Nicola Munro, the volunteer coordinator, communications centre, finance officer, and all-around administrator for the IPY International Programme Office, travels south in the next few days to work as the administrator at the Halley Research Station of the British Antarctic Survey. We in the IPO regard this as a fabulous opportunity for Nicola and as a good connection for IPY - we hope Nicola will post some of her stories on this blog. We thank BAS, Kathy Salisbury, and Cynan Ellis-Evans for helping the IPO support this adventure and survive Nicola’s absence.

(If you like Nicola’s anorak in the picture, you can find more information about the product and about the substantial discount price for IPY participants. (Order form))

If you follow the www.ipy.org site or television media in several countries, you know that many research teams have worked in Antarctica for the past month or more. Many additional people travel south at this time, by ship and air, heading for the research bases on the continent or pushing their research ships south as the sea ice recedes. In a live video connection last week from the French-Italian Concordia Station at Dome C to the Research Ministry in Rome, we heard the winter crew express their strong interest in the impending arrival of new colleagues (and fresh vegetables).

Antarctic research programmes require enormous logistic support and a high level of international cooperation and assistance. All the countries share resources without hesitation to ensure effective operations and the safety of all researchers. You have seen Antarctic drilling programmes (ANDRILL) and sea ice programmes (SIPEX) on our site in the past few weeks. We hope to bring you information from the traverses and the ships over the next few weeks. We will also do an ice sheet education and outreach day on Thursday, 13 December, and we welcome your participation!