New record Arctic sea ice cover minimum? Climate researchers from Bremerhaven and Hamburg present new prognoses Bremerhaven/Hamburg, June 10th 2009. Climate researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and KlimaCampus of the University of Hamburg participate for the second time in an international scientific competition. Some of the most renowned climate research institutes worldwide fathom possibilities for seasonal prognoses of Arctic sea ice cover by means of different methods and climate models. The declared aim of all participants is to find the best method for reliable prognoses. The German researchers agree upon a continuing negative trend. Another critical minimum of Arctic sea ice is to be expected in the late summer of 2009. ...

Kati points out some of the first pieces of floating sea ice sighted on our cruise. Photo by Brett Longworth My name is Kati Gosnell and I’m a graduate student in the Florida State University Oceanography Department, studying chemical oceanography. Currently trucking through my second year in the department, I’m working under the guidance of Dr. William Landing. My focus is in trace metals, so I get to clean a lot of bottles. There is a lot of trace metal action going on in my little world aboard the Research Vessel Roger Revelle. For this research cruise I am helping to sample for iron...

Content: 1. IPO Update 2. Political Impacts of IPY 3. Polar Weeks 4. Upcoming meetings 5. Update from APECS 6. Update from Oslo 2010 Planning Process 7. Call for new stories and blogs for ipy.org 8. Archiving IPY materials Report no. 26, June 2009 From: IPY International Programme Office To: IPY Project Coordinators cc: IPY Community Google Groups 1. IPO Update Please join us in congratulating Nicola Munro on the birth of her daughter Isabella Rose on May 11th. Mom and daughter are both doing well and we are very excited to welcome a new polar enthusiast into the world. An interim replacement for Nicola's position will hopefully ...

Dr Eric Wolff is the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Louis Agassiz Medal awarded by the European Geosciences Union (EGU). SciencePoles recently interviewed Dr Wolff on the subject of climate cycles and the quest for million year old ice. A veteran of 6 Antarctic seasons and 2 Greenland seasons, Dr Wolff has been working for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) for over twenty years, and played a central role in the extremely important European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA). A leading expert in the study of the chemical composition of snow cover and ice cores and their use...

Documentary filmmaker Mark Terry, president of Polar Cap Productions, Inc., took a team to Antarctica last December and January to document the recent findings made by the world’s scientific community during International Polar Year. The documentary will focus on new discoveries made related to the ozone hole, the diminishing populations of penguins and other marine life, the greening of the world’s largest desert, warming temperatures, glacial melting and increased world sea level. Featuring interviews from polar scientists from Canada, the US, the UK, Ukraine and Russia, a global cross-section of research on climate change will be presented. One of these featured interviews will be with Dr. David Ainley, renowned...

9th ACUNS International Student Conference on Northern Studies and Polar Regions October 2 to 5, 2009 Yukon College - Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada Second Call for Abstracts The Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies/Association universitaire canadienne d’études nordiques (ACUNS), in partnership with Yukon College in Whitehorse, is soliciting Abstracts that encompass the following areas: The impact of sustainable development, economic activity and polar law on communities, governance and natural habitats. The use of natural, physical and social sciences to help understand the causes and effects of the changing polar climate.

Content: 1. IPO Update 2. ATCM declaration 3. Update from EGU 4. Upcoming meetings 5. Update from APECS 6. Call for stories and blogs for ipy.org 7. Archiving IPY materials 8. Toward a Polar Information Commons Report no. 25, May 2009 From: IPY International Programme Office To: IPY Project Coordinators cc: IPY Community Google Groups 1. IPO Update Please note that Nicola Munro will take maternity leave as of 1 May 2009. We will introduce the interim replacement person next month. To contact the IPO, please use This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it we will respond, albeit perhaps not as quickly. Please note that Karen ...

Issue 14 of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears online magazine is now available! In Polar Oceans, learn about two very different oceans - the Arctic and Southern Oceans - at opposite ends of the Earth. As always, our magazine features science and literacy content knowledge for teachers, as well as a variety of other professional resources. This month, learn about ...

FSU IPY Cruise: Meet FSU Oceanography Post-Doctoral Associate Angela “Angie” Milne On deck of R/V Roger Revelle, against the backdrop of a tabular iceberg, Angie Milne, who suffers in Florida’s heat, enjoys Nature’s finest air conditioning. Photo by Charlene Grall “Hi, I’m Angie Milne, visiting FSU as a post-doctoral associate with Professor Bill Landing.” Angie’s an ocean-connected gal. Growing up in seaside Blackpool, England, Angie says, “I ‘packed in’ a job in the service field of insurance and pensions for the allure of exotic travel. This kindled my environmental interest...

Exactly one year ago today, The University of Alaska Fairbanks began a 5 month expedition to Arctic Alaska to study glacier response to climate change and their influence on the local ecosystems, as part of our contribution to IPY. The major accomplishments of that effort include: Extracting nearly 500 m of ice core from three holes in the glacier, Bringing 170 m of this back to civilization to study paleoclimate in this region, Installing thermistor strings to measure ice temperature throughout each of the three core holes, Conducted shallow coring to investigate the processes of internal accumulation on the glacier, Measured stage and discharge of the outlet stream throughout the summer,...