ICED IPY investigates the effects of the increase of CO2 on marine ecosystems

European marine scientists describe their involvement in the International Polar Year

To mark the end of the 4th International Polar Year's official research period on the 28th of February 2009, and in parallel to the publication of "The State of Polar Research", SciencePoles interviewed Dr David Carlson, Director of the IPY International Programme Office (IPO) about the IPY, its achievements, its limitations and its legacies. What would the science community and the general public have missed out on if thi...

NISSE: A partial success The REXUS 6 rocket carrying the NISSE experiment was launched from Esrange Space Centre, Kiruna, Sweden on Thursday 12 Mar, 2009 at 10:08 UT. Before eight in the morning the helicopter scanned the impact area for human beings. The wind balloons were launched for the trajectory calculation of the rocket. The sirens started and the radio silence was announced. To keep the excitement high, the EISCAT UHF radar did not start properly at first. But an hour before the launch everything was ready, and by using the calculated nominal trajectory file the EISCAT UHF was redirected, pointing at the expected water release position. It was a textbook launch (See YouTube: ...

GATINEAU, February 26, 2009 – Environment Canada is leading an expedition of 10 Canadian scientists onto the frozen Arctic Ocean to learn more about how pollutants move from the air, to the ice and ultimately into the northern ecosystem. The research is taking place near Barrow, Alaska, as part of one of the last major expeditions during the International Polar Year (IPY). The Canadian component of this international expedition, OASIS-Canada (Ocean-Atmosphere-Sea Ice-Snowpack), will focus on mercury, a chemical affecting the health of northern residents. It will also focus on ground-level ozone, which is both a smog pollutant and a greenhouse gas. Were trying to find out how these chemicals get there, how the Arctic tolerates their intrusion and w...

The International Polar Year science and education community warmly encourages you to join us from the 14th March to celebrate our IPY Polar Oceans Fortnight! Activities and events will continue throughout these last 2 weeks of March, focusing on physical oceanography, interface interactions, ocean biodiversity, and historical records in sea floor sediments to name a few! Local events have been stimulated to occur around the world including in Italy, Canada, Malaysia, Scotland, France, Germany, Brazil, USA, and Mexico. Events start with 'Our Dynamic Earth', Edinburgh, UK which is a hands-on public engagement with Drs Eleanor Bell and Arlene Rowan, researchers from the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) who will be displaying Arctic research footage from recent expeditions at...

Content: 1. IPY Celebrations 2. Summary from meetings in Geneva - JC, EOC, APECS 3. Polar Oceans Week(s): end of March 4. Expression of Intent Database is now Closed 5. Future of IPO, and thanks 6. Data Reminder Report no. 23, March 2009 From: IPY International Programme Office To: IPY Project Coordinators cc: IPY Community Google Groups 1. IPY Celebrations IPY celebrations have been recently planned around the world, including in Japan, the Canadian Arctic, USA, and across Europe including Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and Norway. In addition, about 200 IPY participants and guests joined the International Celebrations in Geneva, Switzerland, hosted by ...

Picture: International Polar Foundation / R. Robert On February 15th, 2009, the Brussels-based International Polar Foundation (IPF) officially inaugurated the new Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Station, the very first Antarctic research station ever designed and built to run entirely on renewable solar and wind energies. The new "zero emission" Belgian research station is the only research platform completed during the fourth International Pola...

The NISSE launch campaign The launch campaign of the REXUS 5/6 rockets started on 2 Mar and will last until 15 Mar, 2009. According to the latest time schedule, REXUS 6 with NISSE onboard will be launched next Tuesday 10 Mar, and the other rocket REXUS 5 on Thursday 12 Mar. But this may also turn to be vice versa. The NISSE team has been busy with last preparations of the experiment for the launch. Vidar Hølland and Gard Mellemstrand has been concentrating on the payload assembly and Timo Pitkänen has taken care of the preparations for the EISCAT radar measurements. The fourth member of the team, Gisela Baumann, arrived at Esrange today and will stay for the rest of the campaign. Follow the NISSE Countdown blog at ...

A message from the ITASC IPY 0809 expedition February 25 — We are in the middle of the Southern Ocean at 51 degrees south, tracking the Greenwich Meridian still six days out of Cape Town, and unfortunately we cannot join you in Geneva tonight.   We are with you in spirit though and celebrating the IPY tonight with a toast onboard the South African Antarctic research vessel SA Agulhas. On behalf of ITASC expedition leader Ntsikelelo Ntshingila, crew members Erika Blumenfeld, Lotter Kock and myself, and all the scientists and engineers who joined us at the ICEPAC IPY Base during its insta...