Professor Alfredo Soto Ortega of the Universidad de Magallanes and his students kicked off Polar Week in a cultural credit class by exploring the history of Antarctica. The university will be hosting activities all week. For more information on their events please visit the APECS worldwide lecture series website.

Live Event Information:

 

Topic: "How We Know What We Know: Looking at Climate Change Through Polar Science"

 

Friday 16 October 2009 - 9 am Alaska Daylight Time (7 am HST, 10 am PDT, 11 pm MDT, 12 pm CDT, 1 pm EDT)

 

Join us for this special live event celebrating Earth Science Week, with polar researchers and teachers Julie Brigham-Grette, Ross Powell, and Tim Martin.

The scientific conference of Arctic Frontiers 2010 (27-29 January 2010 in Tromsø, Norway) consists of three parallel sessions. The topic for Session II will be social science and health research relating to the economy, self-governance and well-being in Arctic communities.  Sessions I and III will be on the effects of ongoing climatic changes on sea-ice and marine biodiversity.

cc: IPY Community Google Groups

Scientists say they have evidence that the powerful greenhouse gas methane is escaping from the Arctic sea-bed.

Researchers say this could be evidence of a predicted positive feedback effect of climate change.

As temperatures rise, the sea-bed grows warmer and frozen water crystals in the sediment break down, allowing methane trapped inside them to escape.

The research team found that more than 250 plumes of methane bubbles are rising from the sea-bed off Norway.

The joint British and German research team detected the bubbles using a type of sonar normally used to search for shoals of fish. Once detected, the bubbles were sampled and tested for methane at a range of depths.

For the full story, please go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8205864.stm.

The organizers of the State of the Arctic Conference announce the launch of the conference website, which features an online community suggestions form.

The State of the Arctic Conference will be held 16-19 March 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Miami in Miami, Florida. The main goal of the conference is to review our understanding of the arctic system in a time of human-induced, rapid environmental change. It will provide an open international forum for discussion of future research directions aimed toward a better understanding of the arctic system and its trajectory.

The Organizing Committee would like your ideas on conference themes, topics, structure, or other suggestions relevant to the conference program. This is not a formal call for sessions, but rather an opportunity for the broader arctic community to provide initial input to the conference planning. A formal call for abstracts will be forthcoming.