International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

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IPY 20 07–20 08
decades (1950–1970). It received the most sustained
backing from its participant nations, international
organizations and scientific bodies, including
UNESCO. It also attracted an estimated USD 2 billion
in overall funding (Bullis, 1973), equivalent to USD 14.3
billion in 2006 dollars. 37 IGY funding requests were
eagerly matched by national governments, so that a
substantial balance was carried forward for post-IGY
programs and data-management.
The achievements of IGY, in science, new research
techniques, international collaboration, public policy
and outreach are hard to overestimate (Berguño
and Elzinga, 2010; Bulkeley, 2008; Collis and Dodds,
2008; Dodds et al., 2010; Elzinga, 2009; Korsmo, 2010;
Summerhayes, 2008). IGY raised the international
organization and the status of polar research to a new
level. The role of science in Antarctica, in particular,
was transformed. New international regime for
governance and collaborative research in Antarctica
(Antarctic Treaty of 1959) was established as the direct
result of IGY (Chapter 1.4). Three new special (‘scientific’)
committees were created by ICSU to continue the
international cooperation advanced by IGY, the
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR, in
1958), Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR,
in 1957) and Committee on Outer Space Research
(COSPAR, in 1958). Furthermore, IGY triggered
several subsequent international research programs,
including the Upper Mantle Programme (1962–1968)
and its successors; the International Year of the Quiet
Sun (1964–1965); the Global Atmosphere Research
Programme (1968–1979), which was succeeded by
the World Climate Research Programme; and the
International Biological Programme (1964–1974), which
was succeeded by the International Geosphere-
Biosphere Programme (Aronova et al., 2010; Baker,
1982a). By every possible measure, IGY would be a
hard act to follow.
Conclusion: What Did It Take to Launch
an IPY?
It is obvious that none of the earlier IPY/IGYs had
a smooth sailing and all of them, at one point or
another, were plagued with delays, personal and
national rivalries, and institutional competition. To
launch a science program on the magnitude of an
international polar year several factors have to be in
place. This includes, above all, successful coalition
building and politicking, strong and savvy leaders,
and a good sense of historical momentum (Korsmo,
2009; Needell, 2000). The original idea could be
proposed by individual champions, like Weyprecht,
Breitfuss or Georgi, but to become a reality it has to
be pushed forward by people well-established in the
international scholarly hierarchy, like Neumayer and
Wild in IPY-1; Dominik and la Cour in IPY-2; Berkner and
Chapman in IGY. Also, the proposal to launch a new
initiative has to be advanced via the most respected
professional organizations of the time. Specifically,
IMO/WMO and ICSU, or their constituent bodies,
acted as such channels. Ever since IPY-1, the idea of
a globally coordinated science initiative at the Poles
(‘international polar year’) was solidly rooted in the
polar community’s memory; but in order to move
forward, it had to be re-energized via consistent and
dedicated effort. An approaching major anniversary
commonly triggered such process. A cadre of veterans
with personal memory of the previous event may
contribute a decisive force in 25 years (Chapman,
Berkner, Vestine, Paton, and others in IGY); of course
less so after 50 years.
The timely establishment of a special international
body (committee, planning group) charged with the
preparation, networking and advertising for a new
IPY has always been the key factor in its successful
implementation. Each venture also required canny
managers, as well as skilled science ‘diplomats,’ that
is, people capable of defusing or at least managing
institutional rivalries and international conflicts, like
Wild, la Cour, Chapman and Nicolet, to name but a few.
In general, good diplomacy was always a prerequisite
to the success of IPY, both internally, among competing
science institutions, and externally – in the time of
a major European War (IPY-1), global economic crisis
(IPY-2) and Cold War confrontation (IGY). Last but not
least, ALL major nations active in polar research have
to be involved in the process, though the original
champions for a new IPY might not necessarily come
from the wealthiest or the most established nations,
as happened in IPY-1 (Austria-Hungary) and IPY-2
(Germany and Russia).
A remarkably consistent time span—seven years in
case of IPY-1 and IGY, six years in IPY-2—takes to move