MEDIA RELEASE WEDNESDAY 8 AUGUST 2007 Antarctic research to benefit from $4.5 million in special projects for International Polar Year. Six exciting research projects touching on climate change and protecting the fragile Antarctic environment have been approved to mark International Polar Year. The projects have been made possible by a special three-year, $4.5 million contestable fund to support International Polar Year research, announced by the Prime Minister in May and administered by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, "International Polar Year represents a unique opportunity for New Zealand scientists to participate in a number of important Antarctic scientific collaborations," says foundation Chief Executive Murray Bain....

A historic collection of artifacts once the property of General David L. Brainard will be sold on September 21, 2007, in the rooms of London auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb. Brainard was the only survivor of the sledge party that achieved a "farthest north" record during the Lady Franklin Bay Arctic Expedition of 1881-84 (popularly known as the Greely Expedition). He was also the expedition's last survivor, passing away in 1946. Among the medals in the collection is Brainard's Explorers Medal for the "farthest north" record, and a special Explorers Club medal commemorating the fifth anniversary of Robert Peary's North Pole discovery. Also included are the General's Purple Heart, awarded in 1933 for wounds received during a battle with Sioux Indians in 1877, and his ac...

France Pinczon du Sel and Eric Brossier write: Three years ago, Vagabond left Brittany and sailed to Spitsbergen. There she has spent three winters, frozen in ice for about nine months at a time. This year also, summer will be short — sailing in the fjords in August, then supplying and maintaining the boat in September. Early October will already start the fourth wintering, still in Inglefield Bay, on the east coast of the island. This is where, with our three dogs, we are welcoming scientists, about twenty so far since 2004. They come to understand and forecast climate change in the Arctic, particularly the future of the pack ice, within the European project Damocles. Sport ...

At the end of August, an unusual expedition under Russian leadership will leave for the Arctic Ocean. One of the participants is J

2007 International Science School 4 July 2007 Taronga's penguin colony had a temporary population boost today to raise awareness of the International Science School, which began in Sydney this week. The extra members were popular television scientist Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Antarctic researcher Dr Rhian Salmon, who were introduced to the Zoo's Little Penguin colony and talked with keepers about the impact of climate change on the penguins and other polar species, such as Leopard Seals. Dr Karl, a regular speaker at the Professor Harry Messel International Science School (ISS), is raising awareness and prompting discu...

Preview of An Arctic Tale: The Word is Out. IPY has begun, and it's going to be big. The first summer season of four starts in earnest this month as researchers from around the world set off to the Arctic on ships, planes, small boats, and wheels. Canada, Russia, Alaska, Svalbard, Greenland, Scandinavia... hundreds of independent researchers heading North, at the same time, is powerful, full of potential. They will not only be inv...

The educational programme LATITUDE60! organized one of the biggest events of the International Polar Year in Portugal on on the 29 June 2007: the national contest “discovering the Polar Regions!” More than 600 children and nearly 50 schools were present at the Lisbon event. At present, LATITUDE60! is a leading educational program with IPY, with more than 170 schools involved, more than 300 teachers and thousands of students from all over Portugal (including the Azores and Madeira) involved. The contest had 6 categories: scientific essay, polar writer, website, audiovisual, art and “build an igloo”, and was open to children of all ages, from kindergarten to university level. More than 500 submissions were received nationally and more than 70 received aw...

How much volcanic and earthquake activity is there on the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel Ridge? Scientists have little idea because they have been unable to record earthquakes in this remote region. Large earthquakes on the ridge can be detected by seismometers far away in the global seismic network, but they don’t occur frequently enough to get sufficient data. Smaller earthquakes, magnitude 2 or less, occur several times a day, but they are too small to be “heard” by distant seismic stations. While Oden is in the neighborhood, Vera Schlindwein from the Alfred-Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany is installing seismometers on ice floes to record some of those mini-earthquakes over several days. She will retrieve them before we leave the area. Even this bit of data will allow...

Professional photographers with a portfolio of images from the Arctic and Antarctic. To use any of their images, please negotiate directly with the photographer. OUR POLAR HERITAGE / Christian Morel Our Polar Heritage photographic project is proposed by the photographer Christian Morel and the Association Polar Planet. The objective is to work during the 2 years of the IPY to a very large, international, transversal and multidisciplinary set of artistic and professional photographic pictures in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Our Polar Heritage aims to reveal the high precision of the work achieved by women and men under extreme conditions, to illustrate...

IPY project 455, IGLO, is a network of international science centres working together to raise awareness about IPY, the polar regions, and global warming. IGLO is an educational partner of Live Earth, the organization producing concerts in nine major cities around the world on July 7, 2007 to promote awareness of, and action on, global warming. Science centers and museums are participating in this event by screening films, showing the concert via a live satellite feed, hosting activities from the IGLO toolkit, and more. Science Centres in China (Shanghai), Panama, Belgium (Mechelen), The Netherlands (The Hague), Wales (Cardiff), Canada (Toronto), Mexico (Mexico City) and across the US (San Francisco, Fort Lauder...