I'm somewhere over Baffin Bay in a noisy but not very cramped LC-130 of New York Air National Guard (NYANG). Up at 4am this morning, running around as usual in order to stop and wait. and wait and wait. The formalities at the Scotia Airbase were very much more relaxed than those at Christchurch. No Extreme Weather Gear to roast in in the middle of summer and no barked commands like I am used to on the flights to Antarctica. We still got a cramped plane though. Instead of the ever-so-nice C17 Globemasters we take from "Cheech" to the ice, we got onto a ski-equipped Hercules with web seating to fly from Scotia to "Sondie" as the guard call it, or Kanger as pretty much everyone else seems to call it. We were told we were going to stop on the way there, and ...

The 2008 convention of the Canadian Science Writers' Association will be held at: Yukon College Whitehorse, Yukon May 24-26, 2008 The convention will focus on the International Polar Year and on science in the North. Besides two days' of panels and presentations, the event will also include a large display of posters about northern science and IPY projects. In addition, a one-day field trip will offer convention participants a chance to meet and talk with scientists and First Nations outside Whitehorse. If you are interested in attending the convention or submitting a poster, or for more information, please contact: Claire Eamer Whitehorse CSWA Convention Organizing Committee claire-eamer@sf...

Contents: 1. The cyber face of IPY 2. Secondment opportunity in IPO 3. Project status information 4. Youth Steering Committee, Early Career Scientists and Youth Activities 5. Looking ahead to AGU 2007 From: IPY International Programme Office To: IPY Project Coordinators cc: IPY Community Google Groups 1. The cyber-face of IPY We continue to make improvements and add material to the IPY web site. Visitors can now go directly to a project search page, and from there search by project name, number, discipline, or country. We start to link national reports to the national committee pages. We feature a new ...

So who came up with the idea again? Who thought "lets go and put lots and lots of GPS stations around Greenland....yeah, that sounds like a good idea!" It seemed a fine idea at the time. But then, at the time, I didn't have to get up at 4 am... 4am!! To get a taxi to an airfield to then get onto a noisy transport aircraft, to sit in webbing seats (not comfy) to fly to Greenland. Am I excited? Oh yes, definitely! Am I dreading it? Sort of... I've never been to Greenland, and my last experience in the Arctic was 11 years ago now, which seems like a lifetime. ...

This coming November 2007, a team funded by the National Science Foundation will be stationed at Cape Royds on Ross Island, Antarctica, conducting penguin science. What's unique about this project, however, is that is has a large education outreach component, aimed at school students, connecting them directly from the classroom to the science being conducted in the field. Education outreach coordinator Jean Pennycook explains: For the months of November to February our team will be stationed at Cape Royds, on Ross Island, Antarctica, in the Adelie penguin breeding colony. During that time I will record the lives...

Warm. This is the first word that comes to mind when attending the International Conference on Permafrost held in Salekhard in June 2007. Warmed by the legendary Russian hospitality, warmed through heated discussions among leading permafrost researchers and warmed by the burning topic of the day: the worryingly warm state of permafrost. During five days, over 200 permafrost researchers and engineers from all over the world met to discuss the most recent developments in permafrost science and engineering in topics as varied as slope stability, coastal erosion, methane and carbon fluxes from permafrost soils or thermokarst development. ...

The aims of AntonyJinman.com are three-fold: To promote Education through Expedition To report credible eye witness accounts of climate change To promote sustainable technology for the future. "Through exploring remote locations around the world I aim to highlight environmental issues within the classroom. Expedition takes us to places that few people have been to. To travel to a place and experience such environments first hand is so much more powerful than reading a textbook in a classroom. Through use of film and photography I aim to share these experiences, to educate and inspire. " ...

Conference Announcement and Call for Papers 2007 Polar Archive Symposium 19-20 November 2007 London, UK Abstract Submission Deadline: Wednesday, 1 August 2007 Publication "Archive" Proposal Deadline: Monday, 10 September 2007 For further information, please go to: http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/about-the-faculty/events.php or contact: Kathryn Yusoff Open University E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it -------------------- The symposium "POLAR: Fieldwork and Archive Fever" will be held on 19-20 November 200...

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS (Closing date for applications (as well as for abstract submission): 17 August 2007). Utsikten Meetings, Nyn

WORLD'S FIRST COIN WITH PLASMA EFFECT! The Royal Canadian Mint has released a $20 silver IPY coin. This coin pays tribute to the visionary scientists who established an international collaboration to study the earth's polar regions 125 years ago, an initiative inspired by the arrival of the first English explorer in the Arctic three centuries prior. To underscore this timely theme, this special-edition coin is being issued with a plasma effect from the cutting edge of minting. Only 7,000 coins have been treated with this remarkable technique to create the blue hues and capture the frigid essence of the Arctic as represented on this coin. For more details and to order the coin please see the ...