UCAA (Upper-ocean characteristics between Africa and Antarctica) During the 26th Indian Antarctic Expedition (IAE), data collection campaign for the above project was launched. Surface meteorological parameters from ship's AWS and density data using XCTD for the upper 1000m of the water column were collected along the ship route: Mauritius-Durban-India Bay (onward journey) and India Bay- Prydz Bay- Mauritius (return journey) on board Emerald Sea. These data are being processed and results are planned to be published by end of 2007.

The recently observed changes in the Arctic are caused by interaction of multiple factors and already significantly impact people and ecosystems. For example, changes in biodiversity, land use, increased natural resource exploitation, and marine transportation are closely interlinked with social, cultural and economic activities. Significant pressure on the environment caused by human activities on all spatial scales will lead to further, probably larger, changes in the future. Thus, understanding the interaction of the human and environmental domains in the Arctic and their interplay with globe processes are the major focal points of the ISAC study.

DAMOCLES (Developing Arctic Modeling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies) is an integrated ice-atmosphere-ocean monitoring and forecasting system designed for observing, understanding and quantifying climate changes in the Arctic. DAMOCLES is specifically concerned with the potential for a significantly reduced sea ice cover, and the impacts this might have on the environment and on human activities, both regionally and globally.

The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the Earth’s three most rapidly warming regions: most of the glaciers there are in retreat and large ice shelves have broken up. This project investigates the impact of these changes on the plants and animals that live on the land, the shore and coastal sea around the Antarctic Peninsula. Organisms are facing a barrage of complex effects including warming, decreased ice and snow cover, increased iceberg grounding, sedimentation and freshening. A wide range of apparatus and techniques will be used from remote operated vehicles (ROV) and simple underwater light meters to satellite imagery and counting microscopic life. ClicOPEN scientists from 15 countries will study changes in the environments and organisms around a number of retreating glaciers of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Most of Antarctica's very rich biodiversity lives nowhere else in the world and we know little about how it will responding to such exceptional and unprecedented warming.

The Circumpolar Flaw Lead (CFL) System Study is a major international effort under Canadian leadership that aims at understanding how changes in the physical system affect biological processes, towards a better understanding of the potential effects of climate change. The CFL project is part of the PAN-AME cluster.

The project HERMES is designed to gain new insights into the biodiversity, structure, function and dynamics of ecosystems along Europe's deep-ocean margin to underpin the future development of a comprehensive European Ocean and Seas Integrated Governance Policy. It represents the first major attempt to understand European deep-water ecosystems and their environment in an integrated way (geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere of a pan-European range). HERMES aims to compare and contrast selected environments around the European margin from high northern latitudes (focus of this IPY proposal) to the Black Sea.

Sea level rise will be responsible for one of the most profound and costly impacts of climate change on human society, so gathering accurate data on sea levels worldwide is vitally important. Although sea level is monitored at hundreds of sites through the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and World Meteorological Organization's Global Sea Level Observing System, there are large gaps in data from the Arctic and Antarctic because measuring sea level along polar coastlines is a huge technical challenge. By enhancing existing sea level gauges in the Antarctic, and installing new, high-tech devices in the Arctic that will provide high-frequency, real time data, this project will provide the missing piece of the jigsaw for scientists monitoring sea level rise across the globe. The same sea level data can also be used to monitor changes in the circulation of the high-latitude oceans, which in turn may provide clues as to why sea level is rising.

Involving a team of scientists from 11 countries, this project will measure the temperature, saltiness and flow speed of the water from continental shelf and slope, including under ice environments. This is something scientists know very little about, but the data are crucial for developing better global climate models. The few recent measurements we have suggest that the water close to Antarctica is getting fresher (less salty). But where is this extra fresh water coming from? Only by measuring – especially during winter – the properties of the water and how fast it is flowing will we be able to understand the processes that are going on, and make sure that these are put into our climate models correctly. There has never been a concerted effort to make measurements on the Antarctic continental shelf and slope during the winter. IPY is enabling everyone to work together to make this happen, by leaving instruments on the sea bed and in the water for a year, even when the ice is covering the sea surface above them. Each nation is going to deploy instruments so that a circumpolar coverage can be obtained for the first time. As well gathering data during IPY, some of SASSI's instruments will be left in place after IPY, providing an important legacy for future research.