February 24, 2009 — The International Polar Year provides a unique opportunity to assess the global State and Fate of Permafrost on a Warming Planet. Recent observations indicate a warming of permafrost in many northern and mountain regions with resulting degradation of ice-rich and carbon-rich permafrost. Permafrost temperature has increased by 1 to 2°C in northern Russia during the last 30 to 35 years. This observed increase is very similar to what has been observed in Alaska where the detailed characteristic of the warming varies between locations, but is typically from 0.5 to 2°C. The last 30-years warming in permafrost temperatures observed in the Russian North and Alaska has resulted in thawing of natural, undisturbed permafrost in areas close to the southern boundary of t...

Berlin — February 20th, 2009 — The Federal Minister for Education and Research, Dr Annette Schavan, inaugurated Neumayer Station III today at noontime. The new German research facility thereby starts its scientific operation. It is located 6.5 km south of the old Neumayer Station on the Ekström ice shelf in Dronning Maud Land in the Antarctic. The station serves as a base for scientific observatories as well as logistic centre for inland expeditions and polar aircraft. The Neumayer Station III was erected during seven months in two Antarctic summer seasons by the Alfred Wegener Station for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association. It offers accommodation for up to 40 people. Nine people ensure the year-round operation of the station. The construction project of about 40...

Oil and gas exploration that is coming to Canada’s North may bring benefits such as previously unheard of wealth to local communities, but it will also present new challenges to community infrastructure and traditional livelihoods. Fort Good Hope But how do you assess the pros and cons of increased development? That’s where GAPS: The Impacts of Oil and Gas Activity on People in the Arctic Using a Multiple Securities Perspective, comes into play. As its name suggests, the project is using a comprehensive and holistic approach to try to come up with some of the answers. We are giving particular priority to the human se...

February 20, 2009 The multinational ANDRILL (ANtarctic geological DRILLing) program, involving scientists, engineers, students, and educators from Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and the United States, has contributed exciting scientific results during the International Polar Year (IPY). In addition to the science outcomes there has been a focused effort to expand education and public outreach activities. These activities have engaged teachers, students and the general public. ANDRILL successfully implemented two scientific drilling expeditions during the IPY, one in the austral spring and summer of 2006 and one in the austral summer of 2007. These expeditions recovered long sediment and rock cores that preserve the geologic and paleoclimatic record of Antarctica from the ...