Submitted: Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007 Position: -72.7116, 3.7829 Altitude: 2786m Air temperature (22:20 local time): -27.2 degrees C Today we made another good progress distance wise, covering nearly 70 km. And the science is in full swing too! Helgard and Karsten have been collecting data since the start of the traverse using their radar equipments but today Glen and Mary started making their measurements as well. Glen is interested in the evolution of topographical features on the ice sheet and made surface roughness measurements. Mary, with helping hands of Tom and Lou, collected two 50 cm snow core...

Submitted Friday, Nov. 16, 2007 Altitude: 2400m Air temperature (23:00 local time): -21 degrees C It was the long awaited day for us all, the departure of our traverse from Troll Station. At 10:10, the traverse train started rolling under a beautiful Antarctic blue sky. Emotion of team members were a mix of the excitement of embarking on a journey we have been preparing for more than 2 years, and sentimentality, to say good bye to people of Troll station who were so generous and provided us with all the helping hands we needed. Today we gained almost 1200m in altitude, from ~1250m at Troll to 2400m at the camp site. At some of steep climbs we had to get through today, one vehicle was caught in soft snow and needed a towing support by another one....

By Louise Huffman, ANDRILL Coordinator of Education and Outreach During survival training known as Happy Camper School. ANDRILL (ANtarctic Geologic DRILLing) is in Antarctica for the second back-to-back drilling season. It is a multi-national science research team drilling rock cores from the McMurdo Sound area. With each new meter of core recovered, the scientists are working to unlock the climate secrets stored there. By understanding past climates, they hope to fill in missing pieces of the climate puzzle that will help us explain the rapid changes around the globe we are experiencing tod...

The IPY International Programme Office (IPO) has recently received some sponsorship to seed a meeting of the IPY International Youth Steering Committee (IYSC), including the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS). This meeting will occur in Stockholm at the end of September. Below is background material for this meeting. Meeting Details (252 KB DOC) includes participants, overview, agenda, and logistics Planning Information and Summary (128 KB PDF) APEC...

More than 150 enthusiastic students and their parents took a trip to Antarctica on Saturday, October 27, 2007! ANDRILL Education Coordinator Louise Huffman organized the virtual field trip with the help of Polar Trec teacher, Mindy Bell, using ARCUS’s web seminar technology. Gathered in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, 75 fifth grade girls and their parents listened to a presentation by Louise and Mindy and scientists Tracy Frank, Sandra Passchier and Staci Kim while watching a powerpoint presentation depicting the frozen south and the science being done there. The Girls + Science + Math = Success Confere...

By Sarah Wilson, Ocean Institute The Ocean Institute (OI) is celebrating its 30th year in providing excellent science and maritime programs to teachers and the community. To honor teachers, launch our new Teacher Club, and celebrate International Polar Year, OI held an Ice Gala on October 5th and welcomed over 500 teachers! The evening included hands-on stations examining the science of the Poles, viewing of southern Ocean invertebrate specimens, ice sculptures to chill the flowing champagne and the opportunity to experience the Antarctic and take a photo with Shackleton’s crew. Teachers won prizes ranging from flat screen TVs, Geek Squad assistance for a year, Wyland artwork, and a week vacation in Washington D.C. ...

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...

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...

New Generation of Polar Researchers (NGPR) Symposium, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, 4-11 May 2008 Application Deadline: Monday, 15 October 2007 For further information, please go to: http://www.disccrs.org/ngpr/ Advanced students and PhD graduates conducting research in the Arctic or Antarctic during the International Polar Year are invited to apply for the New Generation of Polar Researchers (NGPR) Symposium being held on 4-11 May 2008 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Applications must be submitted by Monday, 15 October 2007. Complete application information is available at: ...

The IPY International Programme Office (IPO) has recently received some sponsorship to seed a meeting of the IPY International Youth Steering Committee (IYSC), including the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS). This meeting will occur in Stockholm at the end of September. Below is background material for this meeting. Meeting Details (252 KB DOC) includes participants, overview, agenda, and logistics Planning Information and Summary (128 KB PDF) APEC...