Activities on Board - Working together - Christmas - Weight

The last few days saw the beginning of the daily routine that is to be followed for the next two months. The testing of various scientific equipments began and first few cores were collected. To name a few and explain the basic parameters of these systems:

Sunday, November 29th

Polarstern left the port of Cabo Negro near Punta Arenas on the evening of Friday, November 27th, 2009. It was to pass through the narrow Magellan Strait to reach the open waters of the Southern Pacific. As we maneuvered through the narrow strait, only the fading distant lights of the coastal towns were to be seen under the twilight. As all would agree, it was a pleasant yet an anxious feeling, as we wouldn’t see land for the next 8 weeks.

Ulrich Breitsprecher, a polar teacher from the Cool Classes programme accompanies the current expedition of RV Polarstern. The RV Polarstern left the port of Punta Arenas, Chile on November 27th, 2009 and will be ending in Wellington, New Zealand on January 27th, 2010, after 61 days at sea. For more information, please visit http://www.awi.de/en/infrastructure/ships/polarstern/weekly_reports/all_expeditions/ant_xxvi/ant_xxvi2/. Please check back to IPY.org for updates on the expedition.

M. Schueller, Alfred Wegener Institute

Abstract submission and registration is now open for the 2010 State of the Arctic Conference!

The State of the Arctic Conference will be held 16-19 March 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Miami in Miami, Florida. The main goal of the conference is to review our understanding of the arctic system in a time of rapid environmental change. It will provide an open international forum for discussion of future research directions aimed toward a better understanding of the arctic system and its trajectory. Further information about the conference can be found at: http://soa.arcus.org.

The Polar Resource Book - Polar Science and Global Climate: An International Resource for Education & Outreach - was created to ensure efforts catalyzed by IPY will continue to inspire educators, students, and emerging polar researchers into the next generationof young, international, polar researchers with a shared commitment to outreach and education.

If you have questions about this project, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Content:

The Arctic Peoples, Culture, Resilience and Caribou IPY project has just launched its website.  Basic information on the project is available now and more content will be loaded over the coming months.

The site can be viewed at: http://www.ipycaribou.ca/home

Submitted by Kirsten Murphy

As part of the October Polar Week CKLB radio (Yellowknife, Northwest Territories) hosted a panel discussion on the future of the Arctic on October 8^th. Students from around the globe joined this live radio discussion about the complexity of the situation in the Arctic and the conflicts of interest between economic, environmental and social issues. Listeners heard classes around the globe share their concerns about the future of the Arctic and the reactions of a panel of regional elders, permafrost researchers, environmentalists, and politicians. Questions were received from students from Brazil and northern Canada as well as from bloggers in Norway, Antarctica and Greenland.

Submitted by Kate Sinclair

New Zealand’s national museum "Te Papa" (Maori translation "our place") hosted a family day event in recognition of Polar Week. Researchers, Julian Thomson and Kate Sinclair, offered youth a 'hands on' experience where 7-10 year old school children could experience what it is like for scientists to travel to Antarctica and see what kind of gear they need to both survive and do science in this environment.