This short video features Perry Pungowiyi from the Native Village of Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. It's his second time on board the HEALY where he was invited by Chief Scientist, Jackie Grebmeier, to observe and participate in some of the research that was being done during the cruise, including the NOAA/National Marine Mammal Laboratory study of Arctic ice seals and observations of spectacled eiders. He wants viewers to appreciate that he is speaking here as an individual, and that his comments should not be taken as the views and opinions of the people of St. Lawrence Island.

Chief scientist Jackie Grebmeier's May-June cruise aboard the USCGC HEALY looked at climate change and its impact on the local marine ecosystem, from the smallest creatures to those farther up the food chain. Also on board, and leading off our report, Perry Pungowiyi, a Siberian Yupik who's been noticing changes in the abundance of sea-ice, and the timing of its appearance and disappearance. See a seal census, with white-clad NOAA researchers (for camouflage) jumping from ice floe to ice floe. Hear from the researchers how a changing environment impacts all the inhabitants of the narrow ocean that stretches between Alaska and Siberia, till now one of the most productive seas in the world, and a major fishery on which the USA depends. Meet the inhabitants of this aquatic "neighborhood", as Jackie describes it, and learn what makes it tick... and change.

For nearly 35 years George Divoky has been returning to Cooper Island, a small, low strip of desolate land close to Barrow, AK. Initially he went there simply to study Black Guillemots, but as - over the decades - he tracked the dates of their arrival and the new chicks hatching, he realized he was documenting how climate change was affecting both an organism and an ecosystem. As summer ice retreated, food for the chicks was harder and harder to find - and polar bears began to roam the beach.

Deciphering the secrets of past climate hidden in ice cores depends on the technical skills and ingenuity under pressure of drillers from ICDS, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Ice Coring and Drilling Services. In this high-spirited video, ICDS staffers Lou, Mike and Jay explain why they enjoy the life of drillers, braving extreme cold in some of the remotest regions of the globe. Mike says drilling requires both science and art, and why he keeps his hand on the cable even when it's minus 20! Lou talks about feeling connected to the equipment in order to keep it running properly, and Jay explains the satisfaction of having fun amidst beautiful scenery, and helping obtain good data for the researchers.

In May and June 2007, Mary Albert (CRREL) and Jeff Severinghaus (Scripps) led a team of 9 researchers and 3 drillers in a 3-week project to drill down through nearly 125 meters of "firn" and ice close to NSF's Summit Station, Greenland. "Firn" is multi-year snow before it's transformed into solid ice through the pressure of layer upon layer of new snow each successive year. Understanding the physical structure of the firn and the gases trapped in it, is essential to properly interpreting the ice core record, and understanding what cores reveal about Earth's past climate. As Jeff Severinghaus says, with a more accurate understanding of snow, firn and ice you can take climate data from ice cores "to the bank" - such as the fact that sometimes Earth's climate can jump 18 degrees F in just a decade - and make more accurate predictions of the future.

One can hardly imagine a more interesting time for Arctic sea ice, or a more challenging time if one wishes to predict the minimal extent of the sea ice at the end of this year's melting season (the Arctic melting season generally ends around 20 September). Sea ice in 2007 reached a minimum of 4.2 million square kilometres on 21 September, an extent 40% below the average for the past 28 years and so low that it surprised all observers and called into question many of the assumptions we might use to estimate 2008 conditions. We now understand that an unusual weather pattern of warm winds and clear skies played a large role in 2007 melting, and we know that we started 2008 with an unusually large amount of new (first year) ice. An international group of researchers has, f...

Call for Researcher Applications Host a PolarTREC Teacher (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) Researcher Application Deadline: Monday, 8 September 2008 Teacher application information will follow shortly. For further information, please contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 907-474-1600 or visit the PolarTREC website: http://www.polartrec.com -------------------- APPLY NOW TO PARTICIPATE AS A 2009/2010 POLARTREC RESEARCHER PolarTREC is currently accepting applications from researchers for the third year of teacher research experiences. Researchers are invited to submit an application to host a PolarTREC teacher in the Arctic o...

The next International Polar Day is in ONE MONTH: on September 24th we will be focussing on People and the Polar Regions. There are many ways you can get involved.. please consider some of the following, share with your networks, and let us know if you have any feedback or further ideas. Links to the following planned activities can be found from the sidebar at http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/people 1. Launch a Virtual Balloon: show the involvement of your class or school in this event and watch balloons flying around the world. Launching instructions are available in several languages or email your loc...

Bremerhaven, August 19th 2008. German research vessel Polarstern, operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association, transits the Northwest Passage for the first time. Polarstern left the port of Reykjavik on August 12th, sailed around Greenland on a southern course and is located right now at the beginning of the Northwest Passage. Its destination is the East Siberian Sea where geoscientific measurements at the junction between the Mendeleev Ridge and the East Siberian Shelf are at the focus of the participants of this expedition. The measurements striven for in the framework of the International Polar Year shall help to understand how the undersea ridges and basins were built. This expedition takes the researchers in 68 days around the No...

I'll let the pictures tell today's story — and the Students On Ice journals that I have just been proof-reading prior to transmission. It was a great day for me, but an amazing day for most of them. The highlight without a doubt was the Arctic Swim, and the phenomenal weather. Then, in the evening, hearing the students telling their ideas for activities they want to get involved in when they get home. But as I said, the pictures tell a thousand words. ...