HMS Endurance is an ice breaker in the service of the British Royal Navy. Every northern autumn she heads to Antarctica to support British Antarctic bases and projects. The ship has a website dedicated to it, Visit and Learn, which tracks its travels and posts updates on its doings. Now you can also track HMS Endurance in Google Earth. An enterprising coder has used the publicly available data on the website to create a constantly updated file pinpointing the ship's current and past locations on Google's popular virtual globe. Here's how to follow along with the HMS Endurance using Google Earth: If you haven't already done so, ...

If you're a lover of the novels of Magnus Mills, then you may have read his Explorers of the New Century, in which two rival expeditions traverse distinctly polar terrain. The expeditions are vying to be the first to arrive at the "Agreed Furthest Point" (AFP), the point furthest from civilization. Imagine my surprise to find out that there actually is such a point in real life, called the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility — it's the point on the Anta...

Nobody appreciates the impact of Arctic change more than the people who live there. A unique feature of this IPY is a focus on understanding how people observe and respond to change. People are not passive observers but integral parts of the Arctic system. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC recently ended an exhibition that put a human face on the warming of the Arctic. A new web site incorporates images and information from that exhibition -- Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely. The National Snow and Ice Data Center also distributes a multimedia product, ...

The IPY is ambitious in scope and in scale. The IPY Programme Office has endorsed 99 projects with Antarctic or bipolar focus for the IPY. These projects encompass at least 350 research activities, of which 82% plan to conduct fieldwork in Antarctica. Of these activities, 105 (37%) activities are planning to leave behind physical infrastructure. To date, only two have completed any environmental impact assessments. The Antarctic Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) is conducting a project to enhance the environmental legacy of the IPY through outreach efforts to scientists, tourists and other visitors of Antarctica. We presented a poster on this subject at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, USA in December 2006. Our goal was to ra...

Press Releases Changing Earth Day Press Release or download: English Espanol Spanish Francais French ?????

Below is a list of Press officers responsible for launch events around the world. This is also available as a PDF of press_officers. Please also consult National IPY Committees for information on national events. ICSU: {encode=" This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " title="Carthage Smith"}, ICSU Paris WMO: {encode=" This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " title="Paul Garwood"}, WMO Australia: {encode=" This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " title="Sally Chambers"}, Government Antarctic Division Canada: {encode=" This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " title="Karen Edwards"}, Canadian IPY secret...

Monitoring of Development of Traditional Indigenous Land Use Areas in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Northwest Russia

Intensive oil-and-gas development occurs in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, northwestern Russia. Severe impacts occur on the environment and on the situation of the indigenous reindeer herders. The project aims at monitoring the situation and producing a GIS database, which documents oil-related and traditional activities and can be used to promote interests of traditional land users. The participation of the Association of Nenets People Yasavey will ensure that local indigenous peoples’ knowledge and viewpoints are taken care of. Local GIS expertise, administration and Russian legal expertise is attached to the project. A working group of international experts formed to evaluate attained data. (Click on map for a larger downloadable version.)

This Activity involves science and social science research that has been initiated as a result of the recent melting of glaciers and alpine ice patches. Melting of these scientific “deep freezes”, is providing unanticipated data sources that are giving us insight into past northern societies, flora/fauna, environments, and their changes through time.