International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

(AMAP), a program working group of the Arctic
Council in cooperation with the International
Arctic Science Committee (IASC), the World Climate
Research Programme/Climate and Cryosphere Project
(WCRP/CliC), the International Polar Year International
Programme Office (IPY IPO) and the International Arctic
Social Sciences Association (IASSA) – see Fig. 5.2-2. The
project brings together Arctic scientists from a broad
range of disciplines in order to compile and evaluate
information from Arctic monitoring networks and
recent international research activities, such as those
carried out during IPY 2007–2008 to better quantify
and understand the recent changes to the cryosphere
and their impacts since 2005 (i.e. the year when the
ACIA report was published).
Overall coordination of the project is conducted by
the SWIPA Integration Team (IT), composed of authors
and representatives of the sponsoring organizations
(i.e. AMAP, IASC, WCRP/CliC, IASSA and IPY IPO). The
AMAP Secretariat serves as the secretariat for SWIPA,
convening meetings and organizing the overall
activities. The SWIPA implementation plan, the draft
table of contents and timetable are available at the
SWIPA website at www.amap.no/swipa.
SWIPA will produce a number of reports and other
products over the course of its lifetime (2008–2011).
Its first report, The Greenland Ice Sheet in a Changing
Climate (Dahl-Jensen et al., 2009, Fig. 5.2-3), together
with two short films, was introduced as the Arctic
Council’s contribution to the 15th Conference of
Parties (COP15) under the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in December 2009 in
Copenhagen (Chapter 2.4).
The final SWIPA science report will be presented to
the Arctic Council in spring 2011 and will serve as an
Arctic contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of
the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), scheduled for completion in 2013–2014. The
SWIPA report is subject to a thorough scientific peer
review, as well as a national review by Arctic countries
prior to publication. The final structure of the main
SWIPA Report, which is going to be a document of
approximately 500 pages (Fig. 5.2-4) was defined
at the SWIPA Cross-Fertilization Workshop held in
Potsdam, Germany on 12-15 January 2010.
An approximately 50-page summary report in
layman language containing the key findings of the
SWIPA project and recommendations based on the
science report will be written by a science writer in
close cooperation with the lead authors of the SWIPA
report, the SWIPA IT and the AMAP working group;
one or more films conveying the messages of SWIPA
are also foreseen. The summary report and the film(s)
will also be released at the time of the Arctic Council
ministerial meeting .
The SWIPA Project is being conducted according
to three main Arctic cryosphere components: sea ice,
the Greenland Ice Sheet and the terrestrial cryosphere,
composed of snow, permafrost, mountain glaciers
and ice caps, and lake and river ice. In addition to
assessing the physical and environmental changes
occurring in the cryosphere, the project considers
the consequences of such changes on the socioeconomics,
culture and lifestyles of Arctic residents,
including indigenous peoples, as well as some global
implications. The most critical is the last section of the
report called ‘Integrated synthesis.’ It will be prepared
by a special team of several SWIPA scientists, according
to their fields of expertise. This is a clear projection of
the template developed and advanced during IPY
2007–2008, with increased focus on cross-disciplinary
Fig.5.2-3. The
Greenland Ice-Sheet
in a Changing Climate
(GRIS) report, 2009.
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