Content:

1. IPY Data letters to National Committees
2. Publications, Reports, Special Issues
3. IPY Celebrations, February 2009
4. IPY at AGU Conference, December 2008
5. Current Antarctic Season
6. Images
7. IPY Closure over Holiday Season


Report no. 20, December 2008
From: IPY International Programme Office
To: IPY Project Coordinators
cc: IPY Community Google Groups


1. IPY Data Management letters
The IPY Joint Committee co-chairs have sent Data Management letters to 10 IPY National Committees (Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK). These letters encourage those countries that have national IPY data coordination efforts, perhaps stimulate those that do not, and generally seek the assistance of the National Committees in ensuring that IPY Projects led from their countries submit urgent metadata information to IPYDIS or to a national data system linked to IPYDIS. In all cases we work toward a goal of identification of all IPY data by 1 March 2009. If you as a Coordinator of an IPY Project receive an inquiry from your National IPY Committee, now you know why.

If you believe a letter would have a positive effect in your country, please contact Dave Carlson This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .


2. Publications, Reports, Special Issues
We know that many IPY Projects and several IPY National Committees begin to produce documents: prominent publications, collections of publications in special issues of polar journals, pamphlets and books, etc. For each IPY publication, authors should provide the IPY Publications Database with (i) one or more electronic links (DOI, URL) to the publication, or (ii) the actual publication. Further details, including where to submit contributions, are provided on the Reporting Your Publications page at http://www.nisc.com/ipy. We also like to see: stories on www.IPY.org (such as the nice story with pictures about late season methane release this week); hard or digital copies of project or national reports, particularly those not submitted as scientific publications; notice of special issues devoted to IPY Projects. Eventually, the IPO will ask all IPY Projects and probably all National Committees for summary materials. These reports and special issues will help fulfill that request.

Submit your information to any member of the IPO staff.


3. IPY Celebrations, February 2009
On February 25th, 2009, the International Polar Year 2007-8 will be celebrating these two years of IPY research in conjunction with a report on the "State of Polar Research" being released by the IPY Joint Committee. We hope that the February Celebrations will draw wide international media and political interest in polar research. In light of this, we encourage project leads to consider promoting your IPY research during the weeks leading up to this event. The IPO is very happy to discuss details of media campaigns and materials further, either directly with project leads or associated media contacts.

Webpages dedicated to February events and media releases will be created on www.IPY.org shortly. This will be an opportunity for all IPY partners to promote your projects, share your plans, and advertise your availability for interviews. For further information about activities occurring at this time, or to discuss promotion of your project, please contact Rhian Salmon This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .


4. IPY at AGU Conference, December 2008
IPY will once again have an exhibit space at AGU, shared with the NSF Office of Polar Programmes. Please feel free to use the booth as a meeting point, and to leave any information you would like distributed relevant to your project.

There is also an enormous range of polar sessions, workshops, and meetings occurring at AGU this year. Here are some to look out for:

Monday 15
AM: Cryosphere IPY Poster Session (C11C)
PM: Union IPY Poster Session (U13B); Union Rapid Arctic Change Poster Session (U13C)

Tuesday 16
AM: 0900: AGU press conference for Union Sessions U23F and U42B, later that afternoon; 1000 - 1200 IPY EOC meeting - contact Rhian ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), all welcome
PM: Union IPY Presentations (U23F); followed by Union Rapid Arctic Change Presentations (U24B); Nye Lecture (M. Albert) at 1700

Wednesday 17
AM: Cryosphere IPY Presentations (C31G); Education IPY EOC Presentations (E31B, E32A);
PM: Education IPY EOC Posters (E33A)

Thursday 18
PM: APECS meeting (1200 to 1400) - contact Jen Baeseman ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Thursday eve (8pm onwards): IPY reception/celebration IPY at the Exploratorium: all IPY partners welcome

5. Current Antarctic Season
The 2008-9 Antarctic Season has already started with many IPY activities in the Southern Ocean, with three major traverses (China, Japan-Sweden, Norway-US), with airborne exploration of the Gamburtsev range, with continued deployment of seismic and GPS stations as part of POLENET, and more.

Whatever you are doing in Antarctica this season, please consider sharing your experiences through stories and blogs on www.IPY.org. (Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if interested.)

6. Images
The IPY IPO is building an IPY memories photo gallery on www.IPY.org. Please join in if you would like your photos included they dont need to be of professional quality or of particular content, just images that reflect your experience of IPY. We are especially looking for images of IPY participants, whether at meetings, in the office or lab, or in the field.

For details of the submission process, please visit
http://ipy.arcticportal.org/index.php?option=com_k2&id=1957&view=item

7. IPY Closure over Holiday Season
The IPY IPO will be out of the office from December 15th, attending AGU in San Francisco. The office will then be closed until January 5th. For immediate inquiries, please contact David Carlson or Rhian Salmon directly by phone (numbers in email signatures).