In this SciencePoles interview, Dr. Bell provides an overview of what is currently known about the Gamburtsev Mountains in East Antarctica, and of how the research is unfolding. As a geophysicist specialised in Antarctic glacial and sub-glacial environments, Dr. Robin Bell has led seven major research expeditions to Antarctica and is one of the original instigators of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-08. She is Director of the ADVANCE program at the ...

Session announcement and Call for Abstracts American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 15-19 December 2008, San Francisco, California Papers are invited for Session A35: Cooperative Studies Incorporating Measurements from Land-Based Atmospheric Arctic Observatories The main mission of the International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA) is coordination of atmospheric data collection and observatories. The effort supports the International Polar Year (IPY, www.ipy.org), but is intended to establish a continuing network consortium into the foreseeable future. Data of interest to the IASOA consortium include measurements of standard meteorology, greenhouse gases, atmospheric radiation, clouds, pollutants, chemistry, aeros...

Session announcement and Call for Abstracts American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 15-19 December 2008, San Francisco, California Papers are invited for Session A35: Cooperative Studies Incorporating Measurements from Land-Based Atmospheric Arctic Observatories The main mission of the International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere (IASOA) is coordination of atmospheric data collection and observatories. The effort supports the International Polar Year (IPY, www.ipy.org), but is intended to establish a continuing network consortium into the foreseeable future. Data of interest to the IASOA consortium include measurements of standard meteorology, greenhouse gases, atmospheric radiation, clouds, pollutants, chemistry, aeros...

This year's TUNZA Children's conference took place in Stavanger, Norway from 16th 20th June, 2008 focusing on the theme Creating Change. It brought together 1000 people from 105 countries, including 700 children between the ages of 10 and 14 and 300 chaperones. The children gave presentations and produced some wonderful posters on climate change and energy issues. It was a truly inspiring event and one which IPY was privileged to be a part of. The week started off really well with a well...

One of the key legacies of the International Polar Year 2007-2009 is the development of a cadre of early career researchers working together to tackle the pressing scientific problems of today and tomorrow. In order to further catalyze this formation, the US National Science Foundation funded the IPY New Generation Polar Research (NGPR) Symposium, which was held May 4-11, 2008, in Colorado Springs, USA. The symposium, which is also part of the “University of the Arctic: Providing Higher Education and Outreach Programs for the International Polar Year” (IPY Project #189), provided a venue where 35 early career polar scientists, currently working in 7 different countries, (a) learned from each other and from 12 veteran polar scientists, some of whom took part in the 1957...

The Arctic Institute of North America has released an updated version a classic monograph that describes the expeditions of the First International Polar Year (IPY) of 1882-1883. The book by Institute research associate Bill Barr, The Expeditions of the First International Polar Year 1882-83, was first published in 1985 and focuses on the 14 expeditions that made up the first IPY. The book is available from the Arctic Institute for Cd$28.95 plus shipping and handling. To order a copy, fill out and mail or fax the order form to the Arctic Institute of North America. Order form link: http://www.arctic.ucalgary.ca...

A team of young investigators have started an international project to measure permafrost temperatures — with bore holes in Svalbard, northern Sweden, Norway and Finland. The increased interest in the potential impact of global warming on permafrost has prompted the International Permafrost Association (IPA) to launch an IPY project, Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP), which aims to create a globally consistent approach to monitoring permafrost. Young permafrost researchers, through the Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) are contributing to the global TSP project with a new project termed PYRN-TSP. PYRN-TSP’s objective is to empow...

Polar Patterns: Day, Night, and Seasons, the third issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine, provides content knowledge, lesson plans, and resources about day and night, seasons, and the aurora. Through hands-on investigations of these phenomena and content area reading, students practice identifying cause and effect relationships. The third issue includes compelling images from both the Arctic and Antarctica as well as engaging stories and high-quality content. Some of the issue's highlights are: ...

A feature in Plentymag this week features the IPY Project SIKU: Sea Ice Knowledge and Use. "SIKU (the term, appropriately, is also the most common Eskimo/Inuit word for sea ice) is a consortium of projects involving research in more than 20 communities in Alaska, Canada, Russia, and Greenland. While researchers in each country are pursuing their own agendas and using different approaches, they are united under one common theme: recording indigenous knowledge of sea ice. Unlike many traditional research projects, which rely on data and measurements obtained directly by scientists, SIKU researchers are interested in the personal perspectives and observations of Arctic peop...

Uncovering mysteries at Earth’s poles Plenty — April 7 — One hundred and twenty-five years ago, Austrian explorer Karl Weyprecht called on scientists around the world to study the Earth's polar regions. Only through such concerted effort, believed Weyprecht, could problems of meteorology and geophysics be solved. Weyprecht's enterprise has since become the International Polar Year, held every 50 years and involving thousands of scientists from more than 60 countries. The latest kicked off in March 2007 and will last until March 2009-yes, it's two years long; keep reading to learn why-and it's now climate change that demands global solutions, with Antarctica and the Arctic hit first...