INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEAR (IPY) AND INTERNATIONAL HELIOPHYSICAL YEAR (IHY)
For more information on this proposed joint international program
collaboration that will focus on the problem of solar variation effects
on Earth as well as other causes and effects of climatic variability,
see the web site at http://IHY.GSFC.NASA.Gov/
The proposed IPY/IHY in 2007 would commemorate the 75th and 125th
anniversaries of the International Polar Years (1882-1883 and 1932-1933)
and the 50th anniversary of the International Geophysical Year
(1957-1958). Please submit any interests and ideas for the program at
the IHY web site http://IHY.GSFC.NASA.Gov/registration.html
INTERNATIONAL POLAR YEARS (IPY) AND INTERNATIONAL HELIOPHYSICAL YEAR
(IHY)
Austrian Navy Lieutenant Karl Weyprecht, after a cruise in the Barents
Sea aboard TEGETHOFF, became convinced that scientific study should take
preference over exploration and began a campaign that led to the
International Polar Year (IPY) from 1882-1883. This was followed by a
second polar year during the years 1932 to 1933 that was significantly
reduced due to the worldwide depression during these years. The third
IPY evolved into the International Geophysical Year (IGY) 1957-1958 with
a broader geographical scope.
In June 24-26, an international symposium‚ Äú Perspectives of Modern
Polar Research‚ was convened in Bad Durkeim, Germany to celebrate the
175th anniversary of the birth of Georg von Neumayer. Arising from the
participant discussions was a strong consensus that a program should be
formulated to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the IPY
(International Polar Year) in 2007.
The Neumayer Declaration adopted was:
A 125th year IPY program be initiated using new and present technologies
to determine:
1. Causes and effects of climatic variability - air/sea/ice interactions
2. Lithosphere dynamics - evolution and history of crust and sedimentary
cover
SCIENTIFIC RATIONALE:
It is clear that a complex suite of significant, interrelated,
atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial changes has occurred in the polar
regions in recent decades. These events are affecting every part of the
polar environment and are having repercussions on society. Solar
variations are also believed to influence climate through the formation
of high altitude clouds, influencing the ionosphere of Earth, variations
in solar output as recorded in the Holocene sediments and other effects.
Polar contributions to and the effect of global climate change are still
a matter of conjecture, and to a large extent so are the
extraterrestrial contributions.
GOALS:
In a similar thrust to both the IPYs and IGY the goal would be to obtain
synoptic measurements for studying large scale processes at high
latitudes. The hypothesis is that if scientific processes can be summed,
simplified and synthesized from a great number of stations over a broad
geographic region they will be easier to understand and predict.
Observing systems would ideally be in place over a number of years to
separate annual variability from seasonal. A partial list of goals might
include:
- Separation of the profound changes in the polar regions between
anthropogenic effects and natural fluctuations.
- The environmental paleohistory/tectonics of the high latitudes as
outlined by JEODI.
- The terrestrial solar coupling via coordinated set of observations of
the largest scale the solar generated events that affect life and
climate on earth.
- Reconstruction of the detailed history of polar ice sheets,
identifying geological controls to ice sheet behavior.
- Polar oceanic and terrestrial ecosystem studies of the structure and
processes of the environment from the sea floor to space and their
relationships with and climate change.
- An end-end modeling capability of solar terrestrial physics so that
physical processes can be tracked throughout the entire Sun-Earth system.
- It should be noted that polar and space research presents exceptional
opportunities to integrate educational outreach into research projects
by communicating the unique results to the interested scientific
community and to all peoples of the Earth.
APPROACH:
Requires an integrated, holistic system approach encompassing a wide
range of disciplines with new and improved technologies for long term
measurements on the seabed, in the water column, and space over all
seasons with new platforms. The proposed European research ice breaker
(Aurora Borealis) with dual moon pools, dynamic positioning, and
scientific drilling capability is a prime example. Coordination and
collaboration with international scientific organizations such as AOSB,
SCAR, IASC, SCOSTEP (Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics)
and especially their program on Climate and Weather of the Sun-Earth
System (CAWES), and the IHY community will be necessary.
Interdisciplinary boundaries may be a fruitful area of research.
Educational outreach, in both formal and informal settings to improve
science competency, citizenry awareness, and information of polar and
space sciences will be a vital component.
PROGRAM COMPONENTS:
As currently envisioned, the program will have three main thrusts each
of which is broad in scope.
The next maximum in solar activity will occur in 2010. A coordinated
campaign of observations beginning in 2007 and ending in 2010 would be
able to sample the Earth's response for essentially the full range of
solar input, from near minimum activity to solar maximum. In addition, a
new fleet of scientific instrumentation in space including Solar
Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), SDO (Solar Dynamics
Observatory) and Solar B will be available providing unprecedented
observations of the heliospheric inputs. These data, coupled with
comprehensive terrestrial datasets, will provide significant new
insights into the Sun-Earth connection. It has been proposed to
implement CAWES in the period of 2003-2007 to foster a scientific
approach to understanding the short term (Space Weather) variability of
the integrated solar-terrestrial environment (SCOSTEP, 2001). In a
similar vein, an International Heliophysical Year (IHY) has been
proposed for 2007 to obtain a coordinated set of observations to study,
at the largest scale, the solar generated events that affect life and
climate on Earth.
The IODP (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program) will commence in October
2003 with field operations being launched in subsequent years with the
Arctic having a strong potential to be a focal point. The Aurora
Borealis will be in the field with unprecedented multi-discipline all
season data collection capacity and a scientific drilling capability.
The SEARCH program focused on the changes in the Arctic and their
potential impact on the Earth including human, social, and economic well
being will be underway.
ACTION:
Your support and interest are needed now. Near term opportunities will
be in the Special discussion session with presentations at the World
Space Congress (COSPAR) in Houston the morning of 17 October. See
details at the COSPAR web site:
http://www.copernicus.org/COSPAR/COSPAR.html
The session will consist of several invited talks and a 30 minute open
discussion to receive community input.
A community forum also will be scheduled for the Fall AGU to receive
community input. The purpose of these two meetings is to identify
volunteers and scientific issues and to construct a scientific outline
for further discussion at a session scheduled at the EGS-AGU-EUG Joint
Assembly, 7-11 April 2003, Nice, France. From this point, organization
issues, identified key players, and an integrated science plan will be
constructed for presentation to ICSU. Your support is essential to make
this opportunity a reality. Responses will be collected and presented to
the appropriate funding agencies as a measure of community support.
Please submit any interests and ideas for the program at the IHY web
site: