Written by Gunn Sissel Jaklin: Credit: G.S. Jaklin, Norwegian Polar Institute February 24

This press release is available for download as a PDF in these languages: English, Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese - Brazil, Portuguese - Portugal, ...

The State of Polar Research is a statement from the International Council for Science / World Meteorological Organization Joint Committee for the International Polar Year 2007–2008. It is available for download in PDF format in these languages: English Spanish French ...

In the Arctic, climate change is more than just a topic of conversation: it’s a fact of life. Arctic communities have already begun to feel the impacts of climate change, both large and small. Land erosion, melting permafrost, and flooding are forcing several Alaskan villages to consider relocation. The Arctic, like most other parts of the world, has warmed substantially over last few decades. This warming trend is projected to continue, and may lead to significant economic and cultural upheaval particularly for the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. It is anticipated that Arctic communities will be disproportio...

23 February 2009 — For the first time, more than 1400 professionals from 40 different countries working in the coldest and most remote places on this planet are united in crossing national and disciplinary boundaries to help address the rapid changes occurring in the Polar Regions and how these changes are affecting the entire planet. Working collaboratively to ensure a continuum of polar research leadership after the International Polar Year, these young researchers created a new organization called the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS). To emphasize the outstanding contributions to polar research from this organization, APECS President Daniela Haase, has been asked to be the Master of Ceremony at the IPY Celebrations held on 25 February in Geneva, Swi...

February 24, 2009 — The International Polar Year provides a unique opportunity to assess the global State and Fate of Permafrost on a Warming Planet. Recent observations indicate a warming of permafrost in many northern and mountain regions with resulting degradation of ice-rich and carbon-rich permafrost. Permafrost temperature has increased by 1 to 2°C in northern Russia during the last 30 to 35 years. This observed increase is very similar to what has been observed in Alaska where the detailed characteristic of the warming varies between locations, but is typically from 0.5 to 2°C. The last 30-years warming in permafrost temperatures observed in the Russian North and Alaska has resulted in thawing of natural, undisturbed permafrost in areas close to the southern boundary of t...

Video Release: Follow the students and staff of the Students on Ice University from Grise Fiord, Nunavut - the northernmost community in the Americas - to Ushuaia, Argentina - the southernmost city in the world. On February 12, 2009, an international team of 71 students and 18 world-class scientists, environmentalists, researchers and educators began their journey to Antarctica, an initiative led by Canadian adventure educator Geoff Green, the founder of Students on Ice Expeditions (SOI). The ship-based expedition is part of the...

Geoff Green, Executive Director of Students on Ice Expeditions writes: We leave tomorrow on our next SOI Antarctic Expedition! This expedition is special for many reasons! It is our first University credit course program. We have 71 students participating from 12 countries. Lots of interesting people, including two young Inuit youth from Canada's northernmost community Grise Fiord. They will be participating in an IPY project during our expedition to compare and contrast the Polar Regions and the impacts of climate change. Thanks to the support of Canada's IPY Federal Program, we are making a one-hour documentary about their journey and their connection to the late Dr. Fritz Koerner. We also have students and staff from across Canada, ...

Below are documents that we will be discussing and developing at the IPY/Oslo 2010 meeting for Education, Outreach, and Communication in Geneva, February 23-24th 2009.

The meeting will occur at WMO headquarters. Directions to meeting building.

Please become familiar with these documents prior to the meeting. Hard copies will not be made available,- it is your choice to bring them either as hard copies or electronically.

Logistics & Committee Business
Agenda & Participant List
EOC Committee Mandate

Oslo 2010 Conference
Overarching principles for EOC activities during OSC 2010 K Ulstein
Categorising EOC activities during OSC 2010 K Ulstein, R Malherbe, S Zicus
APECS Participation in Oslo 2010 J Baeseman
Catalogue of EOC Session proposals K Ulstein
Virtual Component L Murphy

Polar Resource Book
Vision Document - discussion paper R Salmon, B Kaiser
All content collected so far

Photo-exhibit
Poles Apart flyer

International and Interdisciplinary IPY Polar Field School June 15th – July 3rd 2009, at The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) This international IPY Field School will give an interdisciplinary introduction to environmental change in the Polar areas based upon past, present and future research being done in the Arctic during IPY. The course will offer a unique field-training experience for internationally recruited students (undergraduate/early graduate) in a high-arctic environment, further on providing them with the latest IPY research data and information to be used for interdisciplinary project work d...