During its 2012 meeting, the IDP Science Advisory Board (SAB) voted to add elements to its structure to include standing working groups by including the existing Ice Core Working Group and forming two new working groups: Borehole Logging Working Group (BLWG) and Subglacial Access Working Group (SAWG). In 2023, with access to the polar ice sheets beginning to open following the pandemic years, the SAB recommended that the SAWG and BLWG cease as separate groups. Instead, a single new working group, the IDP Englacial and Subglacial Access Working Group (ESAWG), is being formed. This will provide an opportunity to develop and articulate new visions for U.S.-led englacial and subglacial science for the coming decade in the IDP Long Range Science Plan.
Other working groups may be added in the future if there is a need. Each working group will have a membership including a SAB member, and will hold virtual meetings through teleconferences and webinars to provide broader community input to the SAB for use in forming the Long Range Science Plan and other actions relevant to the working group interest.