SCOR History

Established in 1957, SCOR was the first permanent interdisciplinary body formed by the International Council of Scientific Unions, now called the International Council for Science (ICSU). Recognition that the scientific problems of the ocean require a truly interdisciplinary approach was embodied in plans for the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958. Accordingly, SCOR's first major effort was to plan a coordinated international approach to the least-studied ocean basin of all, the Indian Ocean. The International Indian Ocean Expedition of the early 1960s was the result. Management of the project was conducted by SCOR at the beginning and later transferred to Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.

International Oceanographic Congresses/Joint Oceanographic Assemblies
SCOR started a series of International Oceanographic Congresses in 1959, which became the Joint Oceanographic Assemblies. These were major international meetings to bring together ocean scientists on a regular basis. Six of these meetings were held:

Year	Location
1959 (31 Aug.-12 Sept.)	New York, NY, USA
1966 (30 May-9 June)	Moscow, USSR
1970 (13-25 Sept.)	Tokyo, Japan
1976 (13-24 Sept.)	Edinburgh, Scotland
1982 (2-3 August)	Halifax, N.S., Canada
1988 (23-31 August)	Acapulco, Mexico

The JOA series was not continued beyond 1988 because the meetings of professional societies were by then fulfilling the role that the JOAs had previously.

IOC Bureau and Consultative Committee, Second Meeting - 6-8 May 1963

Working Groups
For the next thirty years, the reputation of SCOR was largely based upon the successes of its scientific working groups. These small international groups address narrowly focused scientific topics (often new, "hot" topics in the field) that can benefit from international attention. Working groups must accomplish their objectives within a limited time frame, usually about four years. They are established in response to proposals from national committees for SCOR, other scientific organizations, or previous working groups. All working groups are expected to produce a final report, organize a workshop or symposium, or otherwise make a significant contribution to advancing understanding of their topic. SCOR working groups address topics that range from coastal modeling to the effects of marine phytoplankton on climate. A list of past and current working groups, and the publications resulting from them, are available elsewhere on the SCOR Web site.

Large-Scale Ocean Research Projects
The International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) was born from a cascade of effects. The International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958 had shown the value of coordinated multinational efforts in ocean science. This realization resulted in the International Council of Scientific Unions (now the International Council for Science) creating the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) to continue to stimulate international cooperation in ocean sciences. From its first annual meeting at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1957, SCOR identified the Indian Ocean as the greatest unknown in the global ocean and an area that could benefit from an intensive campaign of ocean observations. SCOR envisioned exploration of the Indian Ocean as its first task. The first four SCOR working groups were established to work on methodological issues to prepare for the IIOE, then were combined into SCOR WG 5. SCOR hired a Coordinator for the IIOE, Robert G. Snider, in 1959, and he continued in this post until the end of 1962, when management of the expedition was transferred to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. Snider's papers related to IIOE were donated to SCOR and have now been scanned and are linked below. Also included below are references to other documents that give information about the IIOE, including some documents from beyond SCOR's management.

The past two decades have brought a growing scientific understanding of the influence of the ocean in large-scale climate patterns and in moderating global change. By the early 1980s the promise of increased computing capabilities and new satellite instruments for remote sensing of the global ocean permitted oceanographers to conceive of internationally planned and implemented experiments of a scale never before possible. In fact, ocean scientists recognized that such large-scale programs are vital to understanding the ocean's role in Earth systems. For such long-term, complex activities, SCOR establishes large-scale ocean research projects, and provides coordination and administrative support during the early planning stages of projects. SCOR then usually steps back as the projects gather their own momentum, establish International Project Offices (IPOs), and find their own sources of funding. The early affiliation of projects with SCOR can provide an efficient mechanism for international coordination and the involvement of many new countries in these programs.

The first two global-scale projects resulting from SCOR activities were primarily physical studies: the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and the Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere Study (TOGA). Both grew out of SCOR's former Committee on Climatic Changes and the Ocean, which was a joint activity with IOC. TOGA provided much new understanding of El Niño and developed the capability to predict the occurrence of El Niño events with reasonable accuracy; WCRP was a co-sponsor of TOGA and later the main driver of this project. WOCE and TOGA have completed their work.

Since the late 1980s, SCOR has played a major role in fostering the development of several other large-scale ocean research projects. The Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) focused on the role of the ocean in the global carbon cycle and completed its work in 2003. The Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) project is concerned with the relationship between physical and biological variability in the ocean and how global change might impact the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems, with particular emphasis on important fisheries. JGOFS was co-sponsored by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and GLOBEC is co-sponsored by IGBP and IOC. SCOR and IGBP developed the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER) project and with IGBP, the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and the Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution (CACGP) developed the Surface Ocean - Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS).

SCOR and IOC have developed an international program--Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB)--with a focus on obtaining an understanding of the ecological and oceanographic conditions that cause harmful algal blooms and promote their development. GEOTRACES is the latest project developed through SCOR sponsorship, which will study the global biogeochemical cycles of trace elements and their isotopes.

Management of SCOR
SCOR has been managed by an Executive Committee whose members have been some of the major figures in international oceanographic activities since World War II. SCOR annual meetings have been held in all parts of the world and have been documented by SCOR Proceedings since 1965.

SCOR Secretariat
In the beginning, SCOR’s elected Secretary or President provided the necessary secretarial services. In 1972, a part-time Executive Secretary was appointed at the Royal Society (UK) to assist the elected Secretary. In 1985, as the scope and activities of SCOR had grown substantially, the Executive Secretary became a full-time employee; the title was changed to Executive Director in 1990.

Years	Executive Secretary/Director	Secretariat Location
1972-1980	George E. Hemmen	Royal Society (UK)
1980-1992	Elizabeth Tidmarsh	Dalhousie University (Canada)
1992-2000	Elizabeth (Tidmarsh) Gross	Johns Hopkins University (USA)
2000-2007	Edward R. Urban Jr.	Johns Hopkins University (USA)
2007-present	Edward R. Urban Jr.	University of Delaware (USA)

In 2003, ICSU evaluated its environmental components and concluded: “…every oceanographer is familiar with at least some of SCOR’s impressive list of accomplishments. This organization has a rich history of successes with working groups that have vetted methods of sample collection and analysis, and brainstormed topics for future research. Well known is the reputation of SCOR for its extensive outreach to scientists, laboratories, and research organizations in the developing world. Over the last 45 years, many developed country oceanographers made their first contacts with developing country scientists through SCOR meetings and reports….SCOR, more than any other organization, is responsible for the widespread international cooperation that is characteristic of modern ocean science. SCOR sponsorship remains still the best way to bring oceanographers of all disciplines to the table. …SCOR has demonstrated flexibility in its focus as ocean science has evolved, and the success of future ICSU projects and activities related to the ocean would be significantly diminished without the scientific integrity and experience of SCOR. Ocean science is inherently global, and SCOR is the instrument by which good local ideas in this field become global.”

References
Elements of SCOR history are accessible through the SCOR Proceedings series (limited copies are available upon request), as well as the following articles:

Anon. 1958. Special Committee on Oceanic Research. Deep-Sea Research 5:75-78

Charnock, H. 1984. Marine science--Organizing the study of the oceans. Marine Policy April 1984:120-136.

Deacon, G.E.R. 1957. International Cooperation in Marine Research. Nature 180:894-895.

Iselin, C. O'D. 1956/57. The Recent Goteborg Meetings. Oceanus 5(1-2).

Morcos, D., A. Poisson, and O. Mamayev. 1990. Joint Panel on Oceanographic Tables and Standards: 25 Years of Achievements under the Umbrella of International Organizations. Pp. 344-356 in Ocean Sciences: Their History and Relation to Man. Proceedings of the 4th International Congress on the History of Oceanography W. Lenz and M. Deacon (eds.). Deutsche Hydrographische Zeitschrift. Hamburg, Germany.

Ovey, D.D. 1954. The work of the Joint Commission on Oceanography 1951-54, of the International Council of Scientific Unions. Deep-Sea Research 2:159

Revelle, R. 1957. International cooperation in marine sciences. Science 126:1319-1323.

Wiseman, J.D.H. 1953. International collaboration in deep-sea research. Deep-Sea Research 1:3-10.

Wolff, T. 1989. The creation and first years of SCOR. Pp. 337-343 in Ocean Sciences: Their History and Relation to Man. Proceedings of the 4th International Congress on the History of Oceanography. Deutsche Hydrographische Zeitschrift, Hamburg.