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Lessons and Legacies of International Polar Year 2007-2008 (2012)

Chapter: Appendix A: Statement of Task

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2012. Lessons and Legacies of International Polar Year 2007-2008. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13321.
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Appendix A
Statement of Task

International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 was an intense, international campaign of polar observations, research, and analysis designed to further understanding of the polar regions. With the completion of the main, fieldwork phase of IPY, an ad hoc committee will produce a report that:

• highlights the outcomes (new scientific discoveries, observations, and findings, including infrastructure and education and outreach contributions) of the multifaceted IPY campaign from a U.S. perspective,

• integrates the lessons from different activities, including lessons learned about the benefits gained and challenges posed by international and multidisciplinary collaborations and by data access and management issues, and

• records U.S. IPY efforts so they are available to a broad audience including researchers, decision makers, and stakeholders.

This study will be based heavily on information generated at a large community workshop. It will look across disciplines and at both poles. The workshop will serve as a forum to facilitate community participation in a comprehensive synthesis of U.S. IPY efforts and accomplishments. The workshop will be organized to address four themes (introduced below and developed in detail by the appointed planning committee), including one specifically highlighting education and outreach activities. The workshop will feature invited presentations, discussions, and breakout group synthesis.

The committee will identify the major crosscutting lessons of this IPY and discuss why these lessons are important today in planning for the future. It will explore “next steps”—how to keep the momentum gained in polar science during IPY to continue, especially given the increased relevance of the polar regions, and their importance to our understanding of climate change and adaptation strategies. It will consider whether the concept of holding large “international years” still holds value in times when international coordination is no longer a rare way to do research. In total, the workshop and study report will illustrate how the many pieces of IPY combine to move polar understanding forward in significant and sometimes unexpected ways.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2012. Lessons and Legacies of International Polar Year 2007-2008. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13321.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2012. Lessons and Legacies of International Polar Year 2007-2008. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13321.
×
Page 125
Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2012. Lessons and Legacies of International Polar Year 2007-2008. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13321.
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Page 126
Next: Appendix B: Workshop on the Lessons and Legacies of International Polar Year 2007-2008: Agenda and Participant List »
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International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY) was an intense, coordinated field campaign of observations, research, and analysis. It was the largest, most comprehensive campaign ever mounted to explore Earth's polar domains. Legacies and Lessons of the International Polar Year 2007-2008 summarizes how IPY engaged the public to communicate the relevance of polar research to the entire planet, strengthened connections with the Indigenous people of the Arctic, and established new observational networks.

Legacies and Lessons of the International Polar Year 2007-2008 also addresses the objectives articulated for IPY in the 2004 National Research Council report, A Vision for International Polar Year (NRC, 2004). These objectives include: suggestions for scientific communities and agencies to use the IPY to initiate a sustained effort aimed at assessing large-scale environmental change and variability in the polar regions, the need to explore new scientific frontiers from the molecular to the planetary scale, investment in critical infrastructure and technology to guarantee that IPY 2007-2008 leaves enduring benefits for the nation and for the residents of northern regions, as well as increase public understanding of the importance of polar regions in the global system.

Legacies and Lessons of the International Polar Year 2007-2008 explains how activities at both poles led to scientific discoveries that provided a step change in scientific understanding and helped translate scientific knowledge into policy-relevant information. At a time when the polar regions are undergoing a transformation from an icy wilderness to a new zone for human affairs, these insights could not be more timely or more relevant. From outreach activities that engaged the general public to projects that brought researchers from multiple disciplines and several nations together, the legacies of IPY extend far beyond the scientific results achieved, and valuable lessons learned from the process will guide future endeavors of similar magnitude.

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