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.

Scientists from Europe, North America and New Zealand will investigate how the presence of snow and ice affects the chemistry of air above the polar ice caps. In the Arctic and Antarctic, sunlight triggers the release of chemicals from surface snow into the lower atmosphere. Salty sea ice surfaces host some very interesting chemistry (involving bromine compounds) during the polar spring when the sun comes back. These processes affect air quality and the interpretation of past climate using ice cores. If the amount of sea ice changes the chemical content of the lowest parts of the polar atmosphere will also change.

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.

The SCAR-programme EBA (2004-13) will address the impacts of climate change on species biodiversity, evolutionary adaptations and depletion of marine fisheries on community dynamics in the Southern Ocean. A better understanding of the effect of such changes will be obtained by investigating the acclimatory responses to high latitudes. It will contribute to development of a baseline understanding of sensitive ecosystems.

Ice cores tell us how climate and atmospheric composition have varied in the past. IPICS will develop international plans for new projects on timescales from 2000 to over a million years. A focus in IPY will be on starting a core to bedrock in Greenland that aims to show us how the climate and ice sheet responded during the last warm interglacial period on Earth.

Synchronized observations of Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC), Aurora, and other large-scale polar phenomena from the International Space Station (ISS) and ground sites. Astronauts on the International Space Station will make observations of bi-polar phenomena in concert with scientists at polar-based ground sites. Space-based observations, on the length scale of half a continent, will augment ground-based measurements.