The Alfred Wegener Institute, the University of Bremen and Jacobs University inaugurate joint post graduate programme for earth and climate sciences Bremerhaven, October 1st, 2008. The joint graduate programme Earth System Science Research School (ESSReS) will be inaugurated today in Bremerhaven. The interdisciplinary graduate programme will train 24 PhD-students of geo- and climate sciences during the next three years. Apart from the doctorate, far-reaching skills in geo-, bio- and climate sciences will be confirmed for the PhD-students. The research training group is a joint project of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association, the University of Bremen and Jacobs University Bremen. It is sponsored by the Helmholtz Associa...

The US Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Office announces the launch of the new SCAR website. The new and improved US SCAR Office website is easy to navigate and allows viewers to quickly find specific items of interest. The site provides links to: US SCAR Team contact information, a guide to SCAR, data and information resources, early career opportunities, SCAR communications plans, SCAR partners network, SCAR Scientific Research Programs, and a photo gallery. The site has many direct links to the main SCAR website and provides the latest information on SCAR News and Forthcoming Events. ANSWER email digest items are posted on the website's front page directly above a series of "Links of Interest."...

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has released a second set of sea ice animations for Google Earth. As before the images are available in 30- 60- and 90-day animations of sea ice concentration and extent. While the first set of animations, released in late August, are based on data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F13 satellite, the new set is based on data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite. The significant differences between the two datasets are: AMSR-E has twice the resolution as SSM/I (12.5km vs 25km) and AMSR-E has a wider swath so there is better coverage near the pole. Monthly average sea ice...

Calling all photographers - we want your thumbnails! Poles ApartCall for submissions PDF We are looking for your thumbnails, but before inflicting any bodily harm, bear in mind that we are looking for thumbnail images. Are you interested in helping to build a legacy for this fourth IPY? Have you taken digital photographs that tell the story of your work, or more generally of polar science? Please consider submitting them to the IPY-endorsed exhibition Poles Apart // Pulling Together, a project that celebrates IPY contributions to the global good. It only takes a few minutes to make your submission of thumbnail images, to be considered for this exci...

IAMAS, IAPSO and IACS invite the international atmospheric, oceanographic and cryospheric research community to MOCA-09, their Joint Assembly, to be held 19th July to 29th July 2009 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The call for Abstracts is now open. Please note the following session: Session: J03 International Polar Year Early Results Convenors: Michel Béland (IAMAS), Ian Allison (IACS), Karen Heywood (IAPSO) Abstract: This symposium provides the first opportunity after the official end of the observing period of the International Polar Year 2007-2008 (1 March 2007 to 1 March 2009) to report new results from IPY projects. The session will particularly highlight interdisciplinary results addressing the IPY themes of assess...

Contents 1. IPY Oslo 2010 Science Conference: Deadline for Session Proposals 2. Conferences: SACNAS, COP 14, AGU 3. Polar Days: People; Above The Poles 4. Please update your project page 5. Data Reminder 6. Schedule for February Report no. 18,October 2008 From: IPY International Programme Office To: IPY Project Coordinators cc: IPY Community Google Groups 1. The IPY Oslo 2010 Science Conference: Deadline for Session Proposals Please note the deadline for session proposals for the IPY Oslo 2010 Science Conference: 24 October 2008. We heard many potential session ideas in St Petersburg: the need or opportunity for comparisons, integrations, intercalibrat...

Meeting Announcement and Call for Abstracts: Lessons from Continuity and Change in the Fourth International Polar Year Date: 4-7 March 2009 Location: University of Alaska Fairbanks Deadline for abstract submission: 15 November 2008 Deadline for early registration: 31 December 2008 The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and the Inland Northwest Research Alliance (INRA) are now accepting abstracts and registration for their co-hosted symposium, Lessons from Continuity and Change in the Fourth International Polar Year, to be held 4-7 March 2009 at UAF. Oral and poster presentation abstracts should be submitted via the symposium website by 15 November 2008. Accepted presentations will be programmed into thematic...

Wired Magazine's online edition looks at several upcoming expeditions in the second half of 2008 and early 2009. Among them: the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide (WAIS Divide) Ice Core, LARsen Ice Shelf System, Antarctica (Larissa), Belgium's Princess Elisabeth Research Station, ...

Massive ground ice body on Herschel Island At the start of the fourth International Polar Year in March 2007, Professor Wayne Pollard of McGill University’s Geography Department, a permafrost scientist involved in seven different IPY projects, and his PhD student, Nicole Couture, were discussing ways to improve permafrost education for students at McGill University. Even though half of Canada is underlain by permafrost, students rarely get to see what is currently at stake in northern environments. As a result, they decided to set up a program that would allow students to participate in a major scientific expedition an...

After two and half months of constant strain and uncertainty, it seemed that the Aurora's fate was finally sealed . . . [Wireless Operator Lionel Hooke] observed that 'The whole crew are like a pack of schoolgirls, our nerves absolutely shattered. The dropping of a book or the slamming of a door brings us all up with a start.' Such was the lamentable scene onboard Aurora, during Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (ITAE). Her odyssey in the Ross Sea is vividly brought to life in Stephen Haddelsey's new book, Ice Captain: The Life of J.R. Stenhouse (The History Press Ltd.; ISBN: 0750943483). After she was blown away from Cape Evans by a fierce gale in May 1915, stranding the shore party, Stenhouse's Aurora drifted helplessly for ...