International Team Collects New Information about Ice Sheet Growth and Collapse With a Long-range Aircraft in East Antarctica Our international team will conduct an airborne survey over the central East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), which has been nearly inaccessible until now. We will use a long-range aircraft to fly from a US base deep into the interior of the EAIS over a two-year period. The team will use radar and other airborne instruments to image the EAIS’ internal features and the bedrock below the ice. The observations will allow our team to study ice sheet formation and decay, as well as subglacial lakes, subglacial geology, and changes in ice accumulation through time.

The Bering Sea is one of the world’s most productive marine environments. More than $1.5 billion worth of fish is caught there every year. The region is now undergoing alarming environmental changes, including climate change. The local indigenous peoples led by the Aleut International Association, have put together a monitoring project to assess the nature and extent of change. Rather than relying on high-tech remote sensing, the observations will mostly be done by indigenous peoples themselves, their intimate knowledge of their local areas providing them with a finely tuned ability to detect changes, however subtle. Observations will include the shift of southern species north, changes in distribution and abundance of fish and other temperature-sensitive species, changes in ice patterns, and weather observations.

Dense water formation in Polar areas; Impact on global ocean circulation and climate This international team of oceanographers will embark on expeditions to the Polar Oceans with ice going vessels to measure ocean temperature, salinity and currents, ice formation and distribution. They will employ remote sensing as well as bottom anchored instrument moorings to feed global numerical models. The project will try to estimate the impact of dense water formation in the polar regions on the global ocean circulation and climate.

Understanding environmental change in national parks and protected areas of the Beringian Arctic This proposal outlines a suite of integrated activities to be implemented by the US National Park Service, cooperating agencies, institutions, and individuals during International Polar Year 2007-2009. These projects are focused on the Beringian Arctic, including Alaska and adjacent areas of Chukotka and the Yukon Territory. Resources of several existing NPS programs, and possibly other programs to be identified, will be coordinated and focused to accomplish the projects described herein. Implementation planning is underway for several projects described above, including Vital Signs monitoring, science conferences in Alaska and Chukotka, and one focused journal issue. Several additional projects will be selected through competitive review of funding proposals beginning in the fall of 2005 (one to two years prior to project implementation).

Northern Material Culture through International Polar Year Collections, Then and Now: In the Footsteps of Murdoch and Turner This project is a modern version of the ethnological collecting by the 1st International Polar Year (IPY) expeditions to Pt. Barrow, Alaska and Fort Chimo in Quebec. It will involve Northern community residents, including students. Current material culture will be documented with digital photograpy and gathering of information on how the items are made and used. Educators can incorporate this into broader educational activities, which will expose students to the Arctic, Northern peoples and Arctic research history.

The International Arctic Systems for Observing the Atmosphere Program is coordinating intensive measurements of the Arctic Atmosphere in Canada, Russia, Norway, Finland, Sweden and the U.S. The focus of the program is to combine information so that it can be determined WHY and not just HOW the atmosphere is affecting Arctic climate change). The activities and partnerships initiated during the IPY are expected to continue for decades.

The University of the Arctic (UArctic) will provide and coordinate IPY higher education and outreach activities and services. The UArctic IPY office is located at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Our aim is to provide opportunities for Arctic indigenous people and northern residents to be active IPY participants through UArctic education programs and IPY research projects. During IPY, UArctic’s objective is to increase the participation of indigenous people and northern residents of all ages in education and research, with the ultimate, longer-term goal of increasing their representation in the ranks of scholars who have attained the Ph.D.

"What does it mean for an bird to be sick? How does this affect not only survival but also reproduction. In short, the aim of the project is: The role of parasites and pathogens in determining the size and distribution of arctic and antarctic bird populations. 1. Study geographic variation in infections, parasite loads, viral prevalence, immune system functioning 2. Study the effects of infections, parasites, viruses and immune response on fitness parameters and energetics of individually marked birds 3. Link the observed trends to pathogen-host (or parasite-host) interaction, dynamics of the pool of pathogens and pollution levels. 4. Modelling future scenario’s of geographic variation and relating the findings to climate change, nature management and human health."

Informing, educating and involving the next generation is vital to the success of IPY. The YSC is committed to maximizing the benefit of IPY for the world’s youth through youth involvement and youth-focused education and outreach information. Some YSC projects include an international youth conference (2008), an educational website (on-going) and a joint expedition series to both poles (2007-2008).

Human Health in Arctic Regions The AHHI is an Arctic Council IPY (2007-2008) project that will focus on the health disparities that still exist among residents of Arctic communities when compared to communities in more temporate regions, and the human health challenges that are posed by climate change, environmental pollution, and sustainable development in Arctic regions. Research will be conducted in the US Arctic (Alaska), northern Canada, Greenland/Denmark, Iceland, Norway Finland, Sweden and northern Regions of the Russian Federation.