Polar News and Notes International Polar Year

News from the polar regions in April 2008 included research into pollution’s role in Arctic climate change, documentation of a massive and rapid drainingof a glacial lake in Greenland, and surprising results from the summer Antarctic field season. Missed these stories the first time? Read on!
Indigenous people, who have the smallest ecological footprint on Earth, […]

On April 17, the RSV Aurora Australis docked in Hobart, Australia, with what the chief scientist aboard called “a remarkable data set of observations from the Southern Ocean, covering a wide range of physical, chemical and biological variables.”
A team of scientists had spent the past four weeks on the research and supply vessel measuring ocean […]

In Februrary, we posted about a unique dogsled expedition that sought to document the impact of global warming in the Canadian Arctic. Led by renowed explorer Will Steger, the 1,400 mile trek includes five emerging leaders in the field. The team is sharing the experience through video, images, sounds, and text at the Global Warming […]

The International Polar Year will be emphasized in the national conference of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science(SACNAS), to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, October 9-12.
The conference will focus on global change– particularly climate change and its impact on all fields of science, ecosystems, and populations from […]

Three of the Web Seminars scheduled by the National Science Teachers Association in May will offer teachers at all grade levels an opportunity to enrich their teaching about the polar regions. Each seminar is presented at 6:30 p.m. on its scheduled date and lasts for 90 minutes. Participation is free.
Presenters for the two-part seminars on […]

A new month brings a new issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine! The online magazine is written for elementary teachers to help develop their content knowledge of the polar regions and use best practices in integrating science and literacy instruction. Our second issue is called “Learning From the Polar Past” and provides […]

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 […]

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 […]

When the USCGC Healy left Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on March 11, middle school science and technology teacher Craig Kasemodel began two weeks of research on late winter conditions in the Bering Sea. The Anchorage, Alaska, teacher will be working with Lee Cooper, chief scientist for several science cruises that will take place in 2008. The […]