Submitted February 25: A Wirral, UK, school student is about to set out on the trip of a lifetime to the Canadian High Arctic, as part of an International Polar Year science programme. Emma Brown, a sixth-former at West Kirby Grammar School, will be joining a two-week international scientific expedition, which includes a week on board Canada's state-of-the-art research icebreaker, the CCGS Amundsen. Emma won the chance to represent the UK on the expedition when she entered a competition run by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory in Liverpool. Her presentation on climate change in the Arctic and her enthusiasm in wanting to help communicate the issues greatly impressed the panel of judges. Emma said, 'I'm so excited about...

April 28-May 1, 2008 Houghton, Michigan USA This is the first announcement for the 2008 Workshop of the LASHIPA (Large-scale historical exploitation of Polar Areas) group. An international organization centered around the historical and archaeological study of industrialization in Polar Areas, the LASHIPA group has cooperated successfully on several seasons of research and teaching based in fieldwork on Svalbard (see www.lashipa.nl for details). LASHIPA members have garnered research funding from several national agencies and continue to pursue support for joint efforts during the next two years, at minimum. LASHIPA has been officially sanctioned as an IPY research activity, with explicit attention to international cooperation and...

Feb. 26, 2008: What started as a quick idea to spice-up an International Polar Year event has resulted in a full-length musical composition in celebration of polar science and the uniqueness of the north. University of Alaska Fairbanks Associate Professor James Bicigo recently completed a composition for brass ensemble based on his “Polar Fanfare,” which premiered at UAF’s IPY kick-off celebration last year. The full-length piece, titled “Polar Synthesis” includes five movements, each based on a northern theme. “The movements are titled Polar Fanfare, Aurora, Polar Bears, Break up- Climate Change and Synthesis- Understanding,” says Bicigo. “I’m really excited about the way the last movement ties together the themes from the fi...

In late December, Dr. Elena Sparrow of the UArctic IPY Higher Education and Outreach Office at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) was pleased to help welcome Dr. Rhian Salmon, coordinator of education and outreach activities at the IPY International Programme Office in Cambridge, UK, as Rhian celebrated the new year with her first-ever trip to Alaska. Her two-and-a-half-week stay was filled with meetings, tours, and presentations, along with generous doses of Alaskan hospitality, as she became better acquainted with the IPY research and outreach activities in the state. Most of Rhian’s time was spent in Fairbanks, in Alaska’s interior. There she had numerous meetings and discussions with researchers, administrators and other staff at the University of Alaska Fairba...

In late December, Dr. Elena Sparrow of the UArctic IPY Higher Education and Outreach Office at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) was pleased to help welcome Dr. Rhian Salmon, coordinator of education and outreach activities at the IPY International Programme Office in Cambridge, UK, as Rhian celebrated the new year with her first-ever trip to Alaska. Her two-and-a-half-week stay was filled with meetings, tours, and presentations, along with generous doses of Alaskan hospitality, as she became better acquainted with the IPY research and outreach activities in the state. Most of Rhian’s time was spent in Fairbanks, in Alaska’s interior. There she had numerous meetings and discussions with researchers, administrators and other staff at the University of Alaska Fairba...

In late December, Dr. Elena Sparrow of the UArctic IPY Higher Education and Outreach Office at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) was pleased to help welcome Dr. Rhian Salmon, coordinator of education and outreach activities at the IPY International Programme Office in Cambridge, UK, as Rhian celebrated the new year with her first-ever trip to Alaska. Her two-and-a-half-week stay was filled with meetings, tours, and presentations, along with generous doses of Alaskan hospitality, as she became better acquainted with the IPY research and outreach activities in the state. Most of Rhian’s time was spent in Fairbanks, in Alaska's interior. There she had numerous meetings and discussions with researchers, administrators and other staff at the University of Alaska Fairba...

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...

By Andrea Juan, Curator, "Polar South, Art in Antarctica" at the Museum of National University of Tres de Febrero in Buenos Aires, Argentina The light is so intense and bright that it modifies the colors throughout the day, while the horizon line blends into a white plane where the sun bounces and never sets. A deep and vivid feeling seizes us when, at the end of a long voyage, we step on Antarctic soil, a soil covered with fossils. As sea, rock, and time, Antarctica is today the largest natural freshwater reserve for humankind. Being there is to witness a different world on thi...

Kansas is proclaiming Tuesday, February 19 as Polar Education and Research Day. The governor of Kansas will sign a proclamation recognizing the importance of Polar Education and Research. The text is below. TO THE PEOPLE OF KANSAS, GREETINGS: WHEREAS, The world has banded together for the fourth time in history to jointly pursue science at the Earth's extreme latitudes as part of the International Polar Year; and WHEREAS, Kansans, since Lewis Lindsey Dyche in the late 1800s have participated in that scientific exploration, a rich tradition that extends to today's Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, headquartered at the University of Kansas; and WHEREAS, These engineering and scientific efforts can serve to excite yo...

12 February 2008 The American Geographical Society and the University of Delaware are pleased to announce that Captain Lawson W. Brigham, U.S. Coast Guard (Ret.), will sign the AGS Flier's and Explorers Globe at 7:30 pm EST on February 12, 2008. The event will take place on the campus of the University of Delaware in Newark, DE The ceremony will be web cast, and can be viewed in real time at http://www.udel.edu/UMS/udlive. The video of the event will be archived and available for future viewing through the University’s web site. The signing of the AGS Globe forms the introduction to the W. S. Carlson International Polar Year Events,a year-long series of public lectures, seminars, exhibits, films, and other events held at the University of Delawar...