The proposed project focuses the efforts of 20 scientists in 9 countries to produce a series of benchmark data sets for the International Polar Year. Those data sets culminate in the first quantification of the total rate of ice loss by flow from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. This work will be conducted by young scientists mentored by professional scientists to help train the next generation of scientists in the use of remote sensing data of the polar regions. Satellite data include ICESat laser altimetry, Landsat optical imagery and various European and Canadian synthetic aperture radar data.

UCAA (Upper-ocean characteristics between Africa and Antarctica) During the 26th Indian Antarctic Expedition (IAE), data collection campaign for the above project was launched. Surface meteorological parameters from ship's AWS and density data using XCTD for the upper 1000m of the water column were collected along the ship route: Mauritius-Durban-India Bay (onward journey) and India Bay- Prydz Bay- Mauritius (return journey) on board Emerald Sea. These data are being processed and results are planned to be published by end of 2007.

Concordia Station and the surrounding facilities have been conceived to be a long term support to valuable international scientific programmes. In Antarctica, most of the scientific activity is confined to coastal areas; so, the geographical location of Concordia is a unique vantage to provide new data in the global network for many sciences (geomagnetism, seismology, atmospheric sciences and to increase the accuracy of several models in climatology and atmosphere chemistry. These data, combined with the paleoclimatic records obtained from the ice cores, will improve our knowledge of the Antarctic environment, its changes during the last million years, and its links and interaction with the rest of the planet. In addition, the exceptional quality of the site for astronomy allows developing programmes cheaper than from satellites or orbital stations. So, Concordia station will offer to the international scientific communities the possibility to develop sound researches in one of the most unknown region in the world, region which plays a significant role at the global level, namely in term of climatic processes.

We know that the Arctic exerts a critical influence on the Earth's climate and has done so for millions of years. Locked in Arctic ice and sediments are vital records of what the Earth's environment was like in the past. To more accurately predict the future of the Earth's climate, we need to know more about the extremes. Finding out how hot and how cold the Earth was in the past, and how much, as well as how little of it was covered by ice are key questions that APEX hopes to help answer.

The project HERMES is designed to gain new insights into the biodiversity, structure, function and dynamics of ecosystems along Europe's deep-ocean margin to underpin the future development of a comprehensive European Ocean and Seas Integrated Governance Policy. It represents the first major attempt to understand European deep-water ecosystems and their environment in an integrated way (geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere of a pan-European range). HERMES aims to compare and contrast selected environments around the European margin from high northern latitudes (focus of this IPY proposal) to the Black Sea.

Scientists from Europe, North America and New Zealand will investigate how the presence of snow and ice affects the chemistry of air above the polar ice caps. In the Arctic and Antarctic, sunlight triggers the release of chemicals from surface snow into the lower atmosphere. Salty sea ice surfaces host some very interesting chemistry (involving bromine compounds) during the polar spring when the sun comes back. These processes affect air quality and the interpretation of past climate using ice cores. If the amount of sea ice changes the chemical content of the lowest parts of the polar atmosphere will also change.

Involving a team of scientists from 11 countries, this project will measure the temperature, saltiness and flow speed of the water from continental shelf and slope, including under ice environments. This is something scientists know very little about, but the data are crucial for developing better global climate models. The few recent measurements we have suggest that the water close to Antarctica is getting fresher (less salty). But where is this extra fresh water coming from? Only by measuring – especially during winter – the properties of the water and how fast it is flowing will we be able to understand the processes that are going on, and make sure that these are put into our climate models correctly. There has never been a concerted effort to make measurements on the Antarctic continental shelf and slope during the winter. IPY is enabling everyone to work together to make this happen, by leaving instruments on the sea bed and in the water for a year, even when the ice is covering the sea surface above them. Each nation is going to deploy instruments so that a circumpolar coverage can be obtained for the first time. As well gathering data during IPY, some of SASSI's instruments will be left in place after IPY, providing an important legacy for future research.