Even though climate change is dramatically affecting the biosphere, our understanding of its effects on biological communities is poor. The Southern Ocean is an ideal natural laboratory to the impact of regional and global climate change because of the sensitive interactions between temperature, ice extent and species. Measuring variations in penguin populations can tell us a great deal about climate change, but could tell us even more if we understood the mechanisms the underlie the dynamics of penguin colonies. Taking advantage the major advances that have been made in microelectronics recently, this project will fit penguins with hugely powerful yet tiny state-of-the-art transponders and data recorders. The project will provide the first complete global and unified picture of penguin population dynamics, uncovering the processes that drive their numbers and the effects climate change is having on them.

ESSAR addresses how climate variability and change affects the marine ecosystems of the polar (Subarctic and Arctic) seas and their sustainability. To provide accurate projections on the impact of climate warming on these ecosystems requires improved knowledge of its components and their linkages. Because of the complexity of the interactions, accurate predictions of what will happen to individual species requires knowledge on key life-history traits and of what will happen to the ecosystem as a whole, as species do not function separately from their ecosystem. ESSAR, therefore, encompasses retrospective and field studies on physics, plankton, benthos, fish and shellfish, marine mammals, sea birds and humans. The field studies will be carried out in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans during 2007-2008. The data gathered will be used, together with bio-physical models, to make quantifiable predictions of the effects of both climate variability and long-term climate change on arctic polar marine ecosystems.

Collecting oceanographic data from ice-filled polar waters is costly and logistically challenging. Rather than relying solely on human scientists, this project uses beluga whales and four seal species as ocean explorers to collect information about the conductivity (salinity), temperature and depth (CTD) of Arctic and Antarctic waters. By fitting state-of-the-art CTD tags on dozens of these deep-diving marine mammals, scientists will be able to gather a rich new data set that will extend our knowledge of the world's oceans as well as the top predators that live in them. MEOP will provide a unique source of fundamental physical and biological data from the polar oceans. Its unique approach will compliment efforts in many other IPY projects and will leave a legacy of useful biological and ocean data along with new approaches to understanding the interaction between marine predators and their ecosystem.

The development of a polar-based photobioreactor for the production of bioactive compounds by indigenous micro-algae and cyanobacteria.

Polar bears are threatened by global warming and long-range transported pollution. The aim of the BearHealth project is a circumpolar monitoring and assessment of various health parameters including temporal and spatial trends of transarctic organic contaminants. Furthermore, temporal and annual distribution of polar bears in relation to sea ice extension will be conducted. The work is facilitated via the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group and 30 years of scientific networking