NEW! International Polar Year (IPY) Canada Award for Excellence in Northern Science Journalism Deadline: April 17, 2009 Prize: $2,500 Entry form: http://www.sciencewriters.ca/cswa_inac_award.html Competitors must be Canadian citizens or residents of Canada. Submissions must be original material published during the 2008 calendar year in English or French. The article must refer to or include reference to research conducted in Canada as part of International Polar Year (IPY) and should raise awareness and generate interest n Canada’s contribution to Arctic research. Submissions must b...

The GeoNorth 2009 conference, 4-6 August in Fairbanks, Alaska, is a unique opportunity to discuss issues and present current research related to geospatial activities in the arctic environment. This conference provides an opportunity to present results associated with the International Polar Year (IPY), environment and climate change monitoring and geographic analysis, geospatial standards and their application, and the construction of virtual collaborative networks including Arctic mapping and the virtual Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure (ASDI). The conference is coordinated by the USGS, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the I...

Call for Abstracts (Poster Session) - NCP / AMAP Symposium on Human Health and Arctic Environmental Contaminants Abstracts Due: May 1, 2009 The Northern Contaminants Program (NCP) and Arctic Monitoring Assessment Program (AMAP) are hosting a joint symposium in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada from 10-12 June 2009. The results of the two assessments on human health effects of environmental contaminants in the Arctic over the past 6 years will be released at this meeting. This symposium will provide a forum for health professionals, Indigenous and local people, senior scientists, policy-makers, and young scientists to contribute to the future directions of the NCP and AMAP. There will also be a poster session plus participants will be given the opportu...

Content: 1. Polar Oceans Weeks - March 2009 2. Changes in the IPO 3. Changes to www.ipy.org 4. Polar plans and assessments from ISAC and SCAR 5. Upcoming conferences and meetings 6. Update from APECS 7. Archiving IPY materials 8. Data, data, data - monthly reminder Report no. 24, April 2009 From: IPY International Programme Office To: IPY Project Coordinators cc: IPY Community Google Groups 1. Polar Oceans Weeks - March 2009 In March 2009, we focussed on Polar Oceans as the eighth IPY Polar Day. Our usual 'Day' turned into more than 2 weeks of activities, starting from 14th March and continuing to the end of March. Events and activities took ...

GATINEAU, February 26, 2009 – Environment Canada is leading an expedition of 10 Canadian scientists onto the frozen Arctic Ocean to learn more about how pollutants move from the air, to the ice and ultimately into the northern ecosystem. The research is taking place near Barrow, Alaska, as part of one of the last major expeditions during the International Polar Year (IPY). The Canadian component of this international expedition, OASIS-Canada (Ocean-Atmosphere-Sea Ice-Snowpack), will focus on mercury, a chemical affecting the health of northern residents. It will also focus on ground-level ozone, which is both a smog pollutant and a greenhouse gas. Were trying to find out how these chemicals get there, how the Arctic tolerates their intrusion and w...

The International Polar Year science and education community warmly encourages you to join us from the 14th March to celebrate our IPY Polar Oceans Fortnight! Activities and events will continue throughout these last 2 weeks of March, focusing on physical oceanography, interface interactions, ocean biodiversity, and historical records in sea floor sediments to name a few! Local events have been stimulated to occur around the world including in Italy, Canada, Malaysia, Scotland, France, Germany, Brazil, USA, and Mexico. Events start with 'Our Dynamic Earth', Edinburgh, UK which is a hands-on public engagement with Drs Eleanor Bell and Arlene Rowan, researchers from the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) who will be displaying Arctic research footage from recent expeditions at...

Content: 1. IPY Celebrations 2. Summary from meetings in Geneva - JC, EOC, APECS 3. Polar Oceans Week(s): end of March 4. Expression of Intent Database is now Closed 5. Future of IPO, and thanks 6. Data Reminder Report no. 23, March 2009 From: IPY International Programme Office To: IPY Project Coordinators cc: IPY Community Google Groups 1. IPY Celebrations IPY celebrations have been recently planned around the world, including in Japan, the Canadian Arctic, USA, and across Europe including Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and Norway. In addition, about 200 IPY participants and guests joined the International Celebrations in Geneva, Switzerland, hosted by ...

BLAST! is astrophysics Indiana Jones style, a risky adventure story that takes you on an exciting and enlightening journey around the world and across the Universe to launch a revolutionary new telescope on a NASA high-altitude balloon in an effort to understand the origins or our Universe. Five time Emmy winner Paul Devlin follows the story of his brother, Mark Devlin PhD, as he leads a tenacious team of scientists hoping to figure out how all the galaxies formed by launching a revolutionary new telescope under a NASA high-altitude balloon. Their adventure takes them from Arctic Sweden to Inuit polar bear country in Canada, where catastrophic failure forces the team to try all over again on the desolate ice in Antarctica. No less than the understanding of the...

Geoff Green, Executive Director of Students on Ice Expeditions writes: We leave tomorrow on our next SOI Antarctic Expedition! This expedition is special for many reasons! It is our first University credit course program. We have 71 students participating from 12 countries. Lots of interesting people, including two young Inuit youth from Canada's northernmost community Grise Fiord. They will be participating in an IPY project during our expedition to compare and contrast the Polar Regions and the impacts of climate change. Thanks to the support of Canada's IPY Federal Program, we are making a one-hour documentary about their journey and their connection to the late Dr. Fritz Koerner. We also have students and staff from across Canada, ...

Geoff Green, Executive Director of Students on Ice Expeditions writes: We leave tomorrow on our next SOI Antarctic Expedition! This expedition is special for many reasons! It is our first University credit course program. We have 71 students participating from 12 countries. Lots of interesting people, including two young Inuit youth from Canada's northernmost community Grise Fiord. They will be participating in an IPY project during our expedition to compare and contrast the Polar Regions and the impacts of climate change. Thanks to the support of Canada's IPY Federal Program, we are making a one-hour documentary about their journey and their connection to the late Dr. Fritz Koerner. We also have students and staff from across Canada, ...