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APECS, working in cooperation with the International Polar Year International Programme Office, is organsing an "International Lecture Series". Making this happen on your campus or in your community would not require a lot of effort, but the activities taking place worldwide during polar week can have a huge impact! Please see below list of all lectures taking place during March Polar Week.
Image from Jose Xavier
Germany:Date and time: March 13th 2010 at 11am
Location: Haus der Wissenschaft, Wissen um 11, Sandstraße 4/5, 28195 Bremen,Germany
Speaker: Dr. Christian Hass
Title: "Ein guter Stern für die Klimaforschung: mit PFS ,Polarstern' in Arktis und Antarktis" - Ein Beitrag zur internationalen PolarwocheContent:
Der Forschungseisbrecher "Polarstern" fährt seit fast 28 Jahren durch die Polarmeere und hat auf über 45 Expeditionen hunderte Wissenschaftler in die entlegendsten Gebiete der Polarmeere gebracht. Viele der wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten an Bord beschäftigen sich mit dem Klima der Vergangenheit oder mit den Auswirkungen der aktuellen Klimaentwicklung in den Gebieten, die besonders sensibel auf solche Veränderungen reagieren. Im Vortrag wird das Schiff vorgestellt und auf einige der Geräte eingegangen, die während der monatelangen Expeditionen zum Einsatz kommen. Schließlich wird kurz auf einige Forschungsergebnisse aus Arktis und Antarktis eingegangen und deren Beziehung zur aktuellen Klimadebatte dargestellt.
CV: Am Samstag, den 13. März um 11 Uhr wird Dr. Christian Hass den Vortrag
halten: "Ein guter Stern für die Klimaforschung: mit PFS ,Polarstern' in Arktis und Antarktis". Hass hat in Karlsruhe, Trier und Marseille studiert und 1993 an der CAU in Kiel in Meeresgeologie promoviert.
Danach folgten Anstellungen u.a. an der Bergakademie Freiberg, am University College London und schließlich am Alfred Wegener Institut für
Polar- und Meeresforschung in Bremerhaven. Seit 2002 arbeitet Christian Hass an der Wattenmeerstation des AWI in List auf Sylt, wo er neben der Polarforschung auch an der Sedimentdynamik im Wattenmeer und der Nordsee arbeitet.
******Discussion: How to explain climate change to children at didacta fair
Date and time: March 17th 2010 at 1415 (local time).
Location: Cologne, Fair Didacta, Koelnmesse GmbH, Messeplatz 1, Halle 9, Stand A20/B21
50679 Cologne, Germany
Speakers:• Prof. Dr. Friedrich-Wilhelm Gerstengarbe Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung
• Dr. Anna Wegner Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung
• Theodor Wahl-Aust Lehrer am Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium, Düsseldorf
• Eva Pütz Schülerin der 11. Klasse am Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium, Düsseldorf
Title:Schule im Schwitzkasten - wie erklärt man Kindern den Klimawandel?(FOCUS-SCHULE)
Content:
Wenn es um Klimaschutz geht, zeigt sich die Mehrheit der Schüler resigniert und unwissend. Das ergab eine aktuelle Umfrage des WWF. Viele finden, bevor sie sich selbst engagieren, sollen andere handeln. Doch wie kann man Schülern den Klimawandel und die Notwendigkeit von Umweltschutz vermitteln, ohne ihnen mit Horrorszenarien unnötig Angst einzujagen? Mit Ansprechpartnern aus Wissenschaft und Didaktik soll diskutiert werden, wie der Klimawandel anschaulich in den Unterricht eingebunden werden kann, was außerschulische Lernorte oder ungewöhnliche Schulprojekte (wie z.B. "Pax Arctica", die Reise von jungen Klimabotschaftern in die Arktis) bringen.
New Zealand:
Date and Time: 17th March at 1700 (local time)
Location: Jobberns Room, Level 4 Georgraphy
Presenters: Kurt Joy, a PhD candidate in Geology and Gateway Antarctica and Dr Melanie Massaro
Background:
The student presentation will be given by Kurt Joy, a PhD candidate in Geology and Gateway Antarctica. Kurt's current research interests lie in the use of cosmogenic dating techniques to unravel the retreat history of the Antarctic Ice Sheets. His presentation is entitled "Big ice or little ice?: Antarctica at the last Ice Age".
The staff presenation will be given by Dr. Melanie Massaro, who will talk about "Fluorescent yellow feathers in penguins: are they reliable indicators of condition". Melanie works as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Canterbury. While she presently leads a project on the endangered Chatham Island black robin (www.blackrobin.org.nz), she is also part of a multi-national programme to study the effects of climate variability on Adélie penguins on Ross Island, Antarctica. In her presentation, Melanie will talk about her research on fluorescent yellow feathers in penguins that she started during her PhD on yellow-eyed and Snares penguins and has now developed in a larger project involving researchers from UK (Drs. Phil Trathan and Glenn Crossin) and the US (Dr Kevin McGraw).
Norway:
Date and time: 18th March 2010, 1300 to 2100 (Local time)
Location: BFE-Faculty, Store Auditorium E-101, University of Tromso, Norway
There are a lot of great research facilties in Tromsø. As a way to help young researchers from various institutions in Tromsø to meet each other the Tromsø High North Cluster (THiNC) and the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) will be hosting the 1st Tromsø Young Researchers Symposium.
The symposium is an event in connection with the International Polar Week: What Happens at the Poles Affects Us All (15-19 March).
For more information, including programme and registration details please see the Tromso Young Polar Researchers Symposium website or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Portugal:
Event Title: Permafrost! Polar Science at 62º South - Film Projection and discussion
Event Date and Time: 16 March from 1200 to 1300 (Local time)
Event location: Institute of Geography and Territorial Planning (IGOT-UL): University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Presentor: Gonçalo Vieira, ANTECC coordinator
Organisers: ANTECC (Antarctic Environments and Climate Change) and Portuguese Committee for the International Polar Year
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . More details at www.portalpolar.pt.
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Event Title: Ambientes glaciares y periglaciares en Yukon (Canadá) y Patagónia (Argentina)
Event Date and Time: 17 March from 1200 - 1300 (Local time)
Event location: Institute of Geography and Territorial Planning (IGOT-UL): University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Presentation Name: Marc Oliva, Post-doc at ANTECC IGOT-UL
Organisers: ANTECC (Antarctic Environments and Climate Change) and Portuguese Committee for the International Polar Year
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . More details at www.portalpolar.pt
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Event Title: Physical Geography and the fieldwork in Antarctica (Livingston Island)Event Date and Time: POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Event location: Institute of Geography and Territorial Planning (IGOT-UL): University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Presentation Name: Alice Pena, Masters student in ANTECC IGOT-UL
Organisers: ANTECC (Antarctic Environments and Climate Change) and Portuguese Committee for the International Polar Year
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . More details at www.portalpolar.pt
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Event Date and Time: 19 March from 10 am
Event location: Institute of Marine Research: University of Coimbra, Coimbra, PortugalPresentation Name and Presenter: José Xavier, Marco Jorge and Alexandre Trindade
Contact name and e-mail for the coordinator: José Xavier ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Sweden:
Event Date and Time: Wednesday 17th March at 1800 (local time)
Event Location: PUNKTmedis, Medborgarplatsen's Library, Stockholm
Title: Cold Mission: Polar Scientists trace climate changes on the Arctic Ocean Floor
Matti Karlström, a teacher from
Presenters: Matti Karlström and Ludvig Löwemark.
Organisers: Swedish Polar Research Secretariat
More lectures to follow soon!
Return to main March Polar Week page
Launch a Virtual Balloon for March Polar Week
Written by Nicola MunroDRAFT PAGE
Launch a virtual balloon to show your participation in this International Polar Week: What Happens at the Poles affects us all!
Please launch a balloon and let us know what type of activity you are doing this week. Here are some suggestions for bringing activities into the classroom that focus on the global impacts of the changes in the polar regions.
Take a look at where other people are taking part in March Polar Week 2009:
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- Log in to Tagzania.com. If you don't already have a free account, sign up for one first.
- In the top right-hand corner of the page, click on "Add a new place".
- Find your exact location using the tools provided. Drag the balloon the the precise spot you want to mark on the map.
- Add a title for your balloon, and add description and web links if you like.
- Important: write ipy2010polarweek in the Tags textbox.
- Click on Save. You are done! Your balloon will now appear on the map as soon as you refresh this page in your browser.
If you have difficulty launching your balloon, email your name, location (latitude, longitude or town, country), and IPY message to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . It may be 24 hours, however, before your balloon appears.
The map is dynamically updated. As soon as a new location is tagged with "ipy2010polarweek“ it will show up the next time it is refreshed. Try adding yours, and then refreshing this page. (Only the 200 most recent are shown, but all are listed.)
Return to Main March Polar Week page.
Promotional Material for the Polar Resource Book
Written by Melissa DeetsThe Polar Resource Book - Polar Science and Global Climate: An International Resource for Education & Outreach - was created to ensure efforts catalyzed by IPY will continue to inspire educators, students, and emerging polar researchers into the next generationof young, international, polar researchers with a shared commitment to outreach and education.
If you have questions about this project, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
March Polar Week 2010: What Happens at the Poles Affects Us All
Written byWe will be celebrating March Polar Week from 15th - 19th March 2010. This week will be an opportunity for researchers, educators, early career scientists, and students from across the globe to celebrate the partnerships, outreach, and scientific outcomes IPY has enabled regionally, nationally and internationally. It will also provide the IPY community with a chance to generate excitement as they prepare for the IPY Oslo Science Conference June 8-12, 2010. We plan activities, lecture series, virtual balloon launches and more during this week so stay tuned!
Although most of us will never encounter sea ice or permafrost, see mountain glaciers, or meet a free-living penguin, we can recognize the impacts of polar changes on our global systems, on our weather and climate, and on our neighbors in many parts of the world. This Polar Week will provide you with the opportunity to explore the many changes in polar regions.
Stories from various events from across the globe have been submitted with some wonderful pictures. Please check out our Polar Week Story page to read about some inspiring Polar Week activities.
See below or click on the following link for classroom activities, virtual balloon launches, public lectures, events and links and resources!
Download the March Polar Week flyer and try some of these fun activities in your classroom. Don't forget to launch a virtual balloon to show your participation in this Polar Week! These activities are also list below.
Flyer in Different Languages:
Portuguese (Portugal)
Portuguese (Brazil)
For Educators
There are many ways you can get involved in March Polar Week. We have chosen 4 activities from the soon to be published 'Polar Science and Global Climate, an International Resource for Education and Outreach’ B. Kaiser, ed., Pearson. These activities are representative of the wide range of education and outreach activities that have resulted from the innovative science of the IPY. Try one or all of the activities and launch a virtual balloon to show your participation! Don't forget to send us your stories and photos! Please send to Nicola at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it as we would love to hear how you have celebrated March Polar Week.
- Contribute to a worldwide public lecture series: Show your polar enthusiasm by organizing a presentation about polar environments for your local Rotary, 4-H, Boy Scout/ Girl Scout troop, church group, school association, city council, university, or wherever your community gathers! View the list of March 2010 Polar Week Lectures here.
- Watch real-time web-streaming of a wide range of Arctic science from the State of the Arctic Conference (16 to 19 March 2010). Find the program and follow the presentations at http://soa.arcus.org/program.
- A Spin On Ozone: Try this activity to learn about the polar vortex and what effect it has on destruction of the ozone layer above Antarctica. Do the same processes occur in the Arctic? Thanks to Tamsin Gray for this activity.
- Penguin Reunion: Have you ever wondered how penguin parents and chicks manage to find each other in large loud colonies? Try this fun activity to see how penguins reunite in harsh Antarctic conditions. Thanks to Louise Huffman and Nancy Pearson for this activity.
- When Ice Melts...: What happens to sea level when icebergs and sea-ice melt? What happens when ice sheets and ice caps melt? Discover causes and consequences of sea level rise. Thanks to Louise Huffman, Isabelle DuFour and Sandy Zicus for this activity.
- Up The Food Chain - Pollution In The Arctic: Learn about bioaccumulation, bioconcentration, biomagnification and global distillation. Investigate how contaminants accumulate within an ecosystem. What impacts do these contaminants have on the environment and on human health in the Arctic? Thanks to Elizabeth Hodges Snyder and Nancy Nix for this activity.
If you have other ideas now on how you can build local or global partnerships among researchers, students, and community then please contact Nicola at the IPY International Programme Office ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Polar Week activities and events are based on feedback from the IPY community so get in touch with us today and help shape March Polar Week activities and ideas.
![stelias](/images/stories/stelias.jpg)
Please click on the link above and launch a virtual balloon and let us know what type of activity you are doing this week whether it is a classroom activity or a public talk. Watch the map and see where other poeple are celebrating the March Polar Week! We'd love to know what you are doing to highlight the global impacts of changes in the polar regions. Send pictures and stories to Nicola at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Stories from various events from across the globe have been submitted with wonderful pictures. Please check out our Polar Week Story page to read about some inspiring Polar Week activities.
CKLB Aboriginal radio station in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories hosts an International Polar Year Radio Programme called "The Ends of the Earth". On Monday 15th March, Ends of the Earth is going to rebroadcast highlights of a very special Polar Ocean's Day show from March 2009. During the show, the programme linked up with physicist Rebecca Batchelor in Eureka, Nunavut and Alex Gough at New Zealand's Scott Base research station in the Antarctic with students in the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and even Vancouver, BC.
Tune in to hear the kids ask amazing, complex questions about the effects of climate change on sea ice, oils spills and gravity.
The show will be posted as a podcast at http://www.ncsnwt.com/audiolibrary.html. Type Ends of the Earth in the Search Database (ignore the requests for dates) - click on Show 60, March 15.
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Portugal and Zambia
On Tuesday 16th March, Jose Xavier, a marine biologist from Portugal will talk to Lucky Musonda and his students from Lusaka, Zambia, on the importance of the Polar Regions. Having recently returned from Antarctica, Jose will discuss the challenges scientists face working in these extreme environments. Watch this space for a story and pictures from this exciting connection!
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Comparing notes!
On Friday 19th March, students from Brazil, from Arviat, Nunavut and from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will be discussing the importance of the polar regions and exchanging information on changes they have seen in their country in relation to climate change. On the call, they will also be joined by an Antarctic marine biologist and an Inuvialuit Elder.
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International Public Lecture Series - find out what's happening in your region throughout March Polar Week! A list of events can be found here, including events in Germany, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal and Sweden.
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Access Live Webstreaming from the State of the Arctic Conference!
Dates: 16-19 March 2010, starting from 1230 UTC (0830 EDT) at http://soa.arcus.org/streaming
The State of the Arctic Conference (http://soa.arcus.org), 16-19 March 2010, is an international science conference focused on understanding the arctic system, arctic change, it's connections to the Earth system, and translating research into solutions to environmental change.
The conference will be webstreamed to allow virtual participation for classrooms, the public, or others unable to attend the meeting but that are interested in learning more about arctic science, policy, peoples, and more.
Webstreaming includes real-time video and text chat which allows participants to make comments and ask questions.
Anyone is welcome to participate and webstreaming is free, however, we would appreciate it if you would register as a participant before or during the event when you get to the webstreaming site.
Conference webstreaming will be available beginning at 1230 UTC (0830 EDT) on Tuesday, 16 March at: http://soa.arcus.org/streaming. All plenary sessions will be streamed, and the full conference program is available online at: http://soa.arcus.org/program.
How to participate:
To participate fully, your computer should have the following:
1) Flash Player 10 (http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/)
2) Javascript enabled in your Internet browser
If you have any problems or need more information on webstreaming, please contact Ronnie Owens at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
The activities for the March Poalr Week will be drawn from the content of Polar Science and Global Climate: An International Resource for Education & Outreach. This text will also serve as the foundation for the Teachers' Conference that will be an intrigal part of the IPY Oslo Science Conference in June 2010.
![PRB_cover_new](/images/stories/PRB_cover_new.jpg)
In an attempt to ensure efforts catalyzed by IPY will continue to inspire educators, students, and emerging polar researchers into the next generation a group of young, international, polar researchers, along with a group of enthusiastic educators, with a shared commitment to outreach and education, have created Polar Science and Global Climate. The Book is a response to continual requests from educators and scientists wishing to raise awareness about the importance of polar science during a time of rapid planet-wide climate change. The project has received support from a vide range of actors whom are a part of the IPY community, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), as well as the University of the Arctic, the United National Environment Program (UNEP), and the organizing committee for the flagship IPY Oslo Science Conference.
Other Links and Resources:
IPY Polar Books Collective: is an International Polar Year (IPY) project featuring books that reflect IPY themes. The collection includes books on polar science, accounts of polar research, and perspectives on the future of the Arctic and Antarctic in these times of rapid change. This includes storybooks and classroom activities, collections of tales and essays, and stunning photographs of polar wildlife, landscapes and people.
Global Outlook for Ice and Snow : As part of the above collection, this is a wonderful resource, prepared by UNEP and written by over 70 scientists from across the world. Click on the link to download lots of free resources.
Polar Day activities: A list of the previous Polar Day activities looking at Sea Ice, Ice Sheets, Our Changing Earth, Land and Life, People, Research above the Poles and Polar Oceans.
IPY Chart: The famous IPY honeycomb chart, listing all endorsed IPY projects.
Ozone Layer Information (Courtesy of UNEP) Includes video clips, images and education packs for primary and secondary schools.
Polar Discovery: (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) A wonderful resource looking at the differences between the Arctic and Antarctic.
Polar Education Resources: Provides an annotated list of internet resources for polar education. Thanks to Marti Canipe for this resource.
IPY ROAM Team, Antarctica.
About IPY and International Polar Days
The International Polar Year 2007-8 is a large international and interdisciplinary coordinated research effort focused on the polar regions. It is planned and sponsored by the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organizations (WMO). An estimated 50,000 participants from more than 60 countries are involved in research as diverse as anthropology and astronomy, health and history, and genomics and glaciology. This IPY was launched in March 2007, and will continue through early 2009. During this IPY, a regular sequence of International Polar Days will raise awareness and provide information about particular and timely aspects of the polar regions. These Polar Days include press releases, contacts to experts in several languages, activities for teachers, on-line community participation, web-conferencing events, and links to researchers in the Arctic and Antarctic. The complete schedule for past International Polar Days can be found at the following link.
Photos by permission from David Carlson.