On Thursday, March 15th, Whitehorse's Beringia Interpretive Centre played host to a celebration of the launch of the book Polaris: A Celebration of Polar Science. This science fiction anthology causes the speculation and imagination of science fiction to explore polar science itself. Where might it take us? What might certain discoveries mean? And at what cost do we take the frozen poles for granted? The IPY Youth Steering Committee worked with editor Julie E. Czerneda to arrange for an international writing contest open to students from around the world. The winning story was published in the Polaris. The book has a strong Yukon connection. Yukoners Amber Church and Tyler Kuhn of the International IPY Youth Steering Committee wrote a special introduction to the boo...

While carrying out oceanographic work in the Laptev Sea (above Siberia) in 1937, the Soviet icebreaking steamers Sedov, Sadko, and Malygin were trapped in the ice for the winter. In August 1938, the icebreaker Yermak got through to the ships (at that point drifting at latitude 83°N) and helped the Sadko and Malygin out of the ice to open sea. Unfortunately, the Sedov's steering mechanism was seriously damaged, with her rudder broken in two, as well as the sternpost supporting it. It was decided that she would be converted into a drifting research platform and a crew of 1...

To: ICSU/WMO IPY Project Leaders REF: The SCAR/IASC International Scientific Organizing Committee request input from ICSU/WMO IPY science program leaders regarding the content of the science program. From 8-11 July, 2008; the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) will jointly sponsor the third Open Science Conference in St. Petersburg, Russia. The SCAR Open Science Conference is rapidly becoming a marquee event for the presentation and exchange of the latest developments in polar science. The previous two Conferences included on average 1000 participants and ~600 oral and poster presentations. Numerous workshops, meetings, planning efforts, and events occur in the margins of the meetings....

Take a once in the life opportunity to volunteer in the Summer polar school in the heart of the Russian Arctic! The International Polar Year International Polar school aims to rejuvenate people, to promote and support IPY initiatives and projects with a special focus on youth, tourism, education and outreach. It welcomes active participation of youth, educators, researchers. The school is an annual event which usually brings together more than 150 participants. Date: 24-31 July, 2007 Application deadline: May, 15 Place: Salekhard, Yamal-Nenets district, Russia Event name: IPY International Polar School Qualifications: Must be at least 21 years old by summer 2007 Previous leadership experience

Celebrate the start of IPY by climbing the snow-covered mountains of the Polar Urals in the heart of the Russian Arctic! Date: 11-15 April, 2007 Application deadline: March, 9 Place: Salekhard, Yamal-Nenets district, Russia Event: IPY mountain climbing Activities: sport, cooking, tourist video and music contests, skiing, mountain climbing Who: students, scientists, educators, press, anyone involved in IPY or wishing to do so Danger: None Fun: loads! Age: 14-18 18-30 30- any Countries: any Funding: apply early and get full funding!* *What is covered by the travel grant: 1. Letter of invitation from Russian Ministry of Foreign affairs 2. Fl...

On March 1 2007, students at schools around the world marked the advent of International Polar year by conducting an ice experiment. They then told the IPY community and the world by pinning a virtual balloon onto a web-based map showing exactly where they were. It proved to be quite a success, with hundreds of schools contributing so far. IPY enthusiasts also joined in, turning the map into a riot of red balloons. See the whole map here. For technical reasons, browsers don't like it if you show too many balloons at one time, so only the most recent 200 balloons are shown. However, you can see all contributed posts directly by browsing the directory from ...

The International Polar Year has begun. What a week! With US and UK launches on the Monday stirring up media attention, followed by an event in Portugal on the Wednesday and over 20 more national events on the day itself, March 1st 2007, we definitely hit the news! While traveling to Paris with Nicola, to prepare for the international launch, the phone didn't stop ringing, both sides of the Channel Tunnel and even on the Paris subway system! I was contacted by journalists as diverse as New Zealand Radio, an In-flight magazine, BBC World Service, Vatican Radio, Al Jazeera English, an Italian science magazine, Chinese TV networks, and Scientific American to name a few. During the International Ceremony itself, my phone kept shaking, and afterwards, on a tour of Paris, I saw ...

Thank-you to everyone who was involved with launch events, who launched virtual balloons, who launched real balloons (see the Swedish launch web-cast!), those behind the scenes, and those on stage. IPY Celebrations around the world on March 1st, and throughout this week, have been a huge success. You can watch those you missed on the Arctic Portal, or still launch your virtual balloon now, and throughout IPY, to recognise the importance of the polar regions to the whole planet. Here is a map showing balloons that have been launched around the world (you can zoom in on where you live or zoom out to see the world map!): ...

IPY launch events around the world can be viewed live at the Arctic Portal. We also encourage everyone to launch a virtual balloon and show how many people around the world care about the polar regions and are interested in IPY. Everyone is welcome to join in, young or old, polar or tropical! The Official Opening Ceremony takes place in Paris at 11am local time. That is UTC 10:00, or, 1am in Anchorage, 5am in New York, 7am in Santiago, 3.30pm in Calcutta, 7pm in Tokyo, and 9pm in Sydney. You can watch it live or after the event on the web at the Arctic Portal, where you will also find webcasts of other national launch events from around th...

Watch IPY launch events on-line at the Arctic Portal and elsewhere. Throughout this week, over twenty nations around the world are celebrating the launch of the International Polar Year 2007-2008. New Zealand, Indigenous People, Argentina, and the Ukraine have already held extremely successful events. This week, Monday will see Press and Participants gathering in London, Strasbourg, and Washington DC, and Portugal will be holding their kick-off event on Wednesday. Thursday is the big day, with the Global Launch occurring in Paris at 1000 UTC (1100 local Central European Time) and national celebrations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Greenland, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Norway, ...