climateXchange: How's your world? allows users to share stories (in text, photos and video) of how climate change has or might affect them in their local area, no matter where they are. We'd love for individuals, schools and community groups to contribute, as well as see the stories we already have on the site! We're hoping to receive submissions from all around the world. In fact, Questacon has made the site a part of International Polar Year, on behalf of all the science centres in the Asia Pacific region, as a part of the ASTC's Project IGLO. The project has an Asia - Pacific focus but submissions are invited from everywhere. It is prod...

Kiruna Geophysical Observatory was launched 50 years ago on July 2nd. Sverker Sörlin visits the history of the station and draws comparisons with this IPY. The ongoing IPY is a globalized two year event, opening simultaneously in many countries on March 1 last, with web casted ceremonies. Fifty years ago, IGY started its 18 months of activities without much fuss, with no official opening and few headlines. In retrospect, what did in fact come close to a first IGY event was the launch of the Kiruna Geophysical Observatory in northern Sweden, on 2 July. In this remote mining town, in the midst of Sami reindeer herding territory, today hosting the Sami Parliament, were among a range of high ranking guests a figure no less than Lloyd V. Berkner, one of the IGY initiators, the...

Researchers and explorers will probe the Gakkel Ridge during expedition that begins on July 1. They will be using new robotic vehicles to hunt for life and hydrothermal vents on the Arctic seafloor. Researchers will use two new autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)--Puma and Jaguar--in tandem to locate hydrothermal vent sites on the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean. (Illustration by E. Paul Oberlander, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) More information can be found on the project website. ...

Researchers and explorers will probe the Gakkel Ridge during expedition that begins on July 1. They will be using new robotic vehicles to hunt for life and hydrothermal vents on the Arctic seafloor. Researchers will use two new autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)--Puma and Jaguar--in tandem to locate hydrothermal vent sites on the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean. (Illustration by E. Paul Oberlander, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) More information can be found on the project website. ...

From 1-14th July 2007, high-school students from across Australia and around the world will gather at The University of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia for the 34th International Science School (ISS), EcoScience – two weeks of scientific lectures, activities and social events with a focus on the environment and ecological science, and attention on IPY and the polar regions. On Thursday July 5th, 2007 at 7.00pm Sydney time, the ISS presents a unique opportunity for high-school students to participate in a global webcast discussing polar science. Students, teachers and interested observers attending this 45 minute event hosted in Sydney, both at the ISS and o...

Celebrate the summer solstice and come and see the longest day of the year. Hourly images collected and recorded in the Windows Around the World program let us see and compare daylength from Hawaii to above the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories, CA. The attached worksheet shows the images collected during the summer solstice in 2006. Summer_Solstice.pdf __ Thanks to Juanita Urban-Rich for this post: Juanita is co-developer of Windows Around the World, a web-based exchange program for elementary students that uses visual images. She will use this Blog to suggest ways you can ...

The National R&D Plan will finance six polar research projects this summer. The Oceanography Research Ship Hesperides, carrying out two projects, will travel to the Arctic Ocean for the first time. June 18, 2007. On June 20, the Hesperides will initiate the Spanish arctic campaign held in honour of the International Polar Year, co-ordinated in Spain by the Ministry of Science and Education (MEC). This is the first time the research ship, sailing from Vigo, will carry out projects in the Arctic Ocean. These projects are Spain's contribution to the objectives of the Polar Year, an international initiative aimed at increasing the knowledge of polar regions and the implications of climate change on a global level. The first project of t...

A new book for children focusing on the Global Warming has recently been published. It forms part of the “Let’s-Read-And-Find-Out Science series which explores challenging concepts for children in the primary grades. Why Are the Polar Ice Caps Melting? The Dangers of Global Warming Written by Anne Rockwell Illustrated by Paul Meisel ISBN-13: 978-0-06-054671-7 Quote on back cover: “The earth is getting hotter, and not just in the summer. The climate in your hometown is changing. But why is this happening, and can we stop it? Read and find out!” The pictures are engaging! The book contains an explanation of the greenhouse effect and the many ways the earth is changing or has cha...

Photos from the launch event of the UNEP cartoon book Ozzy Goes Polar on June 5th in the Tromso Library, Norway - on World Environment Day. Ozzy and Zoe Ozone Launch event of cartoon book Ozzy Goes Polar on June 5th in the Tromso Library accompanied by Ms. Sylvi Liljegren (Norwegian Polar Institute). Ms. Anne Fenner (OzonAction Information Officer) and Ozzy Ozone Children from Lunheim School in Tromso Norway...

Read Part One Here 22 April We have made a lot of holes in the ice for the instruments. Now we make a hole for our selves. I can’t wait. I rush inside to get my towel, then I am standing on the ice in woollen socks and swimming suit. I jump into the black water and it’s deeper than I thought but I don’t have time to feel if it is cold or not before I am up again. But obviously it was because then the kick comes that makes me love bathing in cold water. When everybody who wants has taken a bath we pack and soon the ship is going again. We are heading north to find a drifting ice floe to work on and again there is the sound of ice crushing against th...