The 8th International ACUNS Student Conference on Northern Studies, titled Melting Boundaries: Carrying Out Effective Research in the Circumpolar World will be held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada on October 19-21, 2007. We are expecting participants from around the circumpolar world, including Canada, United States, Finland, Norway, Russia, and other countries. Additionally, an International Polar Year (IPY) themed workshop will be held on Thursday October 18, 2007 to provide an opportunity for students to interact with leading Arctic and Antarctic researchers. The intent of this conference is to showcase student rese...

This coming northern summer 25 contemporary Canadian artists set out to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Northwest Passage by taking a voyage through the historic High Arctic waters and sharing with Inuit along their way. Art supplies were donated to schools and Inuit artists and $6,000 was raised for Inuit charities. Arctic Quest (IPY endorsed project #338) artists have had several very successful exhibitions to date. At present, you can see their exhibition at Vancouver Maritime Museum which continues until June 7, 2007, and watch for the travelling exhibition, which will begin at the Legislative Assembly in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada June 15th, traveling to The Prince of Whales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, on August 15th. From there, it wil...

The permafrost regions occupy 24% of the Northern Hemisphere’s land area and all glacier-free areas of the Antarctic continent. To obtain a snapshot of ground temperatures, thawing rates, and organic carbon contents of the permafrost regions, four coordinated IPY permafrost programmes are underway, involving 50 individual projects from 28 countries and hundreds of researchers and students. Geographically, the programme includes both polar regions and covers the mountains and plateau regions of the mid- and low-latitudes. The major focus of the programme is to observe and document current changes in permafrost conditions. These measurements serve as a baseline against which to evaluate future changes and to validate current models. Existing networks include boreholes for ...

Cape Farewell brings artists, scientists and educators together to bring about long-term change in cultural attitudes towards climate change. Created by artist David Buckland in 2001, Cape Farewell has lead three expeditions to the High Arctic, the frontline of climate change. From these expeditions has sprung an extraordinary body of artwork, a film co-produced by the BBC, Cape Farewell’s first major book title, The CD ARCTIC by Max Eastley, educational resources for GCSE Geography and Science and a UN award winning website. The project is widely acknowledged to be the most significant sustained artistic response to climate change anywhere in the world.

The permafrost regions occupy 24% of the Northern Hemisphere’s land area and all glacier-free areas of the Antarctic continent. To obtain a snapshot of ground temperatures, thawing rates, and organic carbon contents of the permafrost regions, four coordinated IPY permafrost programmes are underway, involving 50 individual projects from 28 countries and hundreds of researchers and students. Geographically, the programme includes both polar regions and covers the mountains and plateau regions of the mid- and low-latitudes. The major focus of the programme is to observe and document current changes in permafrost conditions. These measurements serve as a baseline against which to evaluate future changes and to validate current models. Existing networks include boreholes for ...

The permafrost regions occupy 24% of the Northern Hemisphere’s land area and all glacier-free areas of the Antarctic continent. To obtain a snapshot of ground temperatures, thawing rates, and organic carbon contents of the permafrost regions, four coordinated IPY permafrost programmes are underway, involving 50 individual projects from 28 countries and hundreds of researchers and students. Geographically, the programme includes both polar regions and covers the mountains and plateau regions of the mid- and low-latitudes. The major focus of the programme is to observe and document current changes in permafrost conditions. These measurements serve as a baseline against which to evaluate future changes and to validate current models. Existing networks include boreholes for ...

The five members of the Svalbard Scientific Skiing Expedition, colloquially known as the “Frozen Five”, met in Grenoble last week for the final preparations before embarking on their 11 week voyage through the Arctic wilderness on the 29th March. We’re a group of graduate students of various geosciences that met at UNIS in Longyearbyen during our diverse university careers. From March-June 2007, we will be skiing across the length of Spitsbergen, Svalbard’s largest island. The route, measuring about 1000 km, will take us over numerous glaciers, patches of sea ice and through the territory of the polar bear. Through this expedition, we wish to share our passion for the Arctic regions with the general public and, in particular, high school students. Blo...

Last Saturday afternoon we passed 85 degrees north, the last circle of latitude marked on our chart before the North Pole. When plotting our position I had the impression of entering into a forbidden zone. This milestone is one that few vessels have passed before us, only ice breakers, Nansen on the Fram and the Russian vessel Sedov, and now Tara! And what a crossing of the line it was! Engulfed in the largest storm of the winter, with wind up to 60 knots from the south east, horizontal snow reducing visibility to nothing and the rigging on Tara resonating throughout the boat, we reached a speed of almost 1 knot. During the storm the barometer rose to 1040hpa with a rapid rise in temperature from -40?C to -15?C. For now our material on the ice has withstood the gale...

I've lived most of my life within sight of Mount Hood in Oregon. The last few years, for the first time, I've seen bare rock on Mt. Hood's upper slopes. I began to wonder how life in Alaska would change if the snow went away. I watched films of the area to see how it looked, and read about dogsledding and Denali Park. Then I put my hero in a world that ours might be becoming. In my story for Polaris, called Shining Field, Walt Ksiolik has an idea to replace some of the benefits of snow. But he finds that applying it in the field is a much different task than using it in the lab... I enjoyed learning about Alaska as it is, and wondering how it might be. Can we find ways to make a good future there? That, for me, is one of the most co...

I’ve been doing field work in Alaska since 2001, both for my PhD research and for my job as a Research Ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Most of it has involved tromping through scraggly black spruce forests, which range from dry to boggy. While the wet, boggy sites are harder to walk around in, and usually have orders of magnitude more mosquitoes, they can actually be pleasant places to hang out (provided you’ve come equipped with the proper bug gear). The trees are sparse and small in stature, so the sunlight is bright and you can see quite a bit of the surrounding area. The variety of groundcover plants can be really interesting too – I particularly like the little sundews and red Sphagnum mosses. ...