United States
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research

US-SCAR News

SCAR Humanities and Social Sciences Biennial Conference

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


NSF Antarctic Subsea Cable Workshop Survey

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


National Science Foundation job opportunity: Operations Manager, Antarctic Programs

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


Kick-off meeting for new SCAR Action Group RINGS

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


Southern Ocean Decade Workshop - Save the Date

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


NSF Webinar: Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER)

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 Antarctic Science Meeting (July 12-15)

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


New SCAR Scientific Research Programs Community Meetings

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


New Pier to be Constructed in 2021-2022 at Palmer Station, Antarctica

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


USAP Sexual Assault/Harassment Prevention and Response (SAHPR) Program

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


NSF Office of Polar Programs Postdoctoral Research Fellowships Webinars

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


NSF-sponsored Workshop: Detecting adaptive evolutionary events in genomes of polar species

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


OPP ANTARCTIC Virtual Office Hours - April 19, 2021

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


News from SCAR - March 2021

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


Office of Polar Programs Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (OPP-PRF)

The Office of Polar Programs (OPP) offers postdoctoral research fellowships (PRF) to provide opportunities for early career scientists, including social scientists, to accomplish one or more of the following goals: expand their work across traditional disciplinary lines, develop new partnerships connecting the polar regions and/or non-polar research communities, and provide entry to researchers who have traditionally had limited access to polar research resources, sites and facilities. The fellowship program encourages the integration of new investigators who have not previously worked in polar regions and/or innovative techniques that have not previously been applied to polar science into polar research. Continue Reading


Appointment of Dr. Jennifer Mercer as Acting Section Head for NSF Office of Polar Programs Arctic Sciences Section

Dr. Jennifer Mercer is serving as the acting Section Head for the Arctic Section at the US National Science Foundation. She is a program manager for Arctic Sciences and Arctic Research Support & Logistics. She also serves as Chair of the international Forum of Arctic Research Operators (FARO), and she co-leads the Atmospheres Collaboration Team for the US Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC). Continue Reading


Request For Information (RFI): Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) at the Poles

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Polar Programs (OPP) and the Education and Human Resources (EHR) Directorate request input from interested parties on the goals, values and approaches for managing the Antarctic Artist and Writers (AAW) Program and possibly expanding that program to include the Arctic. In addition, OPP and EHR request input into whether the NSF program which selects and sends educators to the Arctic and Antarctic regions should be under a common management structure. Organizations representing artists, writers, scientists, educators (both formal and informal), and Arctic residents and individuals are encouraged to respond by the deadline, April 7, 2021. Continue Reading


Upcoming NSF Office of Polar Programs Arctic and Antarctic Science virtual office hours

The National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs is holding separate office hours for Arctic and Antarctic Sciences. These webinars will cover program updates, funding opportunities, and season planning around COVID-19. Current awardees, pending proposers, and future proposers are welcome to attend. You must register to attend these sessions. Continue Reading


Job opportunity: NSF Office of Polar Programs seeks Section Head of Arctic Sciences

The Section Head, Arctic Sciences Section, a senior member of the Office of Polar Programs (OPP) management team, is responsible to the Office Director for the overall planning, management, and commitment of budgeted program funds for the Section. The incumbent works closely with the OPP Front Office Integration Team on matters concerning environment, safety, health, communications, budget and policy in implementing research objectives requiring an Arctic presence, and with the Section Head for Antarctic Sciences in supporting research activities occurring at both poles. Continue Reading


Dear Colleague Letter: Supporting Data and Sample Reuse in Polar Research

This new NSF Dear Colleague Letter: Supporting Data and Sample Reuse in Polar Research from the Office of Polar Programs (OPP) encourages submission of proposals that leverage existing data, physical samples, and non-physical samples (e.g., films, recordings, etc.), as well as those that facilitate the reuse of existing data. In this way, OPP aims to support both the Arctic and Antarctic research communities to drive polar science forward while capitalizing on NSF's previous research investments. Continue Reading