A number of Discussion Groups have developed during IPY that are useful ways for members of the IPY Community to interact, discuss, and share information. To sign up, please visit the following links. Open discussion space and announcements, especially regarding outreach and education. IPY Teachers Discussion Group IPY Data and Information Services Discussion Forum ...

SciencePoles interviewed Meredith Hooper to mark the publication of her new book: 'The Ferocious Summer: Palmer's Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica'. A trustee of the IPF-UK and recipient of the US National Science Foundation Antarctica Service Medal, Meredith Hooper's writing ranges from award-wining non-fiction books for all ages to academic articles and highly acclaimed fiction and information titles for children. During the last fourteen years, she has been invited as a writer on United States and Australian Antarctic programmes and has specialised in writing about the history, geology and wildlife of Antarctica.I...

The German Youth Steering Committee was founded in 2006 to approach a young public about the current issues of polar research. Our website lists our activities. The members of the committee aim at bringing together an online network of young polar researchers, teachers and high school students. The committee assists teachers and students to integrate polar research in natural and social sciences and the arts with the curriculum. The focus on German is a decisive aspect of our project. Commonly available resources are compiled in English and are of limited use. At the moment, we coordinate presentations and discussions at high schools. We also make available brief (password-protected) presentations and articles for furt...

I'm somewhere over Baffin Bay in a noisy but not very cramped LC-130 of New York Air National Guard (NYANG). Up at 4am this morning, running around as usual in order to stop and wait. and wait and wait. The formalities at the Scotia Airbase were very much more relaxed than those at Christchurch. No Extreme Weather Gear to roast in in the middle of summer and no barked commands like I am used to on the flights to Antarctica. We still got a cramped plane though. Instead of the ever-so-nice C17 Globemasters we take from "Cheech" to the ice, we got onto a ski-equipped Hercules with web seating to fly from Scotia to "Sondie" as the guard call it, or Kanger as pretty much everyone else seems to call it. We were told we were going to stop on the way there, and ...

The 2008 convention of the Canadian Science Writers' Association will be held at: Yukon College Whitehorse, Yukon May 24-26, 2008 The convention will focus on the International Polar Year and on science in the North. Besides two days' of panels and presentations, the event will also include a large display of posters about northern science and IPY projects. In addition, a one-day field trip will offer convention participants a chance to meet and talk with scientists and First Nations outside Whitehorse. If you are interested in attending the convention or submitting a poster, or for more information, please contact: Claire Eamer Whitehorse CSWA Convention Organizing Committee claire-eamer@sf...

The German Youth Steering Committee was founded in 2006 to approach a young public about current issues relevant to polar research. Our website lists our activities. We are looking for young polar researchers who are either currently writing their diploma thesis or their PhD thesis, and who are already engaged in a post-doc project. We would like to post your short profile on our website to visualise for teachers and students alike the diversity of polar research in Germany. The committee aims to bring together an online network of young polar researchers, teachers and high school students. It assists teachers and students with the integration of polar research into the curricula of the natural sciences, social science...

How much volcanic and earthquake activity is there on the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel Ridge? Scientists have little idea because they have been unable to record earthquakes in this remote region. Large earthquakes on the ridge can be detected by seismometers far away in the global seismic network, but they don’t occur frequently enough to get sufficient data. Smaller earthquakes, magnitude 2 or less, occur several times a day, but they are too small to be “heard” by distant seismic stations. While Oden is in the neighborhood, Vera Schlindwein from the Alfred-Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany is installing seismometers on ice floes to record some of those mini-earthquakes over several days. She will retrieve them before we leave the area. Even this bit of data will allow...

Exploratorium Webcast with the South Pole: Celebrating the International Polar Year 10:30 PM PDT, March 30, 2007 http://www.exploratorium.edu/poles In a special live Webcast, educators at the Exploratorium will connect with scientists and engineers at the South Pole to kick off the International Polar Year, 2007-9. We'll talk about the history of IPY, including the IGY of 1957-8 which established the first permanent research station at the South Pole. We'll also check in with scientists spending the winter in the coldest, darkest science location in the world. They'll give updates on the IceCube neutrino telescope and the brand-new 10-meter South Pol...

The National Centre for Antarctic & Ocean Research (NCAOR), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India & WWF-India organised a public lecture at National Centre for Antarctic & Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa & Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi on March 1 2007 to celebrate the launch of IPY. Further information about the New Delhi launch can be found on the WWF-India website and the NCAOR website. As part of the IPY celebrations, the WWF-India with NCAOR, Ministry of Earth Sciences will be undertaking a series of outreach activities with schools as well as a series of public lectures t...

The Frozen Five expedition team will be attempting to make a complete crossing of the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard from March to mid-June 2007. Our expedition team composes 5 young geoscientists (glaciology, geology, geophysics, biology, meteorology), aged 22-29 years, all with relevant Arctic experience from studying at least one year at the University of Svalbard. The actual expedition starts on March 29 at 12:45 in Longyearbyen, the "capital" of Svalbard. The planned return date is June 14, to the same location. The route, measuring some 1,000 km, will be completed on skis using our own power. All our gear will be carried on special sledges, known as pulks. We will all pull our own sledge(s), weighing about 100 kg each. The route is divided into 5 stages, with a food...