Dear friends, The next International Polar Day, focussing on our Changing Earth, is in two weeks. We have prepared a number of webpages, resources, and links to relevant IPY science. These can all be accessed from the link on IPY.org (top right), or directly at http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/earth/ There are also three aspects of particular interest that I hope you can inform your networks about: 1. EDUCATIONAL FLYERS Flyers can be downloaded from the educators page at ...

Submitted February 27, 2008: Snailfish by P. Marriott Our survey of the inner Ross Sea shelf and slope has now been successfully completed, with a total of 29 stations and 143 separate gear deployments. At least 400 different invertebrate species have been collected and nearly 75 different fish species identified. Photo: View of Mt Herschel 45nm away. by J. Mitchell ...

Submitted February 24: After losing 24 hours research time to rough weather, the last four days have been spent completing core station transects from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf, and down the continental slope. These are the stations where all our sampling equipment is deployed. Photo: The midday to midnight watch gathered proudly around their erratic. By J. Mitchell The DTIS (Deep Towed Imaging System) video and still images have shown us that much of this area of seabed west of Iselin Bank, adjacent to Cape Adare, is very rocky compared to the southern shelf areas sampled earlier...

Background From 1999-2003, I attended Mary Washington College, now known as the University of Mary Washington, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I'm originally from New York. After graduating high school in 1999, I was anxious to get out of the state and try something new. I was spoiled rotten at MWC because they opened up a brand new science center my first fall semester and had state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. I had four passions in college: music, art, theatre and chemistry. I did my best to satisfy them all through classes and extra-curricular work but ultimately decided to ...

The International Polar Year is upon us and many of you are involved in this large scientific program. Many of you have wondered where you can get IPY merchandise for various meetings, workshops, outreach events. You can now order coffee mugs, magnets, pins, shirts, and much more. The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) has created an online store for IPY and APECS gear. All profits go towards supporting early career researchers and increasing polar literacy, administrated by the IPY International Programme Office. Show your support for the IPY, young researchers, and polar...

Now that we have completed sampling the southern stations, the focus of the survey has moved north to the central area adjacent to Iselin Bank, which lies east of Cape Adare. The original survey plan had an extensive sampling program in this area but this year’s ice conditions has resulted in the need to reassess and redistribute the sampling effort. This redesign is completed using all available satellite ice imagery we can access and interpretations we receive from a commercial company (Enfotec), who specialise in vessel navigation in the Arctic and Antarctic. Some of this data is readily available on the web and some has to be ordered in advance and are charged for. The higher the resolution required, then the higher the cost. Figures are examples of in...

Bremerhaven, February 4, 2008: In the Southern Ocean, large quantities of surface-drifting plankton algae are able to significantly reduce the carbon dioxide content of the surface waters, which can affect the global carbon dioxide cycle. This is one of the results from an Antarctic expedition which has just drawn to a close in Cape Town on February 4, and which was led by the Alfred Wegener Institute, part of the Helmholtz Association. On February 5, an international team of scientists will discuss the results obtained to date and pressing questions of Antarctic research as part of a workshop aboard the icebreaker Polarstern. Federal research minister Dr Annette Schavan will use the opportunity to meet representatives of leading research institutions and South African mini...

Submitted February 17, 2008: Over the past few days we have been working our way south into the lower Ross Sea and then eastwards towards 180°, paralleling the Ross Ice Shelf. During this period Tangaroa got to its southernmost point ever at 76° 52.164’S 179° 55.856’ W. As expected, the main controller of all our activities has been the weather. Heavy snow showers earlier in this period gave everything a white coating, but once the snow cleared and the clouds broke, we had good (but distant) views of Ross Island, with the mountains of the Asgaard and Olympic Ranges as a backdrop. ...

Submitted Feb 17: Among western boundary currents, the Agulhas flowing south along East Africa is 2nd only to the Gulf Stream in strength. It carries hundreds to thousands of times the water volume of the Mississippi River. Opposing waves generated by storms off Antarctica can be anomalously large. In meeting the thrust of the Agulhas Current, anomalies can be magnified to produce “rogue” waves of enormous proportions. Any given western boundary current’s volume is appreciably exceeded by that of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), also called the West Wind Drift (WWD). It circles Antarctica west to east and dominates the Southern, or Antarctic, Ocean.The ACC is the granddaddy of surface currents and the only major surface current having the geogra...

On March 12th, 2008, the International Polar Year (IPY) will launch its third International Polar Day, focussing on 'Changing Earth'. The first two focussed on Sea Ice and Ice Sheets. In preparation for the next IPY Day, a page collating information about IPY and the Changing Earth has been prepared with information for Press and Educators, ...