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IOC is a strong supporter of the Inernational Polar Year. Involvement has come at the level of our governing bodies, programs, secretariat and member states.
Governing Bodies
The IOC Executive Council, at its 37th Session, in 2004, endorsed the International Polar Year (IPY). By Resolution EC-XXXVII.3 it made some suggestions for IOC participation in IPY and requested that the Executive Secretary present a report on IPY preparations to the 23rd Session of the IOC Assembly. At that session, in 2005, the Assembly endorsed Resolution EC-XXXVII.3 and requested the Intergovernmental Committee for GOOS (I-GOOS) consider the establishment of GOOS Regional Alliances for the polar regions. At its 39th session, in 2006, the Executive Council reconfirmed its support for the ongoing IOC contributions to the organization and conduct of the IPY. It also instructed the Executive Secretary to prepare an IOC Web document reflecting the main contributions of IOC Member States to the IPY (this website) and agreed that GOOS, JCOMM and IODE should play active roles in this process and support future observing systems in polar regions. It also urged IOC Member States to provide sufficient resources to implement all the oceanographic proposals in the IPY Plan.
Programs
The GOOS Scientific Steering Committee (GSSC), at its 8th and 9th Sessions recommended the establishment of an Arctic GOOS regional alliance. The IOC–WMO–UNEP Intergovernmental Committee for GOOS (I-GOOS) was, at its 7th Session presented with a proposal from EuroGOOS to form an Arctic GRA. It invited EuroGOOS to consult with existing Arctic coordinating bodies and nations and to submit a formal proposal to I-GOOS at a future meeting. Development of a GOOS Arctic regional alliance is proceeding and is hoped to be the major GOOS legacy of IPY.
IOCCP
As the International Polar Year approaches, there is a need to compile information about on-going and planned ocean carbon research in the polar areas. Building on information collected during the November International Repeat Hydrography and Carbon workshop, the regular inventories of the IOCCP, and compiled information from SOLAS and IMBER, we have developed an initial compilation of on-going or planned field programs for the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
Please find more information HERE.
Secretariat
Activities relevant to the IPY carried out by the IOC Secretariat have included: participation in meetings and activities of the joint ICSU–WMO Committee for IPY from 2005 to the present; hosting the First IPY Open Consultative Forum (Paris, 10-11 March 2005) and co-authoring a U.S. Polar Research Board and National Academy of Sciences report “Toward an Integrated Arctic Observing Network”.
Member States
Several IOC Member States, including Brazil, Canada, Norway, Russia, Spain and the United States, have expressed strong interest in, and made commitments to fund, ocean-related science activities within IPY.
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