To aid broad interdisciplinary discovery of IPY data, the IPY Data Policy and Management Subcommittee has created an initial metadata profile. A metadata profile is a set of required fields and vocabularies for a given metadata standard. The purpose of the IPY Metadata Profile is to ensure that we capture a bare minimum of information necessary to allow simple discovery across disciplines and to ensure we can track the heritage of the metadata in a broadly distributed data management environment. All IPY data registries and repositories collecting data and metadata from IPY projects are required to collect and share sufficient information to adhere to the IPY Metadata Profile requirements. Similarly, IPY projects are required to submit the compliant metadata t...

One of the most intriguing aspects of IPY is how broad it is. More than any other international program, IPY has emphasized interdisciplinary study. We seek greater understanding of how systems work as a whole. This systemic view requires that we find and assess data and information outside our area of expertise. Easier said than done. Different disciplines describe similar phenomena in different ways; they use different assumptions and metaphors; they treat error and uncertainty differently. Even when data are available, investigators struggle to find relevant data for their application. IPY cannot solve the whole problem of interdisciplinary data access, but we can make a major step forward. If an investigator can simply find and us...

In response to journalists and educators wanting an 'angle' on the extremely broad International Polar Year, quarterly "IPY Days" are being developed that focus on a particular aspect of polar research, and highlight current research occurring as part of IPY. The first of these will be held on September 21st and will focus on Sea Ice. Below is a list of IPY projects that study, or are concerned with, some aspect of Sea Ice. Their webpages contain a huge amount of information. For direct contact with researchers, please consult this list of sea ice experts. The following list includes IPY ID and chart name, and short title 8 ...

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...

Final opportunity to submit an abstract to the AGU 2007 Fall Meeting

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....

The Spanish Polar Programme are currently organizing a multidisciplinary, international sampling season at Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica) for austral summer 2008/09. This call is open to all scientists who may be interested in doing field research at this site, or in working with samples collected from terrestrial, freshwater and marine coastal environments of this region. The proposed investigations should be within one or more the following themes: 1. Global climate change 2. UV radiation effects 3. Antarctic biodiversity and community ecology 4. Environmental assessment of science and tourist activities 5. - Palaeoecological studies Byers Peninsula is Antarctic Specia...

Contents: 1. The cyber face of IPY 2. Secondment opportunity in IPO 3. Project status information 4. Youth Steering Committee, Early Career Scientists and Youth Activities 5. Looking ahead to AGU 2007 From: IPY International Programme Office To: IPY Project Coordinators cc: IPY Community Google Groups 1. The cyber-face of IPY We continue to make improvements and add material to the IPY web site. Visitors can now go directly to a project search page, and from there search by project name, number, discipline, or country. We start to link national reports to the national committee pages. We feature a new ...

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...