As human travel continues to increase, the impact of the non-native (alien) species that they often accidentally carry with them on ecosystems across the globe is becoming one of the major environmental challenges of the 21st Century. The impact of these alien species ranges from minor transient introductions to substantial loss of biodiversity and ecosystem changes. The Antarctic is not immune from the risk of invasive species, although to date impacts have been restricted to the milder sub-Antarctic islands. But as parts of the continent warm, it will become easier for non-native species to gain a foothold. It is also now easier for humans (and their unintended living cargo) to travel to and around the Antarctic than it ever has been, and many more people are doing so. Focusing on the annual migration of scientists and tourists to the Antarctic in 2007, this project will take samples from clothing and equipment to provide a unique snapshot of the number of spores, seeds, invertebrates and eggs transported to the continent: the first time that an assessment of the extent of transfer of alien species into an entire biome has ever been made.

Collecting oceanographic data from ice-filled polar waters is costly and logistically challenging. Rather than relying solely on human scientists, this project uses beluga whales and four seal species as ocean explorers to collect information about the conductivity (salinity), temperature and depth (CTD) of Arctic and Antarctic waters. By fitting state-of-the-art CTD tags on dozens of these deep-diving marine mammals, scientists will be able to gather a rich new data set that will extend our knowledge of the world's oceans as well as the top predators that live in them. MEOP will provide a unique source of fundamental physical and biological data from the polar oceans. Its unique approach will compliment efforts in many other IPY projects and will leave a legacy of useful biological and ocean data along with new approaches to understanding the interaction between marine predators and their ecosystem.

East Antarctica is the least explored part of the Antarctic continent. Its massive thickness of layered ice contains the Earth's oldest natural archive of past atmospheric composition and climate. Even subtle recent changes in climate over this large area will be significant for affecting sea level change. The TASTE-IDEA program will investigate present and past accumulation rate and climate variability, survey the inner and coastal unexplored part of the continent, obtain a chronological linkage between the ice core drilling sites in East Antarctica, and obtain geophysical and glaciological surveys required to identify the location of the longest coherent climate record in Antarctic ice and information about subglacial lakes. TASTE-IDEA is an inherently interdisciplinary endeavor, involving glaciology, atmospheric chemistry, meteorology, climate, paleoclimatology, geophysics, geology, remote sensing and a variety of other disciplines. The program provides the opportunity to explore unknown parts of our planet, to help in answering crucial questions related to sea level, present-past and future climate variability, and cryosphere-atmosphere interactions.

CASO aims to enhance understanding of the role of the Southern Ocean in past, present and future climate, including the overturning circulation of the Southern Ocean, water mass transformation, atmospheric variability, ocean-cryosphere interactions, physical-biogeochemical-ecological linkages, and teleconnections between polar and lower latitudes. CASO will deliver improved climate predictions, from models that incorporate a better understanding of southern polar processes; proof of concept of a viable, cost-effective, sustained observing system for the southern polar regions; and provide a baseline for the assessment of future change.

GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) is the first geodetic mission dedicated to the measurement of the time-variations of the Earth’s gravity field, it enables the detection of water mass transfers. The on-going GRACE mission (launched in 03/2002 for a nominal lifetime of 5 years; quasi-polar orbit) provides monthly maps of tiny spatio-temporal variations of gravity due to the redistributions of mass inside the surface fluid envelops of the Earth. These satellite measurements represent vertically-integrated gravity effects of water mass reservoirs (oceans, atmosphere, continental waters and ice sheets) and of the solid Earth that need to be unravelled.

ITASC is a decentralized network of individuals and organisations working collaboratively in the fields of art, engineering and science on the interdisciplinary development and deployment of renewable energy, waste recycling systems and sustainable architecture to enable the production and distribution of open-format, open-source remote field research in Antarctica and the Arctic. ITASC is a lichen-like structure sharing and integrating local knowledge, resources and skills across seven continents in order to symbiotically engage with the air, ocean, earth and space commons.

There is now clear evidence that the effects of recent and past climate changes have varied in magnitude across of the world. Some changes over periods of thousands of years seem to have affected the Arctic and Antarctic regions alternately, and this has been called the “bipolar see-saw” effect. The BIPOMAC project will collect and examine climate records in sedimentary sequences spanning the past five million years from both polar regions. These records will provide a basis for analysing the complex interactions of environmental processes that have caused the observed patterns of climate variation. Improved understanding of such processes and their interactions will increase our ability to forecast future climate and sea level change.

Trace metals iron, zinc, copper, manganese, nickel and cobalt are essential for every living cell and organism of our planet. Recently we discovered that algae in the Southern Ocean, the basis of the entire Antarctic food-chain up to penguins and whales, suffer from a lack of dissolved iron for their growth and CO2 fixation. The role of the other metals in Arctic and Antarctic oceanic waters is virtually unknown. We will quantify distributions, role and fate of several trace metals. Combination with key natural isotopes allows the unraveling of sources and turnover rates of these Trace Elements and Isotopes in waters and ice of the polar oceans.

The Arctic Ocean environment is undergoing tremendous changes over the last decreased with shrinking sea ice cover and increased freshwater run-off and coastal erosion. The documentation of the current state of Arctic marine biological diversity is urgently needed to understand and evaluate the impact of climate change. The Arctic Ocean Diversity project (ArcOD) is an international collaborative effort to inventory biodiversity in the Arctic's three realms (sea ice, water column and sea floor) from the shallow shelves to the deep basins.