HR: 0830h
AN: C41C-0985    [PDF]
TI: Role of the Polar Research Board in Facilitating Planning for IPY 2007-2008
AU: * Elfring, C
EM: celfring@nas.edu
AF: Polar Research Board, The National Academies 500 Fifth Street NW, Washington, DC 20001 United States
AB: IPY 2007-2008 has the potential to be a valuable burst of scientific activity that adds to our understanding of polar regions and their role in the global system, and it stands to engage a new generation of scientists and the public in an exciting way. IPY 2007-2008 will be truly international and broadly multidisciplinary. But how is something of this scale planned and implemented? Where are the opportunities for input from the science community? How do we reconcile the differences in the American system of supporting science with approaches used in other nations, when attempting to work jointly? How can the large, diverse polar science community be satisfied that IPY reflects their priorities, given the necessity of making choices about how to focus IPY activities? The National Academy of Sciences played a key role in organizing the International Geophysical Year in 1957-1958. In this mode, the Polar Research Board, a unit of the National Academies (which includes the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine), is attempting to play a role in facilitating IPY 2007-2007 planning. The Polar Research Board is a nongovernmental body composed of volunteers from the polar science community. Its mission is to promote excellence in polar science and provide advice to agencies and the nation on issues of importance in the Arctic, Antarctic, and cold regions in general. The PRB represents US interests in two international nongovernmental polar science organizations - the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC). The PRB's status as an independent body gives it a special role in organizing IPY 2007-2008 at both the national and international levels. At the national level, it has attempted to provide opportunities for dialog on what US scientists would like IPY to be, and to have a relatively open process so that bottom-up ideas can be considered. At the international level, it is showing leadership in a more complex setting. The PRB continues to act as a conduit of information so that all interested in making IPY 2007-2008 a success can participate.
UR: http://www.nationalacademies.org/prb/ipy
DE: 1699 General or miscellaneous
DE: 6605 Education
DE: 9310 Antarctica
DE: 9315 Arctic region
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting