There were a lot of filmmakers in and around McMurdo this season, but none were there longer than the Whiskey 218 trio. Producer and Director Anne Aghion and her crew - Sylvestre Guidi at the camera and Richard Fleming recording sound - arrived on the first flight of Winfly, August 20th and stayed for four months, until just before Christmas. Aghion says: "I wanted to be there during Winfly to get the feeling of the station waking up," and indeed they did. After two months filming in and around McMurdo, the three set up camp with four geologists for another couple of months, first in the Olympus Range and then in the Asgard Range. The focus of the film, which was made possible by a National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers grant, is on...

The permafrost regions occupy 24% of the Northern Hemisphere’s land area and all glacier-free areas of the Antarctic continent. To obtain a snapshot of ground temperatures, thawing rates, and organic carbon contents of the permafrost regions, four coordinated IPY permafrost programmes are underway, involving 50 individual projects from 28 countries and hundreds of researchers and students. Geographically, the programme includes both polar regions and covers the mountains and plateau regions of the mid- and low-latitudes. The major focus of the programme is to observe and document current changes in permafrost conditions. These measurements serve as a baseline against which to evaluate future changes and to validate current models. Existing networks include boreholes for ...

The permafrost regions occupy 24% of the Northern Hemisphere’s land area and all glacier-free areas of the Antarctic continent. To obtain a snapshot of ground temperatures, thawing rates, and organic carbon contents of the permafrost regions, four coordinated IPY permafrost programmes are underway, involving 50 individual projects from 28 countries and hundreds of researchers and students. Geographically, the programme includes both polar regions and covers the mountains and plateau regions of the mid- and low-latitudes. The major focus of the programme is to observe and document current changes in permafrost conditions. These measurements serve as a baseline against which to evaluate future changes and to validate current models. Existing networks include boreholes for ...

If you want to get involved in International Polar Year right from the start now is your chance!! The IPY Youth Steering Committee is asking young people from around the world to write to their political leaders (and send a copy to us) about their concerns for the Polar Regions and what they personally are doing to make a difference (biking to school, recycling, starting a polar club in their school, doing a polar science project). The YSC will present these letters at the official launch of IPY in Paris on March 1st and on our website. Throughout the Polar Year we will follow up with youth to see how they are doing with their commitments. To find out more download the launch package. Text: Melian...

Dear reader! This blog it is written by five students at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS); we hope that you will enjoy these tales from the high Arctic. We will start with a short introduction about everyone: Tine Larsen Gender: Female Study: Master in Geology Home: Geilo, Norway Home University: University of Tromsø Interests: Skiing, kiting, paddling... Life motto: "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, whisky in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn put and screaming ~WOO HOO what a ride!!" Matilda Hallerstig Gender: Femal...

January 2007 The Smithsonian Institution announces a polar science symposium in early May 2007, as one of the inaugural U.S. contributions to celebrate the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008. Smithsonian at the Poles: Contributions to International Polar Year Science is being convened by Smithsonian Under Secretary for Science David L. Evans. The symposium will present research findings by Smithsonian scholars and their collaborators from Artic and Antarctic research, with particular attention to changes in polar systems past, present and future, and their global impact. The symposium will carry on a tradition of polar science that began nearly 150 years ago and resulted in some of the worlds foremost collections and archives of Arctic an...

Good news for IPY and for our Danish colleagues! The Finance Committee of the Danish Parliament has approved additional funding for IPY. The following is an unofficial translation of the official notes associated with the approval of the IPY funding: 'In 2007-2009 the International Polar Year (IPY) will take place and on this background 30,000,000 DKK will be allocated in 2007 and in 2008 in order to accentuate the IPY opportunity. The funds will supplement the current grants for Arctic research and logistics support and will be issued by the Commission for Scientific Reseach in Greenland and the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, respectively.' For more information, visit the ...

You can track the Polarstern research vessel in a number of ways as it traverses Antarctic waters. You can view the raw coordinate data here on www.sailwx.info's tracking map. You can also track it in Google Earth by downloading this constantly updated file from the SCAR MarBIN portal. The file in turn accesses position data from this page on the Polar View website, which al...

Although perhaps only a few of you can actually attend, I hope you share my enthusiasm for IPY events such as the Arctic Journey dance performance at Grand Valley State University in early February. "Arctic Journey" relates an Inuit story about a walrus hunting tragedy and includes Inuit Drum Dancing, Inuit Throat Singing and performances by dancers from the Grand Rapids (Michigan) area. This event celebrates Western Michigan's kick-off to International Polar Year. Grand Valley State University serves as host for one of IPY's Education projects: IPY a...

What was life like on Norway's Svalbard Islands during the 1960s? Not as desolate as you might expect. But then again, this YouTube video may just have been rampant propaganda: As for the soundtrack, that was made by Frost, an aptly named Norwegian electro-pop outfit that wasn't even born at the time the above video was made. (...