Shaktoolik, Alaska: Proposed Study on Local Knowledge of Sea Ice and Weather Conditions and Approaches to Adaptation to Climate/Environmental Change Part of IPY project 166: Sea Ice Knowledge and Use (SIKU) Report on the pilot visit, September 2-13, 2007 By Dr. Anja Nicole Stuckenberger, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA The study of Inuit/Iñupiaq cultural knowledge and adaptation to climate/environmental change that I envision as my contribution to the SIKU project will take place in two Arctic communities: the Iñupiat village of Shaktoolik in Norton Sound, Alaska (population 180) and the Inuit villag...

Sea Ice Knowledge Studies in Shishmaref, Alaska Part of IPY project 166: Sea Ice Knowledge and Use (SIKU) by Josh Wisniewski, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, PhD Candidate Department of Anthropology What do Iñupiaq hunters in the Northwest Alaska community of Shishmaref know about sea ice? How do they express knowledge in the context of hunting? And how can we come to know as directly as possible something of what people know about the environment and how they know it in relation to converging and diverging ontological and epistemological structures that shape local knowledge claims? To explore these questions I am c...

SIPEX: The first two weeks After 6 days and nights of rocking, rolling and bouncing our way through the Southern Ocean from Hobart, there was an abrupt change just before dawn and we were treated to a gentle rocking motion. Strong south-westerly winds during the previous day and night had pushed the sea ice to the north and caused more to form, so we reached the beginning of the ice a bit sooner than anticipated. First light revealed that we were going through bands of pancake ice - ice that forms as irregular roundish patties - separated by open water, some of which had an oily sheen to it. The sheen was caused by grease ice that forms when tiny ice crystals, known as frazil, are mixed through the top few meters of water. This is the first stage of sea ice de...

PRESS RELEASE The sea-ice is getting thinner - A closer look at the climate and ecosystem of the Arctic Ocean Bremerhaven, September 13, 2007. Large areas of the Arctic sea-ice are only one metre thick this year, equating to an approximate 50 percent thinning as compared to the year 2001. These are the initial results from the latest Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association lead expedition to the North Polar Sea. 50 scientists have been on board the Research Vessel Polarstern for two and a half months, their main aim; to carry out research on the sea-ice areas in the central Arctic. Amongst other things, they have found out that not only the ocean currents are changing, but community structures in the Arctic are also...

WIN A WEEK ABOARD AN ARCTIC ICEBREAKER!! (INCLUDING TRANSPORTATION FROM YOUR HOME COUNTRY) In April 2008, join journalists from all over the world for a week aboard the Canadian research icebreaker Amundsen. The World Federation of Science Journalists—in collaboration with the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the International Polar Year Circumpolar Flaw Lead Project—announces a competition offering science journalists the chance to win one of three week-long trips aboard the Canadian research icebreaker Amundsen. You will fly all the way to Inuvik (Canada), and hop aboard a Twin Otter aircraft to the famous icebreaker, where you will get first hand experience of global warming where it is unfolding the fastest. ENTRY GUIDELINES...

SciencePoles interviewed Meredith Hooper to mark the publication of her new book: 'The Ferocious Summer: Palmer's Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica'. A trustee of the IPF-UK and recipient of the US National Science Foundation Antarctica Service Medal, Meredith Hooper's writing ranges from award-wining non-fiction books for all ages to academic articles and highly acclaimed fiction and information titles for children. During the last fourteen years, she has been invited as a writer on United States and Australian Antarctic programmes and has specialised in writing about the history, geology and wildlife of Antarctica.I...

The International Polar Foundation's SciencePoles website has an interview Meredith Hooper to mark the publication of her new book: 'The Ferocious Summer: Palmer's Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica'. A trustee of the IPF-UK and recipient of the US National Science Foundation Antarctica Service Medal, Meredith Hooper's writing ranges from award-wining non-fiction books for all ages to academic articles and highly acclaimed fiction and information titles for children. During the last fourteen years, she has been invited as a wri...

WIN A WEEK ABOARD AN ARCTIC ICEBREAKER!! (INCLUDING TRANSPORTATION FROM YOUR HOME COUNTRY) In April 2008, join journalists from all over the world for a week aboard the Canadian research icebreaker Amundsen. The World Federation of Science Journalists- in collaboration with the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the International Polar Year Circumpolar Flaw Lead Project- announces a competition offering science journalists the chance to win one of three week-long trips aboard the Canadian research icebreaker Amundsen. You will fly all the way to Inuvik (Canada), and hop aboard a Twin Otter aircraft to the famous icebreaker, where you will get first hand experience of global warming where it is unfolding the fastest. ENTRY GUIDELINES...

MEDIA ADVISORY: SEPTEMBER 21, 2007 : IPY presents Sea Ice Day September 13, 2007 On September 21, 2007, the International Polar Year (IPY) will launch its first 'International Polar Day', focusing on Sea Ice. In preparation for this, a special sea ice web page has been prepared with information for Press and Educators, details of current projects and expeditions, contact details for scientists around the world, including in the polar regions, images, background information and useful links and resources. ...

IPY Data Stories - Sea Ice Learn about the "who, what, where, when, how and why" of sea ice research in the first installment of the IPY Data Stories series. This event was on September 18, 2007 and is available as an archived webcast . WE ARE CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WITH THE ARCHIVED WEBSTREAM. WE HOPE TO HAVE THIS RESOLVED SOON. In conjunction with the first International Polar Day on September 21, 2007, scientists studying sea ice from the National Snow and Ice Data Center at CU Boulder, the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven,...