Space scientists performing boundary layer experiments at the edge of Greenland ice cap. Introduction The Greenland Space Science Symposium was arranged in Kangerlussuaq as part of the International Polar Year activities from the 4 to 9 May. The Symposium solemnized the rich history of Greenland as a forum for versatile instrumentation monitoring various processes in the near-Earth space. For example, the behavior of ionospheric electric currents have been monitored now for 35 years with Danish magnetometer chains operating in the Greenland coastal regions. Almost equally long data records (25 years) of plasma densities, velocities, and temperatures have been collected with the US incoherent scatter radar operating in Kelly Ville. Roughly 70 space scie...

Two articles about a new dog sledge route in Greenland from Sermitsiaq A real sledging expedition Now tourists can sledge all the way to Uummannaq By Poul Krarup 'It's going to be a tough ride,' says Ole Jørgen Hammeken of the new dog sledge route between Uummannaq and Ilulissat in north-western Greenland. Hammeksen recently completed the first voyage over the ice sheet in two weeks, but he believes he can cut it down to seven days, making it attractive for tourists. 'The proposed route has everything that's needed for a real expedition,' Hammeken says. 'It has all the elements a sledge ride could offer: sea ice, mountain sledging and i...

Climate Change "Magic": Disappearing Lakes and Reappearing Artifacts New Climate Change Issue of Alaska Park Science Now Available In the summer of 1999, artist Hamish Fulton took a hike through the icefields of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve (WRST). One highlight of his journey was a traverse near Iceberg Lake on the Bagley Icefield. Imagine his surprise when he crested a low pass expecting to see the lake, but all that remained was a small creek emerging from the melting terminus of a small alpine glacier. Icerberg Lake had disappeared. While in another area of WRST, scientists were discovering rare archeological materials melting from ancient glaciers. How and why these events happened is covered in the latest issue of Alaska Park Science....

16th April Lance, the research vessel of the Norwegian Polar institute, is laying in the harbour. I am standing on the deck and watch it from the front to the back, from the bridge in the top down to the cargo room. On this space 29 persons are going to live for to weeks. It is calm and sunny. If it wasn’t because of the cold you could take it for a nice summer day on the mainland. The sun makes the water and snow sparkle and the waves in the harbour give a relaxing sound of summer vacation. Maybe it is getting summer, but not the kind of summer I am used to. We are going north, and if this is summer it’s a summer with ice. The plan was to go to Rijpfjorden at Nordaustlandet but it is closed by ice so we will try to find a fjord further sout...

Portugal has been very active since the beginning of International Polar Year. The Portuguese IPY launch was on the 28th February 2007 in Lisbon, at the Knowleddge Pavillion Ciencia Viva, a major science centre. This day had the presence of the Minister of Science Mariano Gago, the President of the Foundation of Science and Technology Joao Sentieiro and two international guest speakers from United States (Prof. James Brockheim, University of Wisconsin) and United Kingdom (Dr. Inigo Everson; Anglia Polytechnic University). Several talks took place in relation to the history of the IPY (from the president of IPY-Portugal Prof. Luis Mendes-Victor), to the science strategy of Portugal in IPY (by Dr. Jose Xavier) and the educational programme LATITUDE60! (by the Portugues...

Here are 12 posters prepared for the IPY launch event on March 1st, 2007. These accompany Dave Carlson's IPY Opening Ceremony Presentation. They represent seven IPY projects as well as the work of artists, educators, youth, and early career scientists in IPY. There is also a composite poster of all these aspects. They are very large as can be printed in high resolution in poster size. Composite poster compressed: 17.5 MB ...

Here are 12 posters prepared for the IPY launch event on March 1st, 2007. These accompany Dave Carlson's IPY Opening Ceremony Presentation. They represent seven IPY projects as well as the work of artists, educators, youth, and early career scientists in IPY. There is also a composite poster of all these aspects. They are very large as can be printed in high resolution in poster size. Composite poster compressed: 17.5 MB ...

Ranges in Temperature The following activity explores the range in temperature reported by elementary school children in the Arctic throughout 2007 and the start of IPY. You can use this activity to compare the arctic to your town or to another town within the Windows Around the World program. This activity let's students see how the temperature changes through the winter and the spring and should lead to discussions on temperature change and how the sun and daylength can cause these changes. Seasonal changes in temperature occur through out the world. Using the temperature data reported by the students in the Windows Around the World program record the range of temperature experienced by the Arctic schools for each month in 2007. Remember the rang...

The early history of polar exploration leads, strange though it may seem, to space exploration. And the early history of polar exploration is firmly netted to cod fishing. Ergo, cod fishing took us to the moon! I first heard this interesting historical perspective from my arctic explorer father, Willie Knutsen. I was writing a book on his 30 plus years in arctic work, 1936-1969, that came out in 2005 via The Explorers Club as Arctic Sun on My Path: the true story of America’s last great polar explorer. As my Brooklyn-born father put it, albeit with a smile, "Space travel began with salted cod!" What he meant was that for centuries, Norway, where he was raised, had a lively trade with the Mediterranean dealing salted cod, the now famous baccalao of Spanish menus. Cod Fi...

On Thursday, March 15th, Whitehorse's Beringia Interpretive Centre played host to a celebration of the launch of the book Polaris: A Celebration of Polar Science. This science fiction anthology causes the speculation and imagination of science fiction to explore polar science itself. Where might it take us? What might certain discoveries mean? And at what cost do we take the frozen poles for granted? The IPY Youth Steering Committee worked with editor Julie E. Czerneda to arrange for an international writing contest open to students from around the world. The winning story was published in the Polaris. The book has a strong Yukon connection. Yukoners Amber Church and Tyler Kuhn of the International IPY Youth Steering Committee wrote a special introduction to the boo...