The Candian component of the IPY OASIS project has recently released brochures in four languages. OASIS is an international research program that studies how chemicals move between the Ocean , the Atmosphere, the Sea Ice and the Snow pack. OASIS English OASIS French OASIS Inuktitut OASIS Cree To learn more, please visit the OASIS ...

The light is returning to the Arctic and starting to fade from Antarctica, and APECS members have been very busy! As always, we would love to hear about local meetings, opportunities, activities, and developments. Please send any items or information for the next newsletter to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by the 28th of February to be included in the next Newsletter. This newsletter can also be viewed on the APECS website at http://arcticportal.org/apecs/apecs-news. 1. APECS Meeting at AGU Ocean Sciences 2. SCAR/IASC St Petersburg Conference July 8 to 11, 2008 3. International Glaciological Society supports APECS Early Career Researchers 4. IP...

This Spring National Geographic Explorer Will Steger and a team of young adventurers will bring their High Arctic dogsled expedition to educators and learners through multimedia dispatches on www.globalwarming101.com. Follow Will and his teammates, all in their early twenties, as they retrace historical expedition routes on Ellesmere Island, encounter endangered wildlife, photograph disintegrating ice sheets that are collapsing into the ocean, mush across frozen sea ice, and visit an area on the frontlines of climate change. Endorsed by the National Education Association, this Adventure Learning project includes standards-linked multidisciplinary lesson plans that explore how climate shape...

This Spring National Geographic Explorer Will Steger and a team of young adventurers will bring their High Arctic dogsled expedition to educators and learners through multimedia dispatches on www.globalwarming101.com. Follow Will and his teammates, all in their early twenties, as they retrace historical expedition routes on Ellesmere Island, encounter endangered wildlife, photograph disintegrating ice sheets that are collapsing into the ocean, mush across frozen sea ice, and visit an area on the frontlines of climate change. Endorsed by the National Education Association, this Adventure Learning project includes standards-linked multidisciplinary lesson plans that explore how climate shape...

The Legacy of IPY must be a Circumpolar Arctic Park conserving Biodiversity, Habitats, People, Ecological Processes and Services for Global Sustainability Falk Huettmann PhD, Assistant Professor EWHALE lab, Institute of Arctic Biology, Biology & Wildlife Department, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks AK 99775 USA, Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Phone 907 474 7882 IPY is a massive global research project that wants to provide huge progress, a quantum leap. However, looking at the sophisticated honey comb project scheme showing that all projects are connected, it gets obvious that SUSTAINABILITY and Biodiversity were actually left out in the major...

The University of the Arctic’s International Polar Year (IPY) Higher Education and Outreach project cluster encompasses a wide variety of IPY-approved projects, and among them is an exciting new college-level science course, “Environmental Radioactivity, Stewardship, and People of the North,” that successfully debuted during Fall Semester 2007 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). Development of the course was funded by a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, “Adapting SENCER to the Arctic—Improving Polar Science Education as a Legacy” (NSF 632397), to Principal Investigator and UAF professor Lawrence K. Duffy. SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagement and Responsibilities) is a national movement in U.S. education to reform the teaching of...

Denali Education Center Executive Director Willie Karidis began his 70-day winter expedition to retrace, research and celebrate the steps of pioneering naturalist Charles Sheldon on Tuesday, January 22, 2008. The trip has been a dream of Willie's for over twenty years, since he first read "Wilderness of Denali". That book chronicles Sheldon's experience as he spent the 1907-08 winter in the heart of the Alaska Range along the banks of the Upper Toklat River. It was during that time that he had a vision for a National Park to preserve the unique natural ecosystem he experienced for future generations. Willie is working as a park volunteer (VIP) during his expedition and is being provided support by the National Park Service. Willie planned to camp in the v...

The NASA HOW (History of Winter) program is held each February (since 2000) in Lake Placid, New York, USA. The HOW Program brings together teachers and learning professionals from around the United States to study SNOW, ICE and the WINTER ECOSYSTEM through intensive classroom and fieldwork exercises led by experts in the field. This year the program is held February 10-16. Also this year, The Global Snowflake Network (GSN) will be launched. Peter Wasilewski and Robert Gabrys created and developed the NASA HOW (History of Winter) program held each February since 2000. The primary foci of the weeklong program (February 10 - 16, 2008) are threefold: 1) SNOW - in the air and on the ground 2) ICE - crystal structure and axial orientation 3) WINTER E...

International Polar Year celebration concert to be held Feb. 1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The University of Alaska International Polar Year office is sponsoring a concert by the Inuit tribal funk band Pamyua at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1, at the Hering Auditorium, Fairbanks, Alaska. The concert is a celebration of the unique cultures of the north and their people’s ability to adapt to changes in both cultural and natural landscapes. An Alaska-founded group, Pamyua started 10 years ago as a dream by two brothers to share the ancient stories of their people through music and dance. Stephen and Phillip Blanchett, who are of Yup’ik Inuit and African American descent, quickly gained international attention and after being joined by Chefornak, Alaska, dance...

The Norwegian Ski Adventure Story –Celebrating The International Polar Day on December 13 2007 The museum celebrated the International Polar Day as a part of a school week at the centre. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was allocated to secondary schools. The schools had lectures about the situation in polar areas and how people can have influence on the climate. Beforehand, the students were challenged to decorate a Christmas tree with garbage to focus on our consumption right before Christmas (see picture). The students also watched the movie by Al Gore: ”The Inconvenient Truth