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.

Recent changes in surface elevation and discharge speed in outlet glacier systems along the margins of the Greenland Ice Sheet have provided examples of dramatic localized shifts in the balance of ice discharge, surface melt, and accumulation. These rapid changes are in sharp contrast to relatively slow variations in surface elevation in the interior, which have been tied to accumulation and firn compaction variations on a decadal timescale. The challenge of documenting and attempting to understand the processes involved has motivated a large collection of proposed research projects aimed at this problem. These range from expansions of ongoing efforts to new projects, and from individual investigators to consortia from a number of nations. They utilize a range of observational and modeling techniques and exploit evolving capabilities in atmospheric modeling, remote sensing for measurement of ice motion and surface conditions, and surface-based and aircraft-based measurement techniques.

As key components of freshwater (lake and river), estuarine and nearshore marine aquatic environments of the circumpolar north, Arctic char and related fishes of the genus Salvelinus are fundamental to the lifestyles and well-being of northerners as the basis for extensive fisheries conducted for household food (i.e., domestic and subsistence), commercial and sport purposes. Chars contribute significantly to household and wage economies, and social and cultural elements of northern life. Chars are also key integrators and indicators of the health of northern aquatic ecosystems, many aspects of which are at significant risk from increased climate variability and change. However, human adaptive responses are hampered by a lack of vital information regarding char thermal ecology, biodiversity and its functional significance in northern ecosystems, mercury and other pollutant interactions, and how these may respond to climate change.