July 11, 2007 Canada's New Government and University of Manitoba Launch Canada's Largest International Polar Year Research Project WINNIPEG -- Today the Honourable Vic Toews, President of the Treasury Board, joined the University of Manitoba for the official launch of the Circumpolar Flaw Lead System (CFL) Study, the largest project in Canada's International Polar Year research program. The CFL Study is based aboard the Canadian Coast Guard research icebreaker, CCGS Amundsen, and includes project team leaders from the University of Manitoba, the Universite Laval, the Universite du Quebec, the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), and DFO. "The Circumpolar Flaw Lead System project will provide us with vital scientific knowled...

Five research ships with scientists from 16 countries are currently in the Arctic performing groundbreaking research to better understand climate changes. The European Union Programme DAMOCLES (Developing Arctic Modelling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environment Studies), which is part of the International Polar Year, is concerned with the potential for a significantly reduced sea ice cover, and the impacts this might have on the environment and human activities, both regionally and globally. -Polarstern reports: The sea ice is getting thinner- Large areas of the Arctic sea ice are now only one metre deep, which means the thickness of the ice has halved since 2001, initial findings from the research ship Polarste...

September is a great time to study Sea Ice, in both the Arctic and the Antarctic. Below are details of three expeditions happening at the moment that welcome contact from press and educators. Antarctic Sea Ice in IPY (ASPECT) (IPY Project 141) ASPeCT has a number of associated expeditions investigating Sea Ice. These include: SIPEX: Sea Ice Physics and Eco-system eXperiment SIPEX website International SIPEX flyer (44KB PDF) ...

Press Releases: DAMOCLES including details of current Arctic expeditions on the following vessels: Polarstern, Tara, Akademik Fedorov, Lance, and Viktor Buinitskiy. POLARSTERN Press Release (English) PDF (German) SIPEX: Sea Ice Physics and Eco-syste...

When asked about this IPY Day, sea ice scientist, Don Perovich (IPY project 95), replied: September 21 is excellent timing for a sea ice day. There is a tremendous amount of sea ice activity going on. There was an international sea ice summer school with more than 100 students from dozens of countries in July. There is currently a tremendous amount of sea ice activity going on in IPY. This summer there have been icebreakers from Canada, Sweden, Russia, and the U.S. conducting research in the Arctic and deploying autonomous sensors to monitor the changing sea ice cover. There have been ice camps at the North Pole and in the Beaufort Sea, along with work out of terrestrial...

Mark your diaries: SEPTEMBER 21ST WILL BE THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL POLAR DAY, HIGHLIGHTING SEA ICE. IPY and Sea Ice Over 30 large, international IPY projects are studying some aspect of Sea Ice. This includes ship expeditions, remote sensing, sea ice ecosystems, the importance of sea ice to polar bears and marine mammals, climate research, exhibitions, and books. On September 13th, a web-page dedicated to Sea Ice will be published on www.ipy.org listing projects that are involved, real-time expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic, contacts for media, sources for images, and background information. There will also be educational and community activities including classroom...

From the perspective of the North or South Pole, every year is essentially one long day that lasts half a year and one long night lasting the other half. This has enormous impact on how much solar energy is received in different times of year, which in turn influences physical processes, such as the freezing and thawing of snow and ice, biological processes, such as migration, and the lives of people who live in polar regions. If the Earth were perpendicular on its axis, everywhere on the planet would receive an equal amount of sunshine (and darkness) every day. But because of the tilt of the Earth on its axis (currently 23.5 degrees off the perpendicular), only two days a year — the Equinoxes every spring and fall — have equal amounts of sunshine everywhere. ...

MEDIA RELEASE For more information, visit the SIPEX expedition website. An earlier than usual foray into far southern waters will help scientists understand the connection between Antarctic sea ice and the ecosystems that depend on it for survival. The voyage is Australia's first in around 10 years to head into the Southern Ocean while the sea ice remains in place before the summer thaw. The Sea Ice Physics and Ecology eXperiment (SIPEX*) voyage, jointly organised by the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (Antarctic CRC) and the Australian Antarctic Division, will sail from Hobart at the beginning of September 2007. Eighty-six scientists from eight nations will use a suite of...

Cape Farewell launches first climate change youth expedition to the High Arctic Launch: From 4pm, Sunday 9 September 2007, Southbank Centre, London Expedition: 14-23 September 2007 In September, Cape Farewell launches its first international youth expedition, voyaging north of the 79th parallel to the fragile extremes of Svalbard in the High Arctic with twelve students from Germany, Canada and the UK to investigate and raise awareness of the impacts of climate change. In a landmark arts, science and media project the young people will work alongside artist Dan Harvey, Professor Mark Maslin of University College London's Environment Institute and others to develop scientific and creative projects. The students will live, work and help sail the ...

Invitation to a press conference: On September 3, 2007, The Federal Minister of Education and Research, Dr Annette Schavan, will inspect the new Antarctic station Neumayer III, as well as the new research aircraft Polar 5, in Bremerhaven. Dear Sir or Madam, dear colleagues, The new German Antarctic station Neumayer III is currently under construction in Bremerhaven. It is scheduled to replace the present station in 2009. Neumayer III has been designed and will be constructed by the two Bremerhaven companies JH Kramer and Kaefer Isoliertechnik (Kaefer Technology) by order of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. In order to assure subsequent trouble-free assembly on the ice, a large section of the building will be test-const...