SCAR SSG Geosciences Report to delegates - Dr. Jesús Galindo-Zaldivar, Spain (Deputy Chief Officer) - The Scientific ...

Report to delegates

        SCAR SSG Geosciences

          (29.08.2016) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

          Dr. W. Berry Lyons, USA (Chief Officer)
Dr. Jesús Galindo- Zaldivar, Spain (Deputy Chief Officer)
 Dr. Naresh C. Pant, India (Secretary & GeoReach Editor)

Scientific Research Programs

Past Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics (PAIS)
Lead proponents: T. Naish (New Zealand), L. De Santis (Italy)

Solid Earth Response and Influence on Cryosphere Evolution
(SERCE)
Lead proponent: Dr. Terry J. Wilson (USA)

               Progress being presented separately
              in the Delegates meeting on 29.8.2016

Expert groups

ADMAP (Antarctic Digital Magnetic Anomaly Project)

ANTPAS (Antarctic Permafrost and Soils)

ANTVOLC (Antarctic Volcanism)

GIANT(Geodetic Infrastructure of Antarctica)

GRAPE (GNSS Research and Application for Polar Environment)

IBCSO (International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean)

Expert groups
ADMAP (Antarctic Digital Magnetic Anomaly Project)
ADMAP-2 continues preparation integrating new data and filling the gaps.

Several meeting and workshops have been taken in this period and results
have been published in international journals

Dr. Graeme Eagles has been elected as the new chairperson.
                                mapping                   for
                                Antarctica’s              understanding
                                magnetic anomaly          geological
                                field                     processes

Expert groups
ANTPAS (Antarctic Permafrost and Soils)

Joint IPA Interest Group / SCAR Expert Group

This group promotes the research on the ice-free areas in the Antarctica

Several meeting and workshops have been taken in this period (XII ISAES,Goa,
2015; International Conference on Permafrost in Postdam 2016; OSC Kuala
Lumpur, 2016) and results have been published in international journals

Expert groups
ANTVOLC (Antarctic Volcanism)

Started his activities at the end of 2014
More than 70 researchers of 12 countries.
Several meeting and workshops have been taken in this period
Dr. John Smellie was elected as the new chairperson of the group.

Expert groups
GIANT(Geodetic Infrastructure of Antarctica)

Continuation of geodetic measurements in Antarctica

Relaunch of "SCAR GNSS Database" website

Gridded dataset of gravity anomalies for Antarctica (Scheinert et al., 2016)

First "SCAR Summer School on Polar Geodesy" in March 2014,

Expert groups
GRAPE (GNSS Research and Application for Polar
Environment) SSG-PS SSG-GS
Several meeting and workshops have been taken in this period

The GRAPE web site (www.grape.scar.org) has been maintained by IGNV Italy

Thirteen papers published within the group during 2015-2016 period,

Expert groups
IBCSO (International Bathymetric Chart of the
Southern Ocean)
Several meeting and workshops have been taken in this period (Goa, Monaco,
Kuala Lumpur)

Increase the extent of the IBCSO digital bathymetric model to 50° south for a 2nd
version.

IBCSO V1.0 digital bathymetric model was incorporated in the GEBCO_14 global
bathymetric model

Action groups

ANTOS (Antarctic Near-shore and Terrestrial Observing System)

CGG (Connecting Geophysics with Geology)

Geo Heritage and geoconservation

GEOMAP (Geological Mapping Update of Antarctica)

Action groups
ANTOS (Antarctic Near-shore and Terrestrial
Observing System)

Cross-disciplinary project

Started in 2014 and several meeting and workshops have been taken in this
period

Action groups
CGG (Connecting Geophysics with Geology)

This group has started the activities in the last period and has cross-link interest
with ADMAP expert group that may provide suitable magnetic anomaly data to
improve the geological knowledge of Antarctica.

Action groups
Geo Heritage and geoconservation

Terms of Reference for an Action Group was approved by SCAR EXCOM in
September 2015

First formal meeting at XXXIV SCAR in Kuala Lumpur,

Submitted an Information paper, entitled ‘Antarctic geoconservation: a review of
current systems and practices’ to SCATS, presented at the XXXIX ATCM in
Santiago in June 2016

Action groups
GEOMAP (Geological Mapping Update of Antarctica)

First meeting in 2015 at the ISAES
Around 20-35% of the continent’s rock outcrops have now been classified
In practice total task means classifying and describing around 72,000 distinct
polygons that cover 51,000 km2

                                                  ~35% of outcrops
                                                  now have some form of
                                                  digital representation
                                                  ≥Stage 4
                                                  suitable for use at
                                                  1:250,000 scale

OTHER SUBJECTS

Report on XII International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Science (ISEAS),
Goa, India. (13-17 July 2015).
~400 participants from 27 countries.
32 sessions on each facet of polar earth sciences.
Some of the proceedings of the symposium are being processed for
publication in 4 volumes of Geological Society of London Special Publication
Series

Progress on XIII International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Science (ISAES)
A presentation was made by the Korean National representative for hosting
the XIII ISAES 2019 at Incheon, South Korea.

SSG-GS continues to support the publication of the Bathymetric Map of the
Drake Passage as a SCAR product.
.

Recommendations

1) Continuation of the SSG GS Expert Groups
ADMAP (Antarctic Digital Magnetic Anomaly Project)
ANTPAS (Antarctic Permafrost and Soils)
ANTVOLC (Antarctic Volcanism)
GIANT(Geodetic Infrastructure of Antarctica)
GRAPE (GNSS Research and Application for Polar Environment)
IBCSO (International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean)

2) Continuation of Action Groups
ANTOS (Antarctic Near-shore and Terrestrial Observing System)
CGG (Connecting Geophysics with Geology)
Geo Heritage and geoconservation
GEOMAP (Geological Mapping Update of Antarctica)

Recommendations

3) Endorsement of new steering committee
Chief Officer: Prof. Jesús Galindo-Zaldivar (Spain)
Deputy Chief Officer: Prof. Naresh C. Pant (India)
Secretary & GeoReach Editor: Dr. Marcelo Leppe (Chile)

4) Endorsement of SSG GS representative to SCATS
(Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System)
Dr. Marcelo A. Reguero (Argentina)

5) XIII ISAES
It was approved by SSG-GS that XIII ISAES 2019 will be held
by Kopri at Incheon, South Korea. We propose the SCAR
delegates to accept it as well.

Budget implications
-All the EG and AG are active and have presented significant results.
-Some groups have special needs: advice to Antarctic Treaty, new product
generation, new groups, critical milestones.

We request funds as per following details:
    1) To approve USD 39,000 for the year 2017 and USD 34,000 for the year
    2018 for EG and AG activities.
    2) To reallocate unspent amount of SSG GS for the period 2015-16 from EG
    and AG for scheduled activities that should not be finished before Dec 2016.
                    GROUP                Year 2017   Year 2018
                    ADMAP                6000        6000
                    ANTOS                2000        2000
                    ANTPAS               3000        3000
                    ANTVOLC              4000        3000
                    CGG                  3000        3000
                    Geo Heritage         3000        3000
                    GEOMAP               6000        4000
                    GIANT                3000        3000
                    GRAPE                3000        3000
                    IBCSO                4000        4000

                    Mapping Antarctica
                    BatDrake (map)       2000
                    TOTAL                39000$      34000$