By Dr. Frank-Oliver Nitsche, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University The Amundsen Sea continental shelf is one of the remotest areas of coastal Antarctica, and was relatively unexplored until the late 1980s. Over the last two decades, increased oceanographic and geological interest has led to several cruises that resulted in sufficient bathymetric data to compile a fairly detailed regional map of the Amundsen continental shelf. We have combined available multibeam and singlebeam bathymetry data from various sources and created a new regional bathymetry of the Amundsen Sea continental shelf and margin. Deep trough systems that dominate the inner shelf are aligned with present glaciers and separated by shallower ridges. Shaped by paleo-ice streams, these featur...

"Never give up your dreams". Jean-Louis Etienne — the French doctor and explorer — knows more than anyone what these words mean; for four years he has been involved with the Total Pole Airship project, which aims to fly a blimp over the Arctic ocean and the North Pole, measuring the thickness of the sea ice with an instrument designed by the Alfred-Wegener Institute. Last Friday, October 12, Jean-Louis Etienne could finally smile. The expedition blimp was inaugurated during a ceremony in Marseille — it was christened Total Pole Airship, after the sponsor Total. The blimp arrived in France from Russia (whe...

Ice Sheet Press Release More About Ice Sheets Please use the listed press contacts, lead scientist, or profiled expert in the following pages to learn more about IPY Projects Studying Ice Sheets ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ANTARCTICA: LIFE ON THE ICE explores life at the bottom of the world What is it like to live in the most desolate place on the planet? The newest collection from outdoorswoman and writer Susan Fox Rogers brings together twenty scientists, writers and workers who tell their dramatic, funny, often moving tales of daily life amidst the ice and isolation of Antarctica. Realizing her childhood dream of walking in the footsteps of Antarctic explorers, editor Rogers spent six weeks on the Ice learning the ways of the penguin researchers, ice diggers, atmospheric scientists, cooks, pilots, and others who are drawn, almost mystically, to the most foreboding climate one can imagine. “I traveled to the Antarctic bec...

The first International Polar Science Day was held on September 21st and focussed on Sea Ice. The second will occur on Thursday, December 13th, and will focus on Ice Sheets, Traverses, and Exploration. Below is a list of IPY projects that study, or are concerned with, some aspect of Ice Sheets. Their webpages contain a huge amount of information, and the full proposals contain contact information at the end. The following list includes IPY ID and chart name, and short title: 13 Sea Level & Tides in Polar Regions 20 ...

Who says you can't be green in Antarctica? At the Australian Mawson station in East Antarctica, two wind turbines have been generating part of the station’s electricity since 2003. At wind speeds above 12 m/s — a common occurrences during eleven months of the year — the wind turbines are capable of generating 100% of the electricity needed by the station for long periods of time. The wind turbines have led to monthly savings in diesel fuel use of up to 58%. Over 10,000 litres of fuel are saved per month, significantly reducing the emissions of carbon dioxide that contribute to global warming. For more information on renewable power sources tried and tested for the polar regions, check out the ...

Fundació Caixa Catalunya in collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History is organizing a travelling exhibition entitled “Trapped in the Ice: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition” containing the original pictures taken by James Francis Hurley during the expedition. This exhibition also presents information about research and the current situation in Antarctica together with details of the International Polar Year, and is accompanied by a series of lectures and educational activities addressed to primary and secondary students. This exhibition is touring Spain for two years, coincidi...

France is commemorating the 50th anniversaries of International Geophysical Year (IGY) and the "conquest" of space by Sputnik with a special philatelic issuance. To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of IGY, which was launched July 1st 1957, France has produced a special pre-stamped envelope with a special temporary cancellation that was in use July 1st, 2007. On October 4, 2007, a stamp will be issued in France to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of the "space conquest" by Sputnik. . The "space race" really started in October 1954, when the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) - the initiator of IGY - adopted a resolution calling for artificial satellites to be launched during the IGY to map the Ear...

Come October 1, the U.S. Postal Service will issue this pane of 20 41-cent stamps with two designs that feature photographs of the polar lights, often known as auroras. The polar lights are a luminous glow seen in the night sky at high latitudes surrounding the north and south magnetic poles. These auroras are the result of a magnetic storm - when Earth's magnetic field is unusually active due to a dynamic interaction with the sun. During magnetic storms, energetic electrons descend from space and collide with molecules in the upper atmosphere, leading to the emission of green and sometimes red light. Auroras come in different visual forms, including arcs, curtains and rays, and are a relatively common sight in Alaska, Canada and northern Europe. During particularly intens...

tagzaniapasteipy2007seaice tagged map - Tagzania September 21st, 2007, marked the first International Polar day... this time with the focus on Sea Ice. It was a great opportunity to involve both the scientific community, and the public around the world. Within a week of asking, a request to the IPY community resulted in translations of the flyer into eighteen languages: ...