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...

On the 2nd of February 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group 1 released a contribution to the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report: "Physical Science Basis, Summary for Policy Makers". Sciencepoles has produced a summary of the polar aspects contained in this document. Here is a short synopsis, the full article is available on our website. Overall, the report concludes that global average temperature will rise between 1.1°C to 6.4°C by 2100, and that it is 'very likely' (90% certainty) that human activities and emissions are causing global warming As key components and contributors to the global cl...

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 ...

Hello! Word about the IPY site is starting to get around! We just received an extremely well-written and passionate note from one of our past participants. A Battle with Nature by Sharon Querido - SOI Antarctic past participant In late August 2005, a horrible tragedy struck the nation: Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, Louisiana. As the police lost control, anarchy in its worst form began to rise within the area. Though many people believe lawlessness can only lead to chaos, I have experienced anarchy as a utopia. Antarctica, exempt from governmental control by any country through the Antarctic Treaty of 1961, has become a peaceful, international territory. In December of 2005, I was invited to attend an education...

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...

If you want to get involved in International Polar Year right from the start now is your chance!! The IPY Youth Steering Committee is asking young people from around the world to write to their political leaders (and send a copy to us) about their concerns for the Polar Regions and what they personally are doing to make a difference (biking to school, recycling, starting a polar club in their school, doing a polar science project). The YSC will present these letters at the official launch of IPY in Paris on March 1st and on our website. Throughout the Polar Year we will follow up with youth to see how they are doing with their commitments. To find out more download the launch package. Text: Melian...

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. ...

January 2007 The Smithsonian Institution announces a polar science symposium in early May 2007, as one of the inaugural U.S. contributions to celebrate the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008. Smithsonian at the Poles: Contributions to International Polar Year Science is being convened by Smithsonian Under Secretary for Science David L. Evans. The symposium will present research findings by Smithsonian scholars and their collaborators from Artic and Antarctic research, with particular attention to changes in polar systems past, present and future, and their global impact. The symposium will carry on a tradition of polar science that began nearly 150 years ago and resulted in some of the worlds foremost collections and archives of Arctic an...

The thought of writing a science fiction story for the Polaris anthology filled me with trepidation. Science wasn’t exactly my strongest subject in high school. Then I looked at the research that scientists were doing for the IPY, some of which was happening in my own back yard, the Yukon. So I did some research of my own – on the Internet, in science magazines and in books – and I kept coming back to permafrost. In the Yukon, you have to pay attention to how permafrost is going to affect your plans, whether it’s building a house or putting in a highway. The history of the Alaska Highway is rife with stories of how engineers ignored permafrost at thei...