Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

India were admitted as Members; and Delegates received an account of plans for an
ICSU International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP).
The Executive Committee meeting in August l985, commissioned the writer
Richard Fifield to prepare a text reviewing Antarctic Science, and he submitted a
draft for consideration. Interest was expressed in a first outline the proposed IGBP
and a SCAR response was prepared. XIX SCAR (l986) was planned to be held in
South Africa, but political upheaval led to a decision to move the venue to San Diego
(l986). The Americans at short notice put on an excellent show. China was admitted
to membership. The new category of Associate Member was agreed and would be
submitted to ICSU for approval. A proposal from the Executive to disband the G of S
on Southern Ocean Ecosystems and their Living Resources was confirmed; the
BIOMASS Executive should oversee the programme initiated by this G of S to its
completion. It was agreed to establish new G of S on Southern Ocean Ecology,
convenor J C Hureau. For land based biology a new programme, Biological
Investigations of Terrestrial Antarctic Systems and Stocks (BIOTAS) was supported
in principle. The establishment of a panel of experts on waste disposal, chaired by J E
Bleasel, was agreed. Also two new G of S. one on the Lithosphere (convenor I W D
Dalziel) and the other on Cenozoic Palaeoenvironments (P N Webb convenor), were
established. A proposal to amalgamate the WGs on Geology and Solid Earth
Geophysics was rejected, but the groups would work closely together. It was at this
meeting that the first steps were taken to set up separate arrangements for logistics;
this move was initiated by P. Wilkness and J Bleazel, both new to Antarctic science
and logistics, who felt, wrongly in my view, that SCAR was dictating scientific
programmes to them.
The Executive Committee met in July l987, when it was noted that Managers of
National Antarctic Programmes (MNAPs) had met in conjunction with SCAR WG on
Logistics, a meeting to have great future significance eventually leading to the
setting-up of a Council of Managers of Antarctic Programmes (COMNAP) with a
subsidiary body, a Standing Committee on Logistics and Operations (SCALOP). It
was proposed that a G of S on Environmental Affairs and Conservation (GOSEAC)
be established, another very significant development, particularly with respect to
SCAR's relationship to the Antarctic Treaty. Concern was again expressed at the
growing number of stations on King George Island. At its next meeting in March l988
the Executive Committee agreed to establish GOSEAC. It also agreed to establish a
SCAR Steering Committee for the IGBP (co-chaired by C. Lorius and G. Weller). The
establishment of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) was noted. Also
it was felt that SCAR's public relations needed to be promoted and the holding of an
Antarctic Science Conference was suggested to raise the profile of Antarctic Science
among politicians and policy makers, and to stimulate media interest. This was
SCAR's first venture into such fields.
Delegates at XX SCAR, Hobart, Tasmania (l988) agreed that the SCAR WG on
Logistics would be disbanded as soon as the MNAP Group, later to become known
as COMNAP (the Council of Manager's of Antarctic Programmes), had established
its Standing Committee on Logistics and Operations (SCALOP). (Both COMNAP and
SCALOP were said to be "federated" to SCAR). The WG on Upper Atmosphere
Physics was to be replaced by a WG on Atmospheric Sciences, with three major areas
of interest: lower, middle and upper atmosphere; M J Rycroft was to be convenor. In
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