US-SCAR News

Reminder - Registration Deadline July 9! US-SCAR is hosting an online meeting on 12-15 July 2021 for US scientists who are conducting research in, from or about Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Scientists interested in getting involved in Antarctic research through US programs are also welcome and encouraged to attend. This conference is open to all US scientists and anyone interested in US Antarctic research. There is no registration fee. Continue Reading

Following the publication of our report on Southern Ocean priorities for the next 10 years, we are pleased to announce that the Southern Ocean Task Force will be hosting a Kick-off meeting for the Southern Ocean UN Decade online on the 9th July 2021. This webinar will gather speakers from the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO and members of the Southern Ocean Task Force. The meeting will provide you with an overview of the Southern Ocean contribution to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. You will know at what stage we are in the Southern Ocean process and we will let you know when and how you can get involved. To accommodate both Western and Eastern participants, we will be hosting two sessions. Continue Reading

SCAR is forming an Action Group on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and the call for membership is open to the Antarctic research community, with participation invited from all career stages and disciplines. The EDI Action Group will be tasked with broadly looking at how EDI issues can be effectively dealt with within SCAR and what practical actions are relevant for the organization. To do so effectively will require engagement from across the whole community. Continue Reading

The INStabilities & Thresholds in ANTarctica (INSTANT) is a Scientific Research Programme of SCAR that aims to quantify the Antarctic ice sheet contribution to past and future sea-level change. This type of program has the capacity to organise workshops and other collaborative activities. There is a need to discuss strategies of ice sheet models simulations within INSTANT and we propose a group to do so. It could be an across theme subcommittee of INSTANT but several points, especially data-model and paleo-climate, could be tagged as "Hub discussion" (platform of interactions between themes) because they really involve other communities than ice sheet modellers. This group should be also connected to the expert group ISMASS (Ice sheets mass balance and Sea level). We would like to know who is interested in getting involved in this group. Continue Reading

Reminder: Abstracts due next Monday, June 21. US-SCAR is hosting an online meeting on 12-15 July 2021 for US scientists who are conducting research in, from or about Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Scientists interested in getting involved in Antarctic research through US programs are also welcome and encouraged to attend. This conference is open to all US scientists and anyone interested in US Antarctic research. There is no registration fee. Continue Reading

The 2021 SCAR Visiting Scholar Scheme is open for applications from mid- to late-career stage scientists and academics (at least 5 years after completing their PhD). The closing date for 2021 SCAR Visiting Scholar Scheme applications is 30 August 2021. In addition, SCAR is offering three to four Antarctic Fellowship Opportunities for early-career researchers. The deadline for 2021 SCAR Antarctic Fellowship Opportunities applications is 30 June 2021. Continue Reading

The 2021 SCAR Standing Committee on the Humanities and Social Sciences (SC-HASS) Biennial Conference, The Global Antarctic, will be held in hybrid format in Kobe, Japan from November 18-19, 2021. Details about the meeting and the abstract submission portal are at the Conference website. The SC-HASS Conference will be followed by the 14th Polar Law Symposium, Nov 21-23. Continue Reading

The goal of this workshop is to produce a report outlining the science advances and impacts that would be enabled by massive improvements in digital connectivity to Antarctica. The workshop will take place June 29 - July 1, 2021 as a virtual Zoom workshop from 1-5 pm US CDT (6-10 pm UTC). Attendance is capped at ~50 active participants. YouTube live stream with chat open to all (Days 1 and 3), archived for asynchronous viewing. Complete the online survey to share your thoughts and register your interest in participating in the workshop. Continue Reading

The NSF Office of Polar Programs is hiring an Operations Manager, Antarctic Programs. This position is located in the Section for Antarctic Infrastructure and Logistics. The successful candidate will work with logistics and science program officers to help ensure that the operating infrastructure is responsive to Program functions that include science support; safety and health; logistics; information technology development; facilities, engineering, and construction. Deadline to apply is June 18, 2021. Learn more and apply today at https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/602775000. Continue Reading

SCAR launched a new Action Group “RINGS” under Physical and Geo Science Groups in March this year to generate synergies and truly international collaboration for near-future airborne geophysical surveys of the entire ice-sheet margin to constrain current and future sea-level contributions from Antarctica. Interested individuals at all career levels are warmly invited to the kick-off meeting 1300-1400 UTC on 27 May, Thursday. Please register in advance of the meeting. Continue Reading

Following a successful First Southern Ocean Regional Workshop held in San Diego, CA, USA in early 2020, the Southern Ocean UN Decade is pleased to announce that the 2nd Southern Ocean Regional Workshop will be co-hosted by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the European Polar Board (EPB) at the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) in The Hague (NL) and held online from September 20th to 22th, 2021. This event will be co-located with the 4th Polar Data Forum and related Hackathon. Continue Reading

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers the NSF's most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. In advance of the July 26, 2021 deadline, program officers will hold two webinars about the program: (1) Friday, May 14, 2021, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time, and (2) Thursday, May 20, 2021, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time. Continue Reading

US-SCAR is hosting an online meeting on 12-15 July 2021 for US scientists who are conducting research in, from or about Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Scientists interested in getting involved in Antarctic research through US programs are also welcome and encouraged to attend. This conference is open to all US scientists and anyone interested in US Antarctic research. There is no registration fee. Continue Reading

Announcing two community meetings for new SCAR Scientific Research Programs: (1) Near-term Variability and Prediction of the Antarctic Climate System (AntClimnow), and (2) Integrated Science to Inform Antarctic and Southern Ocean Conservation (Ant-ICON). Both Scientific Research Programs have upcoming community meetings. Continue Reading

The National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to rebuild the pier at Palmer Station, its research facility on Anvers Island, Antarctica. The new pier will be more than three times larger than the current one, extending farther out from the station into deeper water to allow the mooring of larger ships. Continue Reading

The National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs has entered into an agreement with the Department of the Interior’s Federal Consulting Group. The agreement contracts a team of experts to assist the NSF in the creation of a U.S. Antarctic Program Sexual Assault/Harassment Prevention and Response program. Read more at: https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=302518&org=OPP Continue Reading

The Antarctic Sciences (ANT) and Arctic Sciences (ARC) sections of the Office of Polar Programs (OPP) invite you to two upcoming webinars on the OPP Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (OPP-PRF) on Thursday, April 22, 2021 from 4:00pm – 5:00pm EDT and Thursday, May 6, 2021 from 1:00pm – 2:00pm EDT. Please join Arctic Social Sciences Program Director, Erica Hill, and Antarctic Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences Program Director, Dave Sutherland, at these informal webinars to learn about the basics of the OPP-PRF and have any questions you bring addressed. You’re welcome to send advanced questions to OPP Postdoc Research Fellowships (opp-prf@nsf.gov). Registration is required to attend. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Continue Reading

A two-day workshop will be held at the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience (University of Florida) during August 16-17, 2021 (arrival on the afternoon of August 15th). The workshop organizers, Dr. Scott Santagata and Dr. Joseph Ryan, will lead participants through a series of computational exercises having the following goals: (1) Construct orthologous gene assignments (OrthoFinder), prune paralogous genes (PhyloPYPruner), align orthologous gene (MAFFT), and multi-gene phylogenetic relationships (RAxML); (2) Establish collaborative research groups to test for genes under positive selection from diverse organisms and habitats (e.g., polar, terrestrial, marine, tropical) using genomic and transcriptomic datasets; (3) Evaluate current analytical methods for determining positive selection (e.g., PAML, HyPHy) and their statistical significance. Application deadline is June 01, 2021. Continue Reading

The Antarctic Sciences (ANT) and Antarctic Infrastructure and Logistics (AIL) Sections of the OPP will be hosting virtual Office Hours on Monday, April 19, 2021 from 4:00pm – 5:00pm Eastern time to share information with the academic community regarding evolving plans for upcoming seasons, funding opportunities, and the USAP Sexual Assault / Harassment Prevention & Response (SAHPR) Program. Current awardees, pending proposers, and future proposers are welcome to attend. To participate, you must register. Continue Reading

The SCAR Delegates Meeting was held last week online and we welcome a new SCAR President, Yeadong Kim (Korea), and a new Vice President, Deneb Karentz (United States). Jefferson Simões (Brazil) was re-elected to a second term as Vice President, and Gary Wilson (New Zealand) and Muthalagu Ravichandran (India) continue in their vice-presidential roles. SCAR also has two new full country members, the Czech Republic and Turkey; and a new associate member, Mexico. Continue Reading