In the Arctic, climate change is more than just a topic of conversation: it’s a fact of life. Arctic communities have already begun to feel the impacts of climate change, both large and small. Land erosion, melting permafrost, and flooding are forcing several Alaskan villages to consider relocation. The Arctic, like most other parts of the world, has warmed substantially over last few decades. This warming trend is projected to continue, and may lead to significant economic and cultural upheaval particularly for the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. It is anticipated that Arctic communities will be disproportio...

As predicted by all IPCC models, Arctic sea ice will most likely disappear during summers in the near future. However, it seems like this is going to happen much sooner than models predicted, as pointed out by recent observations and data reanalysis undertaken during IPY and the Damocles Integrated Project. On February 25, 2009, there will be a celebration in Geneva, Switzerland to officially close the 4th IPY that started on March 1st 2007 in Paris, France. It is not a surprise that one of the main topics of this 4th IPY was climate change, since the polar regions play a very important role in Earth's climate. This role is magnified by the combined effect of two main processes: one is due to the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trapping longwave solar radiat...

Recent observations of Arctic Ocean outflow in the Fram Strait suggest that freshwater is piling up in the Arctic Ocean. A change in wind direction could release the largest amount of freshwater through Fram Strait ever recorded. Photo: Rudi Caeyers The freshwater transport from the Arctic to lower latitudes is one of the main ways of the Arctic to interact with the global climate system. The effect of such a release of freshwater depends on the final magnitude and nature of the release. “The effects this release will have on the climate processes are in the focus of ongoing res...

Winnipeg, Canada — 18 February 2009 — The University of Manitoba-led project that gained worldwide appeal and interest will be one of the highlights of a conference in Europe Feb. 25, 2009 as International Polar Year (IPY) wraps. An IPY committee will release its State of Polar Research report at that time to summarize all the IPY studies, one of the largest of which was led by a climate change expert at the University of Manitoba. “Our data is coming in and our team is looking forward to the next phase of our research,” says Barber, David Barber, Canada Research Chair in Arctic System Science and director of the Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS) at the University of Manitoba. “IPY gave us this tremendous window into climate change. What we learned about...

Version Française March 18, 2009 – International Polar Day – “Oceans and Marine Life” “Oceans and Marine Life Polar Day”, an International Polar Year (IPY) webcast event, is taking place live on March 18, 2009, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., originating from the theatre of the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec. The webcast will include presentations about marine mammal research including satellite tagging of beluga whales, and a live link to researchers on the ice of the Beaufort Sea examining key big-picture science issues about air-surface chemical interactions in the Arctic. This event is one of several IPY education and outreach activities focussing on ocean science in the Polar Regions taking place around...

Throughout the week of March 17th - 26th, the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-8 will be celebrating its eighth polar day, this time focussing on 'Polar Oceans'. This includes physical oceanography and marine biodiversity. These Days are designed as a way for the general public, teachers, and their classes to learn more about the Polar Regions and connect directly to polar researchers through simple, fun, and accessible activities. We also encourage students to launch a virtual weather balloon once completing the activity: it's great fun watching balloons go up as classrooms around the world get involved. The new “Polar Oceans” pages can be found via the Educators section of www.ipy.org, or directly at ...

February 17, 2009 — FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The Greening of the Arctic (GOA) IPY initiative is comprised of four projects each contributing to documenting, mapping and understanding the rapid and dramatic changes to terrestrial vegetation expected across the circumpolar Arctic as a result of a changing climate. These changes will likely affect the permafrost, active layer, carbon reserves, trace-gas fluxes, hydrological systems, biodiversity, wildlife populations and the human habitability of Arctic ecosystems, says GOA principal investigator Donald “Skip” Walker, director of the Institute of Arctic Biology’s ...

Below are documents that we will be discussing and developing at the IPY/Oslo 2010 meeting for Education, Outreach, and Communication in Geneva, February 23-24th 2009.

The meeting will occur at WMO headquarters. Directions to meeting building.

Please become familiar with these documents prior to the meeting. Hard copies will not be made available,- it is your choice to bring them either as hard copies or electronically.

Logistics & Committee Business
Agenda & Participant List
EOC Committee Mandate

Oslo 2010 Conference
Overarching principles for EOC activities during OSC 2010 K Ulstein
Categorising EOC activities during OSC 2010 K Ulstein, R Malherbe, S Zicus
APECS Participation in Oslo 2010 J Baeseman
Catalogue of EOC Session proposals K Ulstein
Virtual Component L Murphy

Polar Resource Book
Vision Document - discussion paper R Salmon, B Kaiser
All content collected so far

Photo-exhibit
Poles Apart flyer

International and Interdisciplinary IPY Polar Field School June 15th – July 3rd 2009, at The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) This international IPY Field School will give an interdisciplinary introduction to environmental change in the Polar areas based upon past, present and future research being done in the Arctic during IPY. The course will offer a unique field-training experience for internationally recruited students (undergraduate/early graduate) in a high-arctic environment, further on providing them with the latest IPY research data and information to be used for interdisciplinary project work d...

FOR RELEASE: Immediate Feb. 13, 2009 CONTACT: Julie Brigham-Grette, +1- 413/545-4840, Martin Melles, ; +49 221 470 2262 ; Christian Koeberl, +43-1-4277-53110. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it UNDER A FROZEN LAKE IN SIBERIA, SECRETS OF EARTH’S ANCIENT CLIMATE CAPTURES THE HEART OF AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM OF GEOSCIENTISTS AMHERST – On this Valentine’s Day, the thoughts of some global climate change scientists are in Russia (with love of their research), and the big passion warming their hearts today are the secrets to be learned from under the ice at a frozen lake in Arctic Chukotka. That’s because the first convoy of five huge equipment containers with the dri...