, Italy, during September 2001. The compilation
of a new Antarctic Magnetic Anomaly Map was completed and published
in December 2001. A symposium on Antarctic Geodesy was held in St
Petersburg, Russia, during July 2001 and further papers were presented
at a workshop organised by the Group of Specialists on Antarctic
Neotectonics in Siena, Italy, during July 2001. A workshop on Antarctic
Geographic Information was also held at this meeting and a separate
workshop on the Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica was held in Rome,
Italy during November 2001.
Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Sciences: The SCAR Working
Group on Physics and Chemistry of the Atmosphere has completed the
third edition of the International Antarctic Weather Forecasting
Handbook.
Life Sciences:
the Eighth International SCAR Antarctic Biology Symposium was held
in Amsterdam, The Netherlands during August 2001. The following
workshops were held in conjunction with the symposium: "Subglacial
Lakes - Biology and Contamination Issues", "Latitudinal
Ecosystem and Environmental Variability along Victoria Land",
Evolutionary Biology of Antarctic Organisms (EVOLANTA): metadata
and website construction", "Antarctic Pack Ice Seals Programme
(APIS), cross-discipline synthesis" and on "Regional Sensitivity
to Climate Change in Antarctic Terrestrial and Limnetic Ecosystems
(RISCC).
A workshop
on "Marine Acoustic Techniques" was organised by SCAR
in Cambridge, United Kingdom, during September 2001 to address the
potential effects of marine seismic surveys on marine mammals and
the restrictions on such work that may be imposed by permitting
authorities; participants included scientists from the marine biological
and marine geophysical communities.
The Group
of Specialists on Subglacial Lake Exploration (SALE) met in
Bologna, Italy, during December 2001 and discussed techniques for
environmental clean drilling of the ice sheet to penetrate and sample
the lake and also environmental impact assessment procedures required
under the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic
Treaty.
The Twenty-seventh biennial meeting of SCAR was held in Shanghai,
China, 15-26 July 2002. The Fourteenth annual meeting of the Council
of Managers of National Antarctic Programmes (COMNAP XIV) and its
Standing Committee on Antarctic Logistics and Operations (SCALOP)
was held in parallel during the first week. XXVII SCAR was a landmark
meeting for SCAR as the restructuring of SCAR, recommended by the
ad hoc Group on Organisation and Structure and adopted by the Delegates
at XXVI SCAR in Tokyo, Japan, July 2000, was put into place.
The first week
of the meeting began with the traditional meetings of all the SCAR
Working Groups plus a meeting of the Group of Specialists on Seals,
and informal meetings of the Groups of Specialists on Antarctic
Neotectonics and Subglacial Antarctic Lake Exploration. The groups
completed the reports of their final meetings on Tuesday. Wednesday
was devoted to a very successful symposium on "The Antarctic
Sea Ice Zone: physical and biological processes and interactions".
On Thursday and Friday the members of the former Working Groups
and Groups of Specialists reconvened in three Standing Scientific
Groups on Geosciences, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences.
On the Executive Committee Professor R H Rutford (United States)
completed his term of Office as President, Dr J Valencia (Chile)
and Professor A D M Walker (South Africa) also completed their terms
of Office as Vice-presidents. Professor Dr J Thiede (Germany) was
elected President, Professor J López-Martínez (Spain)
and Dr C Howard-Williams (New Zealand) were elected Vice-Presidents.
The immediate Past-President Dr R H Rutford (United States), together
with the Vice-Presidents Dr R Schlich (France) and Professor C G
Rapley (United Kingdom) completed the Executive Committee.
The highlight
of the year was the award to SCAR of the Prince of Asturias Prize
for International Cooperation 2002 in recognition of SCAR's role
in international cooperation in Antarctica.
The Standing
Scientific Group on Geosciences elected Dr P E O'Brian (Australia),
Chief Officer, Professor A Capra (Italy), Deputy Chief Officer and
Professor B C Storey (New Zealand), Secretary. The Group on Life
Sciences elected Professor S L Chown (South Africa), Chief Officer,
Professor L A Palinkas (United States), Deputy Chief Officer and
Dr A H L Huiskes (The Netherlands), Secretary.
The Standing Scientific Groups have established a number of sub-groups
to accommodate their various activities in progress and being planned.
Action Groups are short-term groups to address specific matters
and will normally be expected to complete their activity in 2-4
years. Expert Groups will address matters on a longer time-scale.
Scientific Programme Planning Groups may be established to develop
plans for a research programme that will be presented to SCAR for
adoption as a Scientific Research Programme. Such proposed programmes
will normally be multi-disciplinary and will involve more than one
Standing Scientific Group.
AT XXVII SCAR
the Delegates approved the following sub-groups:
Geosciences
- Action Groups on: "Age, Growth and Evolution of Antarctic
(AGEANT)","Permafrost (PAG)", "Communication
and Outreach";
- Expert Group on "Geospatial Information";
- Scientific Programme Planning Groups on: "Antarctic Climate
Evolution (ACE)", Antarctic Neotectonics (ANTEC)";
- Scientific Programme Group on: "Subglacial Antarctic Lake
Exploration (SALE).
Life Sciences
- Action Groups on: "Global International Waters Assessment
(GIWA)", Best Practices for Conservation";
- Expert Groups on: "Birds", "Seals", "Human
Biology and Medecine";
- Scientific Programme Planning Group on: "Evolution and Biodiversity
in Antarctica: the Response of Life to Change";
- Scientific Programme Groups on: "Ecology of the Antarctic
Sea-Ice Zone (EASIZ)", "Antarctic Pack Ice Seals (APIS)",
"Evolutionary Biology of Antarctic Organisms (EVOLANTA)".
Physical Sciences
- Action Groups on: "Plateau Astronomy Site Testing in Antartica
(PASTA)", "Middle Atmosphere Dynamics and Relativistic
Electron Precipitation (MADREP)", "Antarctic Peninsula
Tropospheric-Ionospheric Coupling (APTIC)", "Oceanography",
"Reference Antarctic Data for Environmental Research (READER)",
"Antarctic Katabatic Winds", "Antarctic Tropospheric
Aerosols and their Role in Climate (ATAC)".
- Expert Groups on: "Solar-Terrestrial Processes and Space
Weather (STEPS)", "Antarctic and Astronomy and Astrophysics(AAA)",
"Operational Meteorology in the Antarctic", "Ice
Sheet Mass Balance and Sea Level (ISMASS)", "International
Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition (ITASE)", "Antarctic
Sea-Ice Processes and Climate (ASPeCT)".
-Scientific Programme Planning Groups on: "Antarctica and the
Global Climate System", "Inter-hemispheric Conjugacy on
Environmental, Solar-Terrestrial and Atmospheric Research (ICESTAR).
Thus the major
work of re-structuring SCAR was achieved. The process of reorganisation
will continue during the next two years, as the new Standing Scientific
Groups refine their modi operandi, and will be completed at XXVIII
SCAR in 2004 with the new style of SCAR meeting.
The XXVIII SCAR
meeting will be held in two parts: a SCAR Science Week to be held
in Bremen, Germany, 25-31 July 2004 when the Standing Scientific
Groups will meet around a symposium on a relevant subject and the
Delegates Meeting to be held in Bremerhaven, Germany, 3-9 October
2004.
Dr Roland Schlich
Strasbourg, February 2003.
|
