Sixty years of coordination and support for Antarctic science – the role of SCAR

Abstract Antarctic Climate Evolution (ACE) and Past Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics (PAIS) have been two major and successful Scientific Research Programmes of SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research), with important achievements concerning the ice and climate evolution of the Antarctic continent and its surrounding seas through the Cenozoic era to the present day. SCAR held its first formal meeting in 1958 and from then onwards it has succeeded admirably in facilitating scientific interactions between nations, in enabling the scientific community to make significant breakthroughs in understanding the processes at work on the continent and in the Southern Ocean, and – as a non-governmental organisation – in playing an important role in providing impartial scientific advice to the Parties to the Antarctic Treaty, and in influencing the scientific aspects of Antarctic governance. SCAR adds value to national scientific activities by addressing topics covering the whole of Antarctica and the surrounding Southern Ocean in ways impossible for any one nation to achieve alone. This report discusses briefly the key ways in which SCAR has supported and coordinated scientific research in Antarctica.