The International Polar Year 2007-08 will be launched on the 1st of March. Across both hemispheres, dozens of nations are organizing events and ceremonies both large and small to celebrate the occasion. Together, they will engage experts, children and the general public, and will play an important role in raising awareness as to the Polar Regions' central relevance as climate archives, early warning systems, threatened habitats, and (in the case of the Arctic) homes to indigenous cultures.

(This article does not aim to present each and every IPY related event or initiative. For more information on this vast collaborative effort, please refer to the launch events page on the IPY website and national IPY committee websites).

International flavour

The Official International Opening Ceremony to launch the IPY 2007-08 will take place at the Palais de la Découverte science museum in Paris. Hosted by the co-sponsors of the IPY, the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the ceremony will include a press conference, exhibits, and a live webcast from the Polar Regions. There will be addresses by members of the IPY Joint Committee and the Director of the IPY International Programme Office, Dr David Carlson. The event will be presided by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco.

In parallel, children and schools from across the world will be invited to "launch a virtual balloon" to represent their school on the world map and mark the international and collaborative nature of the IPY.

Examples of events taking place at the grass root international level are the GB4IPY project (8000 radio stations worldwide discussing polar and climate issues), and IGLO (the International Action on Global Warming that will be connecting science centres around the world during IPY)

Together with more official IPY coverage in the wider international press and television media, these events illustrate the great breadth of initiatives and popular enthusiasm for the IPY.

National Dimension

On the same day as the Official International Opening Ceremony in Paris, traditional and non-traditional polar nations will celebrate the start of the IPY through launch events taking place throughout the world.

These range from the visit of New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, and Sir Edmund Hillary to NZ's Scott Base in Antarctica this January (celebrating both the IPY and the 50th anniversary of Scott Base built during the IGY), to Norway's coordinated national launch taking place simultaneously in the capital, Oslo, Tromsö, Longyearbyen and Ny Alesund on the Svalbard archipelago.

National events also include smaller individual and group lead initiatives such as an ongoing Student PARTNERS project where students in Russia, Canada, and the United States participate in the science by sampling the major rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean; or the first Ushuaia "Biennale at the End of the World" in Terra del Fuego, which take place within the IPY framework and will present art and artistic interventions on the theme: 'Ecological Urgencies. Present and Future of our Planet Earth'.

Far East

Japan will be holding a symposium for Asian and non-Asian scientists, whilst the Polar Research Institute of China will be holding its own event on 1 March. Also to coincide with the IPY, Malaysia is hosting its third International Seminar on Antarctica from 21 to 24 March under the heading: "From the Tropics to the Poles".

Europe

The European Parliament and the European Polar Board will hold a day-long event in Strasbourg focusing on Polar Research and its relevance for European citizens. The event features guest speakers from the Russian federation, funding agencies and ministries. Meanwhile, in Brussels, Cordis have organized a two day symposium on 5-6 March focusing on Polar Environments and climate change.

At the national level, France is holding an event at the Senate in the presence of explorer Jean-Louis Etienne, and special Polar themed exhibitions have already opened in Rochefort (on explorer Ernest Shackleton) and at the Cité de la Science et de l'Industrie in Paris.

Germany is organizing a press conference in Berlin on 1 March, and will also host an award ceremony for a resent children's contest focusing on the Polar Regions. The programme will be accompanied by live music and broadcasts from the German research icebreaker, Polarstern.

In neighboring Poland, the national IPY launch ceremony will be held at the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the University of Silesia.

The UK is hosting a special launch event at the Royal Society. Speakers will include the President of the Royal Society, Lord Rees, and HRH the Princess Royal who has a long-standing interest and involvement with the Polar Regions.

Portugal is launching its IPY participation and 'First Week of the Polar Regions' involving 80 schools across Portugal, with an event at the Pavilion of Knowledge in Lisbon.

In Scandinavia, and in addition to Norway's above mentioned coordinated event, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland will join forces to invite researchers and VIPs from the four countries, including HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, to participate in a programme of popular science talks, entertainment and exhibitions at the North Atlantic House in Copenhagen. Sweden is holding a two day event at the internationally renowned Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, with science presentations, IPY stamp presentations and a cultural event. And in Finland, the Arctic Centre in Ruovaniemi will hold a full day program in collaboration with the Thule Institute.

Finally for Europe, the Netherlands is holding a two-day event which includes a performance of the Antarctic Symphony by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies performed by the North Netherlands Orchestra in Leeuwarden, and a one-day national Polar symposium, to be held on March 9 in Groningen.

North America

In Canada, an IPY launch event is being hosted during the Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse, which will also be hosting the 'Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely' exhibition from the Washington Smithsonian'; a special set of IPY stamps are to be produced and stuck on envelopes that will then be carried, stamped and sent from by each of the 28 dogsled teams participating in the Yukon Quest 1,000 mile race, and finally, Science North's 'Ends of the Earth: From Polar Bears to Penguins' - An exhibition that will then be traveling across North America during the IPY - will open on 1 March.

In the United States, the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences will be hosting a ceremony at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC. The ceremony will include a press conference and remarks from eminent scientists such as Dr Robin Bell of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, as well as other government leaders whose agencies will play an active role in the IPY.

Elsewhere in the US, the Boulder "Ice Fest" will be celebrating IPY on 8-11 March and will offer a rich program of Polar films, photography exhibits, and lectures by polar and climate experts. A Polar Science Weekend will also take place at the Pacific Science Centre in Seattle, Washington state, on 8-11 March. And just opened in January at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, an exhibition by artist and filmmaker Rik van Glintenkamp blends archival imagery, original writings, and reproductions of personal memorabilia to reflect the aspirations, motivation and experiences that shaped Arctic and Antarctic explorers, from the 16th to the 20th century.

South America

In addition to the "Biennale at the End of the World" in Ushuaia, Argentina will be holding the launch ceremony for the IPY together with the ceremony of Argentina's National Antarctic Day (inauguration of the Orcadas Station in 1904). The ceremony will be headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship and by two other ministers (Defense and Education, Science and Technology).

Brazil will launch the IPY with a special event at the Ministry of Science and Technology in Brasilia in the presence of scientists and representative of the Federal Authorities.

Africa

South Africa, as a traditional gateway to Antarctica and a nation involved in IPY endorsed projects, will be holding an IPY launch event as well. Watch the IPY launch events page for more information.

Regional Dimension

The official opening of Indigenous Peoples' IPY has already taken place in Kautokeino, Norway, between the 14th and 16th of February. Representatives of indigenous peoples from all Arctic regions, climate researchers, managers, reindeer herders, Sámi youth, politicians and the Director of the IPY International Programme Office all took part in the event which was broadcast through a live webcast. By focusing on the human dimension, the event highlighted changes in the indigenous peoples' society in the Arctic.