The GeoNorth 2009 conference, 4-6 August in Fairbanks, Alaska, is a unique opportunity to discuss issues and present current research related to geospatial activities in the arctic environment. This conference provides an opportunity to present results associated with the International Polar Year (IPY), environment and climate change monitoring and geographic analysis, geospatial standards and their application, and the construction of virtual collaborative networks including Arctic mapping and the virtual Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure (ASDI). The conference is coordinated by the USGS, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the I...

Return to Main Land and Life Page Background: Layers of perennially frozen ground known as permafrost exist under about 20% of the Earth’s surface. Permafrost occurs on land in both the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as beneath the ocean around the Arctic coast and in many high mountain areas. Seasonal thawing and freezing of the soil forms a shallow active layer that overlies the permafrost. In contrast, deep permafrost, frozen to depths of 500 to 1000 meters, may have existed in a frozen state for thousands of years. Frozen soils have greater mechanical stability than unfrozen soils. Permafrost degradation can cause problems for roads, pipelines ...

IPY is possibly the largest and most interdisciplinary science project ever conducted. Tens of thousands of investigators from dozens of countries are collecting data in diverse disciplines in physical, life, and social sciences. The data management challenge presented by IPY is huge. The current approach to the challenge is through an informal global partnership of data centers, archives, and networks working to ensure proper stewardship of IPY and related data. This partnership is called the IPY Data and Information Service (IPYDIS) and a new web site, discussion forum, and help desk has been established at http://ipydis.org to help coordinate the effort. The IPYDIS seeks to actively engage and support the IPY community, as such, advice, critique, and suppo...

To aid broad interdisciplinary discovery of IPY data, the IPY Data Policy and Management Subcommittee has created an initial metadata profile. A metadata profile is a set of required fields and vocabularies for a given metadata standard. The purpose of the IPY Metadata Profile is to ensure that we capture a bare minimum of information necessary to allow simple discovery across disciplines and to ensure we can track the heritage of the metadata in a broadly distributed data management environment. All IPY data registries and repositories collecting data and metadata from IPY projects are required to collect and share sufficient information to adhere to the IPY Metadata Profile requirements. Similarly, IPY projects are required to submit the compliant metadata t...

One of the most intriguing aspects of IPY is how broad it is. More than any other international program, IPY has emphasized interdisciplinary study. We seek greater understanding of how systems work as a whole. This systemic view requires that we find and assess data and information outside our area of expertise. Easier said than done. Different disciplines describe similar phenomena in different ways; they use different assumptions and metaphors; they treat error and uncertainty differently. Even when data are available, investigators struggle to find relevant data for their application. IPY cannot solve the whole problem of interdisciplinary data access, but we can make a major step forward. If an investigator can simply find and us...

You are invited to participate and contribute to the first Virtual Observatories in Geosciences Conference (VOiG). The conference will be at The Curtis Hotel, Denver Colorado, USA - June 12-15, 2007 Each day features plenary and parallel (breakout) sessions to cover areas of broad interests as well as the opportunity for detailed discussions. Time will be allowed for posters, with breaks to facilitate interactions amongst the worldwide VO community. The conference is sponsored by the Electronic Geophysical Year (eGY), USGS, NASA, NSF, SCOSTEP and NCAR. While this conference focuses on geosciences, all interested disciplines are invited to participate. ...

John Maurer, from the World Data Center for Glaciology in Boulder, is pleased to announce his new Atlas of the Cryosphere, providing interactive maps of major features of the frozen world. This should be a great tool for both scientists and educators. John writes: The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) "Atlas of the Cryosphere" Web site (http://nsidc.org/data/atlas) allows visitors to explore and dynamically map the Earth's frozen regions. Viewed from a polar perspective, the available scenes include snow cover, sea ice extent and concentration, glaciers, permafrost, and other critical components of the Earth's cryosphere. Users can zoom in to a specific region...

Nobody appreciates the impact of Arctic change more than the people who live there. A unique feature of this IPY is a focus on understanding how people observe and respond to change. People are not passive observers but integral parts of the Arctic system. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC recently ended an exhibition that put a human face on the warming of the Arctic. A new web site incorporates images and information from that exhibition -- Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely. The National Snow and Ice Data Center also distributes a multimedia product, ...

Argentina Chair: Dr. Mariano Memolli Instituto Antarctico Argentino Secretary and Contact Point: Dr. Sergio Marenssi Instituto Antarctico Argentino Cerrito 1248, C1010AAZ Buenos Aires ARGENTINA Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Australia Chair: Prof Amanda Lynch Room S317a Menzies Building, School of Geography & Environmental Science Monash University Victoria 3800 Australia Email: ...