During glacial periods ice sheets move faster along so called ‘ice streams’. Ice streams leave footprints on the seafloor when the ice is grounded below the sealevel. This project aims at developing new models of fast ice flow in ice-streams based on analyses of the geological record of past ice-streams.

The objective of The Economy of the North is to present a comprehensive overview of the economy of the circumpolar Arctic, including the traditional production activities of the indigenous people. The report discusses the importance of the Arctic economy from a global perspective, with particular focus on the natural resources in the Arctic region. Finally, likely effects of climate change on the Arctic economy are discussed.

STUDENTS ON ICE is an award-winning organization offering unique learning expeditions to the Antarctic and the Arctic. Our mandate is to provide students from around the world with inspiring educational opportunities at the ends of our earth, and in doing so, help them foster a new understanding and respect for our planet.

The Students on Ice - International Polar Year Youth Expeditions series has been endorsed by the IPY Joint Committee as a prominent and valued component of the IPY program. These special IPY-themed voyages to the Arctic and Antarctic offer once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to over 500 youth to explore the Polar regions!

These unique educational expeditions are designed for international high school and university youth. Participants will travel together with teams of polar scientists, experts and educators. The ice-strengthened ship-based expeditions will be unparalleled platforms for Polar and Environmental Education and outreach for the International Polar Year.

Doing science in the polar regions depends on humans performing under the most extreme environmental conditions. By collecting data for a new epidemiological database of health events in Antarctica, this 18-nation project will improve our understanding of how individuals and groups interact in confined environments, and how human physiology adapts to such extreme conditions. The results should help improve the health of polar scientists, help deliver better healthcare in other remote areas of the world, and help space scientists understand the likely effects of isolation on astronauts during long-duration missions.

Rapid Climate Change (RCC) has serious consequences for indigenous peoples in the north with respect to ethnic mobilization and conflict, change of life style and resource utilization, also their agency on the world stage to secure land and resource rights. Through a combination of research and education in partnership with northern indigenous peoples of Russia, the CLUE initiative has been designed to grasp the resource/ethnicity relation of indigenous circumpolar societies confronting RCC. Although the CLUE project concentrates on the Russian field, material from Fennoscandia and Alaska will serve a comparative purpose. In some respects Fennoscandia, and in other respects Alaska, have carried much further discourses concerning some of the issues which are still in their infancy in Russia.

As key components of freshwater (lake and river), estuarine and nearshore marine aquatic environments of the circumpolar north, Arctic char and related fishes of the genus Salvelinus are fundamental to the lifestyles and well-being of northerners as the basis for extensive fisheries conducted for household food (i.e., domestic and subsistence), commercial and sport purposes. Chars contribute significantly to household and wage economies, and social and cultural elements of northern life. Chars are also key integrators and indicators of the health of northern aquatic ecosystems, many aspects of which are at significant risk from increased climate variability and change. However, human adaptive responses are hampered by a lack of vital information regarding char thermal ecology, biodiversity and its functional significance in northern ecosystems, mercury and other pollutant interactions, and how these may respond to climate change.