My research focuses on how Sámi were represented in text and images in four natural scientists' travel and scientific journals and letter correspondence during the nineteenth century. The scientists are Göran Wahlenberg (1780-1851), Lars Levi Læstadius (1800-1861), Sven Lovén (1809-1895) and Axel Hamberg (1863-1933). They were all based in Sweden, but did field studies and field research trips in the north of Finland, the north of Norway, the north of Sweden and Spitsbergen. Altar-piece from 1958 made by Bror Hjorth in the church of Jukkasjärvi, in the municipality of Kiruna in the north of Sweden. Lars Levi Læstadiu...

The Arctic has always been a difficult place to do any extensive monitoring and data collection. Until recently, there have only been a limited number of projects that have taken any significant, long-term, and coordinated observations of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent bodies of water. This is due in part to the extensive sea ice cover that persists over Arctic waters for a good part of the year, which makes it difficult to conduct ship surveys or deploy weather buoys and moorings to measure deep water currents. Arctic ROOS (Regional Ocean...

“Preserve the Polar Regions and Glaciers”: A major philatelic event for the closing of IPY in March 2009 Last Saturday September 20t 2008, at the “Austria Center Vienna”, a few steps from the UN Headquarter in Vienna, have been officially presented the major philatelic event concerning the “International Polar Year 2007-2009”. To pay tribute to all the efforts made during this fourth “International Polar Year” 2007-2009 and to deliver a strong message aimed at the whole world, the postal administrations of around 40 countries have decided to joint to produce a common stamp issue concerning the problem of the Global Warming and featuring the slogan “Preserve the Polar Regions and Glaciers”. Started ...

A team of young investigators have started an international project to measure permafrost temperatures — with bore holes in Svalbard, northern Sweden, Norway and Finland. The increased interest in the potential impact of global warming on permafrost has prompted the International Permafrost Association (IPA) to launch an IPY project, Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP), which aims to create a globally consistent approach to monitoring permafrost. Young permafrost researchers, through the Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) are contributing to the global TSP project with a new project termed PYRN-TSP. PYRN-TSP’s objective is to empow...

From May 15-24, 2008, science centers worldwide are joining forces with local students for an international, educational event about the importance of the Polar ice caps. To fully understand how these regions are critical to helping the Earth maintain its climate through their reflection of the sun's rays (a process called albedo), youngsters will create large white spots using available material. At a scheduled time determined by optimum overpass angle, NASA satellites will pass overhead, measuring the reflectivity of these white spots and recording images of the white spots. On June 9, the World Ocean Network will participate in the Albedo Experiment as part of its World Ocean Week closing ceremony. ...

The Arctic Social Indicators (ASI) project is an IPY project and is following up on the activities of the Arctic Human Development Report (AHDR), and is initiated by the Stefansson Arctic Institute, Akureyri, Iceland, which also hosts the secretariat. ASI has been endorsed by the Arctic Council.

NOAA Probes Arctic Pollution For Global Warming Clues NOAA — April 7 — NOAA scientists are now flying through springtime Arctic pollution to find out why the region is warming - and summertime sea ice is melting - faster than predicted. Some 35 NOAA researchers are gathering with government and university colleagues in Fairbanks, Alaska, to conduct the study through April 23. Called ARCPAC (Aerosol, Radiation, and Cloud Processes affecting Arctic Climate Change), the project is a NOAA contribution to International Polar Year 2008. Ringed seals key to polar bears' fate: researchers Winnipeg Free Press — Apr...

PRESS RELEASE North3 Goes Live on the Internet From: Canadian Embassy Heads of Mission: Ralph Lysyshyn (MOSCOW) Anna Blauveldt (REYKJAVIK) Scott Fraser (HELSINKI) Fredericka Gregory (COPENHAGEN) Jillian Stirk (OSLO) and Alexandra Volkoff (STOCKHOLM) Date: 2008-01-10 Summary: To mark the International Polar Year, Canada's circumpolar embassies have launched an internet outreach project to engage northern youth. Canadian embassies in COPENHAGEN, HELSINKI, MOSCOW, OSLO, REYKJAVIK and STOCKHOLM are pleased to announce that North3 is now on the internet (www.ookpik.org/north3). These missions have collaborated...

Terrestrial ecosystems in ARctic and ANTarctic: Effects of UV Light, Liquefying ice, and Ascending temperatures. (TARANTELLA, IPY project no. 59) IPY project page TARENTELLA website Predicted changes in climate and ozone concentrations in Polar regions, make it critically important to understand how changes in key environmental factors influence Polar terrestrial ecosystems via the modification of their individual but interconnected components. Observational and experimental research on the effect of climate change and ozone depletion is affiliated to international research programmes to t...

Noora Partamies describes experiences from a substorm school in Iceland, part of IPY project 63; ICESTAR/IHY. Once again the space physics group of the University of Bergen put together a substorm school for Master and PhD students in space physics. This time the course was organised together with Finnish Meteorological Institute. Six students and two lecturers from Norway met three students and two lecturers from Finland for ten days in late November to learn, observe and discuss substorm related processes in the near Earth space. The course location was a small Fosshótel Nesbúð in Nesjavellir about 80 km east of Reykjavik, a few kilometres off the shore of the Icela...