Contents:

1. Reminder: Joint Committee Assessment
2. Reminder: AGU
3. IPY Science Days
4. Young and Early Career Polar Researchers
5. Polar Ambassadors
6. Observational Legacies

From: IPY International Programme Office
To: IPY Project Coordinators
cc: IPY Community Google Groups


1. Reminder: Joint Committee Assessment

As described in our September 2007 report, we solicit input from IPY Project Coordinators and from IPY National Committees for the IPY Joint Committee meeting later this month. The Joint Committee will assess the overall IPY programme as it exists, and welcomes comment on any aspects of IPY, particularly on actions or changes that could help individuals or nations advance their scientific programmes and meet their coordination goals. We received several reports from National Committees but only a few from Project Coordinators. We need your input in the next few days, ideally before 10 October 2007.


2. Reminder - American Geophysical Union Meeting, December 2007

As mentioned in the September report, we will again establish an IPY exhibit at AGU, with support from the USA NSF Office of Polar Programs. We solicit exhibit materials from your Projects and we invite you, your colleagues, or your students to join us for an hour or two to staff the exhibit. We will ask you to send paper materials (we strongly prefer digital materials!) directly to AGU in San Francisco by 3 December 2007 - we will provide the shipping address in the November report.


3. IPY Science Days

We in the IPO extend our thanks to all who participated in the Sea Ice day on September 21st. With quick response and much help, we assembled an impressive collection of contacts, project information, stories for press, and activities for educators. We received extremely positive feedback, especially from teachers in non-polar and 'polar' nations who used this opportunity to introduce polar topics into their classrooms.

Although we know that a few of you had your day's work disrupted by calls (it only happens once very 50 years!), we feel that the press, educators, and the public enjoyed our list of Sea Ice experts because they could learn the names and faces of people behind the research. On future IPY Science Days we plan to profile IPY researchers more generally, including a photo, a very short biography, and optional contact details.

The next IPY Science Day will focus on Ice Sheets and occur during the second week of December 2007. We have identified more than 20 IPY Projects with research activities related to ice sheets and we know that several nations will cooperate on Antarctic traverses at that time. To get involved in this next IPY Science Day, especially if you have or know of an expedition or activity related to Ice Sheets, please contact .

As we reported earlier, we plan to conduct IPY Science Days approximately every three months. For each Science Day, we need at least 2 major IPY Projects as partners, and we try to promote 20 or more related projects. For the five remaining IPY Science Days (after December), we consider the following topics:

Neighbors in the North
Polar Lands (June 2008?)
Changing Earth
Above the Poles
Polar Oceans (March 2009?)

We have already talked with potential partners for some of these days. We need partner Projects for every Science Day, and we encourage and appreciate your ideas, comments, and involvement.


4. Young, and Early Career, Polar Researchers

At a meeting in Stockholm a few days ago, more than 20 representatives of the IPY International Youth Steering Committee (IYSC) and Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS), from 13 countries, met to discuss their future organisational structure and activities. They decided to merge under the common name ‘APECS'.

The new organization reflects the needs and aspirations of current and potential polar researchers in career stages between undergraduate level and early career faculty positions. They start with extensive national and disciplinary networks, with substantial energy, and with strong motivation - to shape the future of polar research. We will see reports and plans very soon.

We thank the sponsors and national institutions who helped participants from several countries join this first-ever meeting - that broad participation helped make this meeting a success.

If you would like to learn more about APECS, or become involved more actively either as a mentor or participant, please write to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit the APECS website.


5. IPY Polar Ambassadors

We receive enquiries every day from teachers, artists, students, and scientists wanting materials to use as they give presentations about IPY. To meet this need, we would like to make short video recordings of many IPY participants, talking about your motivations and your projects, for historical, scientific, education, and outreach purposes. Students will use these video clips as part of their school projects. They, along with teachers and various other ‘Polar Ambassadors’, will use the video clips as part of presentations to their classmates, classes and communities. We believe that many IPY participants will also find the materials useful for giving IPY overview presentations, and as introductions to your own project.

We have an easy format - we need only 5 or 6 slides summarizing your project, and a narration. We will do the rest! To become involved with this project, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .


6. Observational Legacies

As for previous Polar Years, this IPY will inevitably leave legacies, in how we handle and share data, in our recruitment of and support for future polar researchers, and, perhaps, in the overall conduct of science. One obvious legacy will derive from the sustained polar observational systems that will support future polar research.

Appropriately, several groups develop plans for these future systems. Cooperation among space agencies has already produced new capabilities and new data access for polar researchers. A group met last week to consider the elements of a sustainable southern ocean observing system. A larger group meets in Stockholm in mid November for the first of a series of meetings intended to implement a sustained Arctic observing network - for more information about the Arctic meeting, see www.arcticobserving.org or contact Anders Clarhall ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

We face technical and social challenges in all these meetings. Very naturally, after years of limited funding and, in some cases, neglect, our favourite individual observing systems need attention and resources. Our technical challenge lies in ensuring that our observing systems gain new efficient and effective capabilities. Our social challenge involves setting aside our advocacy of individual systems to develop the best plans for sustainable systems that can serve a broad range of future polar science. We believe that IPY will leave a legacy of new technologies. We hope that we can meet the more difficult challenges of identifying and collaborating on sustainable integrated systems.