International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

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IPY 20 07–20 08
The EoI database was to stay open throughout the IPY
period and eventually grew to include more than 1,100
submissions (http://classic.ipy.org/development/eoi/),
though later proposals were not reviewed by the JC.
In late January 2005, the IPO sorted the EoIs into
seven thematic groups; in early February, the grouped
submissions were forwarded to the members of
the JC, according to their disciplinary expertise. 4 A
template of 10 evaluation criteria, from the Framework,
was assembled by the IPO 5 (Appendix 4) and, during
February 2005, seven small teams of JC members
each reviewed over 120 EoIs against them. This open
process was not undertaken in the earlier IPY/IGYs
and it again illustrated the bottom-up nature of the
IPY 2007–2008. The assessment was completed by
1 March 2005, demonstrating that the JC and the
IPO had built the capacity to lead the community in
developing IPY 2007–2008.
Selection of a Director for the IPY
International Programme Office
A well-staffed, centralised project office to
coordinate IPY had been seen as essential by the ICSU
Planning Group. In response to an international call
from ICSU and WMO (Chapter 1.3), the U.K. Natural and
Environmental Research Council (NERC) generously
offered €1.8 M over 5-6 years, plus in-kind facilities at
the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge to support
the International Programme Office (IPO) for IPY 2007–
2008. That provided funding for three full-time core
positions: a Director, an Office Administrator and a
Project Officer (Chapter 1.6).
Selecting the right person as Director was
paramount to ensuring the success of the IPO and
hence of IPY itself. An announcement for this position
was made jointly by WMO and ICSU on 17 November
2004. A total of 20 applications were received and were
evaluated by a five-person selection panel 6 . The top
four applicants were interviewed at BAS in Cambridge
on 4 March 2005. The panel’s recommendation was
subsequently approved by the Executive Director of
ICSU (Thomas Rosswall) and the Secretary-General of
WMO (Michel Jarraud) and the position of IPO Director
was offered to David Carlson, who took the job on 9
May 2005 (Chapter 1.6). 7
JC-1 Meeting and First Open
Consultative Forum: March 2005
The first meeting of the JC was held on 7-9 March
2005 at the ICSU Secretariat in Paris, and was attended
by all but one of the 19 members (Appendix 3, Fig. 1.5-1).
Thomas Rosswall (Executive Director, ICSU) and Hong
Yan (Deputy Secretary-General, WMO, representing
Michel Jarraud) were present at the opening and both
welcomed, on behalf of sponsors, the creation of the
JC and outlined the significance of IPY. Following
a review of its Terms of Reference provided by ICSU
and WMO (Box 2) the committee determined its main
tasks over the next few years would be to define the
projects comprising IPY; to encourage maximum
participation, particularly from non-polar nations; to
promote data management and education/outreach/
communication as important components; to
advocate funding for the IPY activities; and to provide
guidance and direction to the IPO.
JC members had reviewed and assessed 869
submitted Expressions of Intent online before the
meeting. Those assessments were formally approved
at JC-1. Many EoIs contained overlapping ideas and
a substantial number constituted small national
proposals or ideas advanced by individual scientists.
It was essential for IPY implementation to try and
consolidate many of these into a smaller number
of international projects. At JC-1, the members
grouped EoIs by science objectives and discipline,
also identifying the cross-cutting themes and
legacy projects. Almost 50 large science topics were
identified from among the EoIs and these were related
back to the six IPY themes in the Framework document
(Rapley et al., 2004). The JC also noted a number of
critical gaps in EoI submissions, like the involvement
of space agencies.
IPY data management was discussed and a decision
was made to form a sub-group of JC members to
define an IPY data policy, which would closely follow
ICSU and WMO policies, and to establish a separate
ad hoc task group to define an IPY data management
strategy. Another ad hoc task group was recommended
to develop an education and communication plan,
prior to setting up a full IPY Subcommittee on Education
and Outreach. It was also agreed that it would
be valuable to have an Observing Systems Subcommittee.
The third ad hoc group was established and