DRAFT 19th April, 2007 The Smithsonian Institution will host a polar science symposium as one of the inaugural U.S. contributions to celebrate the International Polar Year 2007-2008. "Smithsonian at the Poles: Contributions to International Polar Year Science" is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, May 3-4 at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institution Building (Castle) in Washington, D.C. The symposium, which is also supported by the National Science Foundation, will present research findings by Smithsonian scholars and their collaborators from Arctic and Antarctic research, with particular attention to changes in polar systems past, present and future, and their global impact. The symposium will ...

One of the tasks of the endorsed project "Enhancing the environmental legacy of the IPY in Antarctica" is to look at the cumulative environmental impacts of the IPY. So far, the IPY Joint Committee has endorsed 99 projects with Antarctic or bipolar focus. These projects encompass at least 350 research activities, of which 82% plan to conduct fieldwork in Antarctica. Of these activities, 105 (37%) are planning to leave behind physical infrastructure. A large amount of activity has been planned around existing centers of research (e.g., the Antarctic Peninsula, Dronning Maud Land); a number of large-scale research activities has also been planned in areas which have, so far, been seldom visited (e.g., the Gamburtsev Mountains, subglacial lakes). Many of them...

The current issue of the Canada Foundation for Innovation's online magazine, appropriately titled InnovationCanada.ca focuses on IPY and features an essay on "Securing An IPY Legacy" by David Hik, Executive Director, Canadian IPY Secretariat and Ian Church, Chair, Canadian IPY National Committee. The essay gives an overview of Canadian involvement with past IPYs and how the $150 million that the Canadian Government has dedicated to this IPY is having a ripple effect throughout the north. There is also a painful story written by Susan Aglukark entitled "...

The first pair of scientists left on April 20 for the North Pole Environmental Observatory (NPEO), flying from Resolute Bay to Canadian Forces Station Alert on the northeastern tip of Ellesmere Island. After refueling and a check of the weather conditions at the North Pole, the two scientists and two pilots flew on to the Russian-operated Borneo ice camp at 89º15’ N latitude, 0º22’W longitude. It was the end of a long year of preparation and a long week of waiting for weather and ice conditions to allow planes to fly this sometimes treacherous journey. (View the travel map) Weather conditions at the Pole have improved, with lighter winds, greater visibility, and temperatures around -15ºC—colder than yesterday, but much better when you are trying to live and work on ...

One of the main projects to present polar science to a wide audience in The Netherlands is the development of a weblog for all IPY-NL science expeditions. A Dutch public broadcasting corporation

The first pair of scientists left on April 20 for the North Pole Environmental Observatory (NPEO), flying from Resolute Bay to Canadian Forces Station Alert on the northeastern tip of Ellesmere Island. After refueling and a check of the weather conditions at the North Pole, the two scientists and two pilots flew on to the Russian-operated Borneo ice camp at 89º15’ N latitude, 0º22’W longitude. It was the end of a long year of preparation and a long week of waiting for weather and ice conditions to allow planes to fly this sometimes treacherous journey. (View the travel map) Weather conditions at the Pole have improved, with lighter winds, greater visibility, and temperatures around -15ºC—colder than yesterday, but much better when you are trying to live and work on ...

IQALUIT, NUNAVUT TERRITORY, CANADA—“Traveling to the Canadian Arctic requires a lot of patience.” Those were the sage words of a fellow weary traveler as we stood at the airport ticket counter at 3:45 p.m. on April 16 in Iqaluit, Canada. Chris and I had missed our connecting flights to points farther north, as had Andrew Brown, a resident of Resolute, Canada who was returning from a month of vacation. We had all been slated for six hours and 1,120 miles of air travel north and west to Igloolik, Pond Inlet, and finally to our North Pole staging base in Resolute (see a map of our travel plans). Our goal is to document what scientists are learning about the Arctic Ocean and how it regulates global climate. But now we were standing in Iqaluit (ik-COW-lu-eet). It was a fitting, and ultim...

Posters introducing 14 different IPY-NL research projects can be downloaded in PDF format from the IPY NL website. Posters contributions include - a general introductions to the international IPY projects: ‘Tarantella’, ‘Bird Health’, ‘Lashipa’, ‘NORCLIM’, ‘Aliens’ - Dutch contributions to IPY projects: ‘Glaciodyn’, ‘ORACLE-O3’, ‘POLAR-AOD’, ‘IPY Geotraces’ and ‘PAME’. The posters were presented in November 2006 at an IPY-NL information meeting in The Hague, The Netherlands. ...

Live Earth concerts will be held around the world. Headliners for the London Concert will be Madonna, the Beastie Boys and Black Eyed Peas joined by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Keane, Foo Fighters and others. In East Rutherford, New Jersey artists will include Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band, Kanye West, Rihanna, John Mayer, Smashing Pumpkins and Fall Out Boy. Other concerts will be in China, South Africa, Australia, Toyko and Brazil. Organizers have promised an event in Antarctica - but no word yet on where. These concerts start a campaign called Save Our Selves (SOS). The full story can be found at cnn.com ...

The organizing committee for the 8th International ACUNS Student Conference has released the third call for abstracts for the student conference to be held October 19-21, 2007 in Saskatoon, SK. All students conducting northern research are encouraged to submit an abstract for this conference. Travel support will be available for Canadian and international students. Details on how to apply for travel awards will be available soon on the ACUNS website. Please note that the abstract submission deadline has been extended to May 15, 2007. More details: The 8th International ACUNS Student Conference on Northern Studies, titled Melting Boundaries: Carrying Out Effective Research in the Circu...