In June 1989, the ESF Executive Council, on the authority delegated by the 1988 General Assembly, launched the 5 years programme on Polar North Atlantic Margins (PONAM),
The programme, originating from the ESF Network on Polar Sciences, is within the remit of the ESRC.
Its aim was to study the major climate-driven environmental variations in the Norwegian-Greenland (also Nordic) Sea and its continental margins over the last 5 millions years. Special emphasis was placed on linking the terrestrial and marine records of environmental change.