Polar Patterns: Day, Night, and Seasons, the third issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine, provides content knowledge, lesson plans, and resources about day and night, seasons, and the aurora. Through hands-on investigations of these phenomena and content area reading, students practice identifying cause and effect relationships. The third issue includes compelling images from both the Arctic and Antarctica as well as engaging stories and high-quality content. Some of the issue's highlights are: ...

Photo courtesy of ACE CRC (photographer Simon Marsland) Ice Investigation #1: If icebergs melt, will sea level rise? Materials (per pair or team): deep dish pie or cake pan, toothpick, modelling clay, 2-3 ice cubes, water, clear plastic wrap 1. Give each team of students a pan and a lump of clay. 2. Mould the shape of a continent, pressing the edges flat against the pan. 3. Pour in water to partially cover the clay continent. 4. Put several ice cubes in the water to represent icebergs. (Note: The more ice you use, the easier it will be to see any changes in water level.) 5. Trace the water level into the clay with a toothpick or pencil. 6. Cover the pan with clear plastic wrap to prevent evaporation of t...

The IPY logo is available for download in several formats: As a GIF file, 142x142 pixels; as a GIF file, 198x198 pixels; as a ZIPped TIFF file, and as a B/W zipped EPS file. Here is a PDF version of the logo (248 KB). For a logo without the '2007-2008' text, useful for legacy applications, use this ...

Below is a list of Press officers responsible for launch events around the world. This is also available as a PDF of press_officers. Please also consult National IPY Committees for information on national events. ICSU: {encode=" This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " title="Carthage Smith"}, ICSU Paris WMO: {encode=" This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " title="Paul Garwood"}, WMO Australia: {encode=" This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " title="Sally Chambers"}, Government Antarctic Division Canada: {encode=" This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " title="Karen Edwards"}, Canadian IPY secret...

Having wintered in Antarctica, I know the call of the ice, and it still courses through my veins, but how do you explain this to someone else? How do you transfer that emotion? How can you ever truly get across the essence of just how special and precious the Antarctic is? What about Art? Has this not always been the way we express beauty and emotion? Right now, as I type, there are two great art projects developing in Antarctica. Lita Albuquerque's Stellar Axis blows my mind.. these people are crazy, but wonderful! Not only is the imagery stunning.. but I admire anyone who can get 51, yes fifty one, Antarcticans (I'm imagining scientists, cooks, mechanics, pilots...)...

ANDRILL’s website provides a wide range of information and activities from simple interactives, photos and images, videos, interviews and blogs from the field, and hands-on inquiry activities developed by the ARISE teachers, to an explanation of the science of drilling for sediments and developing a paleoclimate record from the evidence found in the sediment core samples. This site includes information on ice sheets and ice shelves, drill rig technology. Educators’ journals from the field in Antarctica explain the science in words and photos for non-technical audiences and children. Teachers can sign up to receive polar science curriculum materials and e-mail updates and link to many other worthwhile websites. Activity: On ...

The European Polar Board and Swedish Research Council recently week hosted a workshop in Tarfala, northern Sweden, focussed on developing outreach and communication efforts in Europe. It was an amazing venue, set at a research station surrounded by glaciers. The group consisted of artists, writers, press and media, photographers, publicity professionals, museum curators, scientists and IPY national representatives. On a hike up to a glacier, I asked one new colleague, Luigi Folco from the Museo Nazionale...

Argentina. Ah! Argentina. yes, I'm beginning to understand. It is quite something to meet people so proud of their country, yet sometimes so humble in their opinion of the world elsewhere. This is a great place. And every day that I have been here has held a special treat. Dave and I have been invited here to attend the ECO-POLAR 2006 conference about IPY in Ushuaia. Although I had only one night in Buenos Aires en route, I somehow found myself in a large, packed, concert hall, surrounded by crying, exclaiming, mesmerised fans of Mercedes Sosa. Elderly, and not too stable on her feet, but when she sang, solo, the voice of ten choirs erupted and the soul of the nation filled the air. Her last piece was the nationa...

I have a new job. As an acronym, it is IPYIPOEOCC. International Polar Year, International Programme Office, Education Outreach and Communication Coordinator. I could, just as feasibly, be IPYIPOECOC, which I think I prefer as it expands to IPY International POECOC, which to me sounds a lot like IPY International Peacock. Which actually isn't such a bad description. Once we get the new IPY website up and running, I might make that my blogging nickname. In a nutshell, IPY is a huge, international, collaborative, collection of simultaneous, interdisciplinary, mainly scientific, research that focusses on polar regions. Oceanography, Space Science, Anthropology, Glaciology, Atmospheric Science, Earth Science, Sociology, Policy Studies, Geology, Linguistics,.. the list goes on. ...

The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists aims to bring together young researchers and early career scientists with an interest in Polar Regions from around the world. Polar research is inherently interdisciplinary and international. Many early career scientists, although sometimes well connected within their own specialization, often do not have strong contacts with other polar experts. This network will provide a forum for polar scientists to begin international and interdisciplinary collaborations early in their careers, fostering international science which is naturally important to polar research to improve our understanding of these systems on a global level. Fo...