The International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 officially starts on March 1 2007. Below you will find the latest information on international and national launch events. Also, please visit the Educators Launch Page to learn how teachers, students, and local communities are getting involved around the world. For more details about specific events, please consult this list of press officers (PDF) or see contacts below. We have also made these Press Materials available....

Countries around the world are issuing special stamps to herald the arrival of International Polar Year 2007-2008. The initiative is being spearheaded by eight Arctic nations — the United States, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. In addition to the individual releases, a booklet of souvenir sheets will be issued containing all eight sets. The U.S. Postal Service will issue a souvenir sheet of two 84-cent international letter rate stamps which will also be issued as a pane of 20 under the title ‘Polar Lights’. In 1958, the United States issued a three-cent stamp to commemorate the International Geophysical Year 1957-58. ...

This winter, a major new telescope is being built at the South Pole to study deep questions about the history and composition of the universe. The 10-meter (33-foot) diameter South Pole Telescope (SPT) will be pieced together by a team of two dozen scientists, engineers, and technicians in record time. In a special series of four live webcasts, blogs, and video updates from the South Pole to the Exploratorium website in November and December 2006, follow along as a team of cosmologists from the University of Chicago and their colleagues race to complete their project before the short Antarctic season comes to a close. The South Pole Telescope is one of the major scientific projects launching during the...