International Polar Year 2007-2008: Status and Role of WG AM

1. International Polar Year 2007-2008Status of preparation and the role of WG AM in IPY implementation Dr Eduard Sarukhanian, Special Adviser to Secretary–General on IPY

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR 2007-2008 IPY 2007-2008 should be an intensive and internationally coordinated campaign of high quality research activities and observations in the polar regions that would not otherwise be undertaken. IPY 2007-2008 is intended to lay the foundation for major scientific advances in knowledge and understanding of the nature and behaviour of the polar regions and their role in the functioning of the planet. • Timeframe • 1st March 2007 to 1st March 2009 • Geographic focus • Earth’s high latitude regions • Studies of any region relevant to the understanding of polar processes or phenomena

3. Themes for the IPY 2007-2008 Theme #1Current Status of the Polar Regions Theme #2 Change in the Polar Regions Theme #3Globallinkages Theme #4New frontiers Theme #5Polar Regions as Vantage Points Theme #6Human dimensions

4. IPY Observational Initiatives • A synoptic set of multidisciplinary observations to establish the status of the polar environment in 2007-2008 • The acquisition of key data sets necessary to understand factors controlling change in the polar environment • The establishment of a legacy of multidisciplinary observational networks • The launch of internationally-coordinated, multidisciplinary investigations into new scientific frontiers • The implementation of polar observatories to study important facets of Planet Earth and beyond • The creation of datasets on the changing conditions of circumpolar human societies

5. IPY Organisational Structure

6. Milestones of the IPY JC activities • ICSU and WMO have established IPY Joint Committee (JC) – November 2004; • ICSU and WMO have established IPY International Programme Office (IPO) at BAS, UK – Nov. 2004; • ICSU and WMO have issued call for Expressions of Intent (EOI)-Nov. 2004 • IPY IPO has sent out in March 2005 the JC guidance on clustering of 1200 EOI and preparation of full proposals with final deadline 31January 2006 • JC evaluated of 452 full proposals and endorsed 172 IPY scientific projects proposals, 1 for DIS and 56 proposals on education and outreach – April 2006 • JC Sub-Committees on Observations, Data Policy and Management, Education, Outreach and Communications have been established and continue work with IPY projects

7. Outcomes of JC forth session(Svalbard, 26-28 September 2006) • As regards IPY projects, JC was informed by IPO that Canada, Norway, Russia and USA were involved in 50% of the projects, with Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden and the UK being involved in 30-50% of the projects. Nations including Greenland, Poland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Iceland, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, China and France and more were involved in 10-30% of the projects. Several non polar nations were included in the full set of participating countries which was a positive outcome of the whole proposal process.

8. Funding for IPY projects • Canada –150 millions Canadian dollars, • UK - 40 millions pounds for activities in Antarctica and 5 millions for the Arctic, • Norway – 900 millions NK • EU - 16 millions euros for DAMOCLES and 1.5 million euros for IAOOS • The Netherlands 10 millions euros • Spain 4 millions euros • Brazil – 4 millions US dollars • Russia - 10 millions US dollars for 2007 • US NSF, European Science Foundation, China, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan and other countries have requests for funding in process, final picture will be available by the end of year

9. IPY Sub-Committees activities IPY Sub-Committee on Observations (separate report will be made later)

10. Sub-Committees activities IPY Sub-Committee on Data Policy and Management has finalized a policy on data management and is now working on developing an IPY Data and Information Service (DIS), which will be based on existing systems In respect of Antarctic data exchange there is a need for connections between the various existing data systems, like JCADM and SCAR’s Marine Biodiversity information network (MarBIN). JC noted the main problem regarding the data management is absence of data coordinator. Later the Norwegian NC for IPY make offer to provide an expert from Meteorological Institute to serve in this capacity. However he will be focussed in particular on geophysical data and real-time data streams. The remaining part of the data coordination challenge, namely a person to help integrate social and biological data with geophysical data still need additional support.

11. Outcomes of JC session(cont) The Scope of IPY Science was developed by JC. It will be published in WMO by mid-February 2007

12. IPY lunch event IPY international launch event will be on 1 March 2007 in Paris at presence of WMO Secretary-General, Executive Director of ICSU and JC. This event will represent the single official opening of IPY. Many national or regional IPY start-up events, before and after the 1 March event, will represent opportunities to build up to the official international launch or to build from the official launch to the national programmes.

13. Early Science Conference JC agreed to begin planning an IPY Early Science Conference, tentatively scheduled for 2010 and accepted the offer of Norway to host the Conference in Oslo. Early Science Conference is considered as a compliment to many polar science meetings already scheduled or planned, and particularly as a way to accelerate our progress on the interdisciplinary and integrating themes of IPY.

14. Thank you!