SciencePoles science journalist Jean de Pomereu is currently aboard the research and logistics ice breaker, the Xue Long (Snow Dragon), covering the 25th Chinese Antarctic expedition (CHINARE). As the first ever non-Chinese journalist allowed to take part in a Chinese Antarctic expedition, Mr. de Pomereu will document this season’s expedition with regularly published articles on the International Polar Foundation's SciencePoles website. With 204 participants led by Professor Huigen Yang, developments during this year’s CHINARE expedition will be very interesting to follow as researchers conduct 36 different science programmes in fields ranging from marine ...

On the occasion of the 31st Antarctic Treaty Consultative meeting held in Kiev, Ukraine, from the 2nd to the 13th of June 2008, SciencePoles looks at one of the lasting legacies of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-08: A series of high-tech scientific research stations recently completed, or in the process of being constructed in Antarctica. Never since the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58 has the frozen continent seen suc...

On March 12th, we celebrated the third International Polar Day --- Changing Earth in China. We chose three cities as our activity places, which are respectively located in North China, Middle China and South China. The Outreach Board and Poster In Beijing, capital of China, China Weather TV made a piece of news to introduce third polar day to Chinese audien...

Symposium held to mark International Polar Year April 2 Chinese Academy of Sciences With an objective of better analyzing the recent developments of polar research, upgrading China research capacity and presenting strategies and priorities for polar research and capacity building in the future, a session of the Xiangshan Science Conferences opened on 2 April in Shanghai. Under the theme of "Scientific frontiers of International Polar Year (IPY) and future polar research, the three-day meeting will invite scholars from various disciplines to have an in-depth discussion on various topics, ranging from Dome A science, astronomy in the Antarctic, Arctic Ocean Science, and Antarctic geology....

As part of an ongoing coverage of China's IPY Polar research projects and activities, SciencePoles interviewed Professor Yang Huigen, the new Director of the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC), responsible for carrying our scientific research in the Polar Regions, operating Chinese research stations and vessels, and promoting cooperation with international Polar research organisations. In this interview, Professor Yang discusses the current upgrade of China's Polar research infrastructure, including existing Chinese research stations in the Arctic and Antarctic, the Chinese ice breaker Xue Long, and the planned...

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...

On March 1 2007, students at schools around the world marked the advent of International Polar year by conducting an ice experiment. They then told the IPY community and the world by pinning a virtual balloon onto a web-based map showing exactly where they were. It proved to be quite a success, with hundreds of schools contributing so far. IPY enthusiasts also joined in, turning the map into a riot of red balloons. See the whole map here. For technical reasons, browsers don't like it if you show too many balloons at one time, so only the most recent 200 balloons are shown. However, you can see all contributed posts directly by browsing the directory from ...

The International Polar Year has begun. What a week! With US and UK launches on the Monday stirring up media attention, followed by an event in Portugal on the Wednesday and over 20 more national events on the day itself, March 1st 2007, we definitely hit the news! While traveling to Paris with Nicola, to prepare for the international launch, the phone didn't stop ringing, both sides of the Channel Tunnel and even on the Paris subway system! I was contacted by journalists as diverse as New Zealand Radio, an In-flight magazine, BBC World Service, Vatican Radio, Al Jazeera English, an Italian science magazine, Chinese TV networks, and Scientific American to name a few. During the International Ceremony itself, my phone kept shaking, and afterwards, on a tour of Paris, I saw ...