Content:

1. IPO Update
2. Political Impacts of IPY
3. Polar Weeks
4. Upcoming meetings
5. Update from APECS
6. Update from Oslo 2010 Planning Process
7. Call for new stories and blogs for www.ipy.org
8. Archiving IPY materials


Report no. 26, June 2009
From: IPY International Programme Office
To: IPY Project Coordinators
cc: IPY Community Google Groups

1. IPO Update

Please join us in congratulating Nicola Munro on the birth of her daughter Isabella Rose on May 11th. Mom and daughter are both doing well and we are very excited to welcome a new polar enthusiast into the world. An interim replacement for Nicola's position will hopefully join the IPO team this month. To contact the IPO, please use This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; we will respond as quickly as we can. Please note that Karen Edwards is the point of contact for EOC activities: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

2. Political Impacts of IPY

On-going climate change negotiations already engage IPY researchers and draw on IPY results. News stories appear almost daily about territorial claims, oil and gas resources, or fisheries management, in both the Arctic and the Antarctic. These relentless developments, and the associated need for information, arise now, irrespective of IPY's 'readiness' to respond - the Nordic Prime Ministers and the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate have already called for IPY information.

In the Arctic, one of IPY's most important mechanisms for political impact resides within the SWIPA partnership - the on-going Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost of the Arctic assessment involving IASC, WCRP-CliC and IPY. Initiated by the Arctic Council and led by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, SWIPA intends to assess current scientific information on the impacts of climate change on the ice, snow, and permafrost characteristics of the Arctic. In general, SWIPA undertakes a rigorous review but with a very ambitious time schedule, in large part to meet exactly the kinds of urgent requests described above. In particular, SWIPA intends to report its Greenland ice sheet component very soon, in time for impact on and relevance to the Copenhagen climate change negotions in December 2009. For more information about SWIPA, please see http://www.amap.no/swipa/.

3. Polar Weeks

As the IPY research program moves toward analysis and results and as IPY participants plan for a large international conference in Oslo in June 2010, the IPO plans two Polar Weeks, in October 2009 and March 2010, with the theme: What Happens at the Poles Affects Us All.

These Polar Weeks have four goals:
• To expand the IPY global networks of motivated and enthused educators;
• To raise the visibility of polar issues and polar organizations;
• To enhance the development of polar science educational materials; and
• To develop long-term education and outreach partnerships for polar science.

In October (October 5th through 9th) the IPY Polar Week will focus on recruiting new individual and institutional partners, will stimulate increased engagement by polar partners, and will highlight classroom activities developed for the new IPY Polar Resource Book. In March 2010 the Polar Week will focus on local community-building activities, will connect new and existing partners in science outreach, and will stimulate global enthusiasm for June on-line and on-site events. Both polar weeks will feature fresh accessible science, live web events, fun classroom activities, virtual balloon launches and spontaneous global inter-connections - activities that have made IPY Polar Days effective and enjoyable.

For more information please visit the IPY website at: http://ipy.arcticportal.org/index.php?option=com_k2&id=1113&view=item

4. Upcoming meetings

July 11 to 16, 2009: 14th International Congress on Circumpolar Health - Securing the IPY Legacy: From Research to Action, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Registration deadline: Monday, 15 June 2009. For further information, please go to: http://www.icch2009.com

October 2 to 5, 2009: Communities of Change - Building an IPY Legacy, 9th ACUNS International Student Conference on Northern Studies and Polar Regions, Yukon College - Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. See www.communitiesofchange.ca/

September 29 - October 1: International IPY Data Management meeting in Ottawa, Ontario (CANADA) to allow data managers / coordinators to report and assess what has been achieved over the last two years and to discuss challenges and opportunities regarding the stewardship of data collected during the International Polar Year. For more information see: http://ipy.arcticportal.org/index.php?option=com_k2&id=2218&view=item or contact Scott Tomlinson ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Mark Parsons ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

October 26-28: IPY EOC Committee will meet in Canada to review and stimulate progress on the new Polar Resource Book, to plan for the March Polar Week and Oslo 2010, and to develop long-term plans and partnerships for polar EOC activities. Contact Karen Edwards ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Dave Carlson ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) for more details.

5. Update from APECS

APECS had a successful meeting at the American Meteorology and Oceanography Conference in Madison, Wisconsin last month - sponsored by SCAR and IASC with 35 participants from 7 countries.

Mark your calendars for:
• Activities at the SCAR Biology Symposium the end of July in Japan
• Career Panel at the MOCA-09 Conference in Montreal in July
• IPY International Career Development Symposium in Victoria, BC, Canada the 4-7 December 2009

APECS is also setting up an online literature discussion website that is open to all Polar Researchers to talk about recent journal publications as well as popular news articles. If you are interested in sponsoring or participating in this project, let APECS know - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The June APECS newsletter will be available on 5 June and can be found at www.apecs.is

6. Update from Oslo 2010 Planning Process

The IPY Education, Outreach and Communication committee has produced a list of sessions for inclusion within Theme 6 of the Oslo 2010 Science Conference: Education and Outreach as a Primary Partner in IPY Success. The broad session ideas within that Theme should provide an opportunity to highlight the variety and quality of IPY EOC activities. We hope to attract abstracts and participation from scientists and educators, journalists and film producers, exhibit and expedition organizers, and the full range of IPY partners!

We anticipate many on-site and on-line activities for teachers and students during the Oslo Conference. Please mark the dates (7 to 11 June 2010) in your diaries and calendars. Follow www.ipy.org and http://www.ipy-osc.no/ for more information.

7. Call for new stories and blogs for www.ipy.org

On www.ipy.org, we continue to track on-going IPY research activities and to feature stories on past, current and future polar issues. If you have IPY research or outreach program underway, or have an IPY story to share, please contact Dave Carlson ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Karen Edwards ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

8. Archiving materials

Please consider saving IPY documents, media, presentations, videos, emails, and other digital materials. The IPO with the Canadian IPY Legacy Office at the University of Alberta and Scott Polar Research Institute have developed a system for storing all these materials. The system supports item-by-item or batch uploads or submissions with an easy catalog process; it now needs contributions! We hope that many individuals and institutions will find this process useful and helpful! To contribute, or for more information, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

More details at: