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XIth SCAR – Open Science Conference & Biennial Meetings
Pucón-Punta Arenas – CHILE
August 2024
The SCAR Open Science Conferences are the world's premier Antarctic science meetings and are held every two years to draw attention to Antarctic issues. They offer scientists from various disciplines and countries the opportunity to present their work, network and participate more actively in SCAR's scientific activities.
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), was established in 1958 by the 12 countries that had been active in the International Geophysical Year, including Chile. It is a non-governmental organisation and is a thematic organisation of the International Science Council (ISC), and currently includes 46 member countries and 9 ISC unions. SCAR initiates, develops and coordinates international research in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. As well as facilitating science, SCAR’s advice plays a crucial role in decision making processes.
In April 2021, the Chilean Antarctic Institute, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presented Chile’s candidacy to hold this conference. The application was supported by all SCAR members, most of whom are Parties to the Antarctic Treaty System. The SCAR OSC will be held in Pucón and Punta Arenas in August 2024, which will represent a great opportunity for these cities and for the country and will require the participation of public services, private entities and the community. The conference is planned as an in-person conference with limited hybrid
Meetings OSC – SCAR 2024
SCAR and the Chilean Antarctic Institute are pleased to invite you to the 11th SCAR Open Science Conference, in Pucón, Chile, from 19-23 August 2024.
Punta Arenas – Chile
26-28 August 2024
SCAR
Delegates’ Meeting
- Closed meeting
- Formulating SCAR’s policy and strategy
- Social and cultural events
The SCAR Open Science Conference 2024 comprises a diverse programme featuring plenary lectures, mini-symposia, parallel sessions, panel discussions, posters, and various social and excursion opportunities in Pucón, Chile, and its surroundings.
The opening and closing ceremony, plenary lectures, and mini-symposia will be live-streamed.
The Business Meetings (17-18 & 24-25 August) and Delegates Meeting will be hybrid. The Science Group Business Meetings (21 August), poster, and parallel sessions will be in-person only.
Pucón and Punta Arenas, special places in Chile
Pucón, with its forests, lakes, and volcanoes represents in large parts the Antarctica of 70 million years ago. From 250 to 23 million years ago, the Antarctic continent had such high temperatures that allowed the arrival, diversification, and expansion of plant species that have left traces in Chile and other parts of the world.
For its forests, lakes and volcanoes that seen today, represent in large part the Antarctica of 70 million years ago. From 250 to 23 million years ago, the Antarctic continent had such high temperatures that allowed the arrival, diversification and expansion of plant species that have left traces in other parts of Chile and the world. The evidence shows that in the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby islands there were exclusive plant species, similar to those we can find today in areas as far away as Araucania, Patagonia, New Caledonia, Australia and New Zealand. Several of the tree species related today to araucarias, myrtles, oaks and raulíes covered vast regions of the Antarctic Peninsula and fossil remains are usually found in its extreme north.
In the effort to decentralize science, a place was chosen whose natural characteristics allow creating a real connection with Antarctica, where attendees will find a safe place to stay, with a seal of sustainability and a low impact on the carbon footprint that the conference itself produces, and which also has the logistical capabilities that SCAR requires for the realization of a conference of such a level. Thus, the place chosen will be the Gran Hotel Enjoy Pucón and, next to it, the Universidad de La Frontera, whose facilities offer several rooms for parallel conferences.
