Polar News and Notes Ezine Departments

Highlights from Thursday, March 27 at the National Science Teachers’ Association national conference in Boston, MA included a presentation on IPY science projects and the Polar Discovery expedition series.
IPY Science
Louise Huffman, Coordinator of Education and Outreach for the ANDRILL project, presented an informative session, IPY Cool Science: Hot Topics. An overview of the three […]

A 160 square-mile chunk of ice broke off from the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica on Tuesday. The ice, approximately seven times the size of Manhattan, had started to break up in late February. Scientists noticed the movement in satellite images and were able to capture footage and images of the event.
Unlike sea ice, which […]

The National Science Teachers’ Association’s annual national conference, scheduled this week in Boston, MA, will draw thousands of science educators from across the country. Several Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears project staff members are attending the conference. We’ll post any polar-related news or sessions of interest. Check back often if you are unable to attend […]

News from the polar regions in March 2008 included many “firsts:” flights of unmanned vehicles, research during Antarctica’s “polar night,” and new insight into the polar regions from boulders, sediment cores, and other reports. Missed these stories the first time? Read on!
Last month, we reported on a fully robot astronomical observatory called PLATO. This month […]

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is offering a summer institute, July 14-18, for middle school and high school teachers to promote teaching of science concepts and processes related to the polar regions. The institute, titled International Polar Year: Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics Polar Connections, is sponsored by the STEM Education Institute and the Climate System […]

Doing Antarctic research while watching and listening for volcanic rumblings seems farfetched, but it is reality for researchers from the United States, Spain, Britain, Argentina, and Chile stationed on Deception Island. The five countries work here under the Antarctic Treaty, which protects the area from over-use by humans. The treaty is no protection, however, from […]

On Sunday, March 23, Animal Planet will air a 60 minute broadcast about the Adelie penguins of Antarctica and the challenges they face due to rapid climate change. Return to Penguin City will feature the work of scientists Grant Ballard and Viola Toniolo.
Animal Planet’s description of Return to Penguin City:
“Millions of Adelie penguins storm the […]

The consequences of global warming are often predicted in terms of washed-out coastal cities, displaced populations, and changed weather patterns, but only recently have some warned of armed conflict in the icy waters around the North Pole. A former U.S. Coast Guard commander writing in the March-April 2008 issue of Foreign Relations, says the ice […]

March 20 is Sun-Earth Day 2008, an annual event scheduled on or near the date of the spring equinox. It is sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to engage K-12 schools and the public in space science activities and interactions with space scientists.
This year’s theme is Space Weather Around the World. […]

The Arctic Circle, generally recognized as a barometer of climate change, recently became a safety net for the world’s food crops.
Inside a frozen mountain on the island of Svalbard, about 500 miles from the North Pole, the Global Crop Diversity Trust has opened a vault capable of holding tons of seeds in some 4.5 million […]