International Polar Year 2007 - 2009

International Polar Year 2007-2009

March the 1st sees the beginning of International Polar Year, which runs until March 2009. Yes, it’s actually two years – because the Polar Regions need prolonged attention!

Auther: David Hawkins 1. 03. 07 (Ecologist)

The Poles need constant attention!.. . .

The Poles are crucial for many reasons: as specialist threatened habitats, as climate archives (time-capsuled data from past ages is held in the ice and permafrost, helping us to understand historic climate variability), and as ‘early warning systems’ (they are extremely sensitive to climate change and its effects). The Arctic is also home to around 4 million indigenous people – the Inuit.This is the fourth International Polar Year, with previous ones in 1882-3, 1932-3 and 1957-8. What started as scientific explorations have now focussed on monitoring and preservation. With ice-floes melting, glaciers retreating and permafrost defrosting, Polar studies have taken on a new urgency. Many events will take place all over the world throughout this period, beginning with a series of scientific symposiums and public festivals.

More than 60 nations are involved in this collaborative effort, channelled through the International Council for Science, the World Meteorological Organisation and the International Polar Foundation, along with many other groups. According to the IPY Science Summary:
‘This IPY will initiate a new era in polar science with a stronger emphasis on interdisciplinary research including physical, biological and social sciences, indigenous communities and educators. It is a truly international endeavour’

Much of the focus of this IPY will be on education, with projects including ‘school activities, media events, exhibitions, books, films, art, and presenting research in real time through blogs, podcasts, and geobrowsers.’

For more info and to see how to check out events near you go to the IPY's website or Sciencepoles. Parents and teachers might also want to visit the Educapoles site.

The NOAH State of the Artic Environment is a review of environmental conditions during the past five years relative to those in the latter part of the 20th century. The review was conducted by an international group of twenty scientists who developed a consensus on information content and reliability. The report updates some of the records from the Artic Climate Impact Assessment

Taken collectively, the observations presented in the report show convincing evidence of a sustained period of warm temperature anomalies in the Arctic, supported by continued reduction in sea ice extent, observed at both the winter maximum and summer minimum, and widespread changes in arctic vegetation. The warming trend is tempered somewhat by shifts in the spatial patterns of land temperatures and ocean salinity and temperature. While there are still large region to region and multiyear shifts in the arctic climate, the large spatial extent of recent changes in air temperature, sea ice, and vegetation is greater than observed in the 20th century.

Why and how do scientists study climate change in the Arctic? What are the Arctic climate indices?

Please check out the sites indicated throughout this text!

Why and how scientists study climate change in the Arctic

Some important research concepts used by scientists to study climate change - Nick Bond, Jim Overland and Nancy Soreide, Pacific Marine Environmenatal Labs

Why is the Arctic important?

Dramatic changes have been occurring in the Arctic during the past decade. These changes include unusual melting of glaciers, sea ice, and permafrost, and shifts in patterns of rain and snow fall, freshwater runoff, and forest/tundra growth. The consequences include disrupted wildlife migration patterns, altered fish stocks, modified agricultural zones, and increased forest fires. These changes have impacted the lives of Native residents who depend on the environment for a continuation of their traditional subsistence lifestyle, and may also have significant impacts on the oil industry, tourism, and shipping routes. The latest report from the US Arctic Research Commission states that "change in the Arctic may play a substantial role in climate change throughout the globe", and moreover, that "global change, particularly climate change may have its most pronounced effects in the Arctic." Conditions in the Arctic are very different from those at lower latitudes on the globe, and "the Arctic remains one of the least explored, studied and understood places on earth."

The First IPY, from 1881 to 1884, involved 11 nations and was the first coordinated international polar research activity ever undertaken, inspiring subsequent international research programs. There was a Second IPY in 1932-1933 involving 40 nations, and a Third IPY in 1957-1958 (67 nations) that was also called the International Geophysical Year or IGY because it included research outside the Polar areas. Planning for the Fourth IPY, 2007-2008, started in 2004.

IPY measurements can be taken for more than a year. Although international coordination is maximized during the IPY itself, additional field epeditions or observations by be mounted by various nations in the year or two preceeding or following the IPY. Therefore, the IPY may in fact encompass several years. The Polar years emphasize the importance of the polar regions to global climate and of cooperative international research.