SCAR is an international non-governmental organization of the ISC family (ISC= International Science Council), and develops, coordinates, and promotes international research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, and in the role of Antarctica in the Earth system.
SCAR is also a scientific advisor to Antarctic Treaty Parties and other organizations such as UNFCCC and IPCC on science and conservation issues affecting Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.
Successful collaboration of Antarctic research began in the International Geophysical Year 1957/58. Subsequently, SCAR was founded in February 1958 to continue the collaboration with a permanent international forum.
The Federal Republic of Germany signed the Antarctic Treaty in February 1979 and has been a member of the Consultative Round since March 1981. SCAR recommendations become binding on member countries when they have been adopted by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Round.
The organization is headed by the SCAR Executive Committee, which is chaired by SCAR President Dr. Yeadong Kim (South Korea) and Vice Presidents Prof. Jefferson Cardia Simões (Brazil), Prof. Deneb Karentz (USA), Dr. Gary Wilson (New Zealand) and Dr. M. Ravichandran (India). The SCAR Secretariat is located in the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, UK (Executive Director Dr. Chandrika Nath).
Find the SCAR Strategic Plan 2017-2022 here.
The internaltional SCAR – Newsletter informs about new activities.
As part of SCAR, there are:
Permanent scientific working groups:
Standing Committees:
- Science Group GeoSciences
- Science Group Life Sciences
- Science Group Physical Sciences
Diverse specialised subgroups (Expert Groups, Action Groups, Advisory Groups), which cover various scientific needs.
Scientific Research Programmes:
Since 2021:
- Integrated Science to Inform Antarctic and Southern Ocean Conservation (Ant-ICON)
- INStabilities and Thresholds in ANTarctica (INSTANT)
- Near-term Variability and Prediction of the Antarctic Climate System (AntClimnow)
2012 – 2020:
- Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System (SCATS)
- Standing Committee on Finance (SC-Finance)
- Standing Committee on Data and Information Management (SCADM)
- Standing Committee on Antarctic Geographic Information (SCAGI)
- Standing Committee on Humanities and Social Sciences (SC-HASS)
SCAR holds an Open Science Conference every two years.
2004 Bremen, Germany
2006 Hobart, Tasmania/Australien
2008 Joint SCAR – IASC – IPY Open Science Conference, St. Petersburg, Russia
2010 Buenos Aires, Argentina
2012 Portland, Oregon, USA
2014 Auckland, New Zealand
2016 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2018 Joint SCAR – IASC OSC (POLAR 2018), Davos, Switzerland
2020 Online due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2022 Online due to the COVID-19 pandemic (01.08 – 10.08.2022)