Thawing permafrost could release large amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere causing even more global warming !

This initiative was launched because there is considerable concern and increased awareness both within the international scientific community and the general public about the effects that global warming could have on frozen grounds in Arctic regions (Main Photo). A significant proportion of this permafrost would start to thaw out over the coming decades, with a potential release of large amounts of greenhouse gases (both carbon dioxide and the much more potent methane) to the atmosphere from previously frozen soil organic matter that will start to decompose. This is a so-called positive feedback within the Earth System, as climate warming results in permafrost thawing that causes a further increase of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere resulting in even more warming. We are not dealing only with a gradual process related to progressive thawing of the ground with depth over time. Also more dramatic events like ground subsidence due to melting of buried ice bodies (Photo 2) and lateral erosion along the edges of thaw lakes (Photo 3) would accelerate the release of greenhouse gases.

STUDENTS ON ICE is an award-winning organization offering unique learning expeditions to the Antarctic and the Arctic. Our mandate is to provide students from around the world with inspiring educational opportunities at the ends of our earth, and in doing so, help them foster a new understanding and respect for our planet.

The Students on Ice - International Polar Year Youth Expeditions series has been endorsed by the IPY Joint Committee as a prominent and valued component of the IPY program. These special IPY-themed voyages to the Arctic and Antarctic offer once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to over 500 youth to explore the Polar regions!

These unique educational expeditions are designed for international high school and university youth. Participants will travel together with teams of polar scientists, experts and educators. The ice-strengthened ship-based expeditions will be unparalleled platforms for Polar and Environmental Education and outreach for the International Polar Year.

Doing science in the polar regions depends on humans performing under the most extreme environmental conditions. By collecting data for a new epidemiological database of health events in Antarctica, this 18-nation project will improve our understanding of how individuals and groups interact in confined environments, and how human physiology adapts to such extreme conditions. The results should help improve the health of polar scientists, help deliver better healthcare in other remote areas of the world, and help space scientists understand the likely effects of isolation on astronauts during long-duration missions.

The proposed activity aims at establishing a bipolar network to obtain data needed to quantify properties of aerosols at high latitudes, including seasonal background concentrations by measurements of aerosol optical depth (AOD), spectral characterizations, and the evolutionary patterns of the natural and anthropogenic processes that perturb the aerosol cycles. An effort to quantify direct and indirect climate forcing by polar aerosols will be made through a set of closure experiments using observations in conjunction with model calculation and satellite data.

ESSAR addresses how climate variability and change affects the marine ecosystems of the polar (Subarctic and Arctic) seas and their sustainability. To provide accurate projections on the impact of climate warming on these ecosystems requires improved knowledge of its components and their linkages. Because of the complexity of the interactions, accurate predictions of what will happen to individual species requires knowledge on key life-history traits and of what will happen to the ecosystem as a whole, as species do not function separately from their ecosystem. ESSAR, therefore, encompasses retrospective and field studies on physics, plankton, benthos, fish and shellfish, marine mammals, sea birds and humans. The field studies will be carried out in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans during 2007-2008. The data gathered will be used, together with bio-physical models, to make quantifiable predictions of the effects of both climate variability and long-term climate change on arctic polar marine ecosystems.

East Antarctica is the least explored part of the Antarctic continent. Its massive thickness of layered ice contains the Earth's oldest natural archive of past atmospheric composition and climate. Even subtle recent changes in climate over this large area will be significant for affecting sea level change. The TASTE-IDEA program will investigate present and past accumulation rate and climate variability, survey the inner and coastal unexplored part of the continent, obtain a chronological linkage between the ice core drilling sites in East Antarctica, and obtain geophysical and glaciological surveys required to identify the location of the longest coherent climate record in Antarctic ice and information about subglacial lakes. TASTE-IDEA is an inherently interdisciplinary endeavor, involving glaciology, atmospheric chemistry, meteorology, climate, paleoclimatology, geophysics, geology, remote sensing and a variety of other disciplines. The program provides the opportunity to explore unknown parts of our planet, to help in answering crucial questions related to sea level, present-past and future climate variability, and cryosphere-atmosphere interactions.

Indigenous youth will inherit large portions of the north and the responsibility for protecting its natural resources. They will choose future livelihoods in a world where economic, political and environmental decisions occur in multinational global forums. This project will develop future environmental decision-makers and indigenous community leaders who understand and appreciate conservation issues and the roles of science, indigenous knowledge and politics in conservation decision-making.""

CASO aims to enhance understanding of the role of the Southern Ocean in past, present and future climate, including the overturning circulation of the Southern Ocean, water mass transformation, atmospheric variability, ocean-cryosphere interactions, physical-biogeochemical-ecological linkages, and teleconnections between polar and lower latitudes. CASO will deliver improved climate predictions, from models that incorporate a better understanding of southern polar processes; proof of concept of a viable, cost-effective, sustained observing system for the southern polar regions; and provide a baseline for the assessment of future change.

The extraordinarily rich and productive Southern Ocean has been commercially exploited for more than 200 years. As the region is increasingly affected by climate change, understanding the impact of these changes on marine ecosystems is vital if we are ensure that these waters are exploited sustainably. Drawing together fisheries scientists, oceanographers and acoustic engineers from 14 nations, this study will provide a detailed and integrated view of large marine ecosystems – the environment, food supply and main predators. It will deepen our understanding of the impact of human activity on Antarctic ecosystems, and help develop precise and effective management strategies.