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March 2007
International Polar Year
kicks off this month
UCAR/NCAR researchers participate
in international effort
to study Earth’s polar regions
Scientists involved with International
Polar Year will probe icy waters such as these off
the coast of Antarctica. (Photo courtesy Gary Herbert.) |
For the next two years, all things cold will be considered
very cool.
International Polar Year officially began on March 1 with
a launch ceremony in Paris. Sponsored by the International
Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organization,
IPY is the largest internationally coordinated scientific
research effort of the past 50 years. Bringing together more
than 50,000 researchers from 63 nations working on 228 projects,
the program aims to monitor the health of Earth’s polar
regions and gauge the impact of climate change. It runs for
two years, giving researchers more opportunity to observe
the full cycle of seasons at each pole.
Specific projects are as diverse as analyzing the effects
of solar radiation on the polar atmosphere, taking a census
of deep-sea creatures in the polar oceans, quantifying the
amount of fresh water leaking from underneath ice sheets
in Antarctica, and examining the culture and politics of
the Arctic’s human inhabitants. Many of the projects
are driven by a sense of urgency that warming temperatures
due to climate change are transforming the Arctic in irreversible
ways.
UCAR/NCAR scientists and researchers are already lending
their expertise to IPY activities. A number of staffers were
recently involved with Ice Fest, a community-wide event sponsored
by CU-Boulder that ran March 8–11 to kick off IPY.
Marika Holland (ESSL/CGD) gave a presentation on Arctic sea
ice change; Caspar Ammann (also ESSL/CGD) spoke about ice
in the mountains of Chile’s Atacama desert, Earth’s
driest; and Bob Henson (Communications), author of The Rough
Guide to Climate Change, participated in the “Making
a Difference” panel discussion. EO also staffed a booth
on Ice Fest Family Day.
On March 5, GLOBE hosted a pole-to-pole videoconference,
during which GLOBE students in Alaska exchanged research
ideas and interacted with GLOBE students in Ushuaia, the
Antarctic region on the southern tip of Argentina. “We
had a lot of good discussion between the students from
each pole as well as students asking questions and talking
with scientists,” says GLOBE director Ed Geary.
During GLOBE-sponsored Web chats on March 7 and 8, students
were able to talk among themselves and ask questions about
climate change and polar science, as well as post questions
and ideas on
an IPY Web forum to be answered
by scientists.
Also as part of GLOBE’s IPY activities, Peggy LeMone
is writing a Chief Scientist’s Blog (see “On
the Web”) to discuss climate change and IPY-related
topics. “One of the exciting things about the poles
is that it’s where the biggest climate changes are
taking place,”
Peggy says.
Windows to the Universe, EO’s vast and colorful educational
Web site covering Earth and space sciences, launched a new
portal on March 1 called Earth’s Polar Regions (see “On
the Web”), with links to topics such as geography and
geology at the poles, the cryosphere, polar oceans, and Arctic
culture. The site includes a “Postcards from the Field” component
from a scientist studying how Adelie penguins in Antarctica
are coping with climate.
“We wanted to do something fun for IPY, and it was
an area of Windows to the Universe we had not yet explored,” says
EO’s Lisa Gardiner, who developed content for the new
polar section of
the site.
In addition, EO is at work developing polar-related hands-on
activities and demonstrations that will be unveiled later
this year in the Mesa Lab Visitor Center, along with IPY-related
classroom materials for educators. A new NASA-produced video, “A
Tour of the Cryosphere,” will begin showing in the
lobby theater later this spring.
And in COMET, staffers are laying the groundwork for a Webcast
this summer that will feature interviews with polar scientists. “We’ll
talk with several scientists who are doing cutting-edge research,
and we’ll learn what tools they use, what issues are
driving their work, and what they see as exciting future
areas for investigation in this fascinating and unique location,” says
COMET’s Vickie Johnson.
Polar
researchers
A number of UCAR/NCAR scientists have long been
involved in polar–
related research.
Marika Holland (ESSL/CGD) studies sea ice and
its role in the climate system. She and colleagues
recently published research showing that the
extent of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean
could undergo surprisingly rapid reductions in
the future due to the buildup of greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere.
David Lawrence (ESSL/CGD) uses the Community
Climate System Model to study permafrost and
how changes to permafrost interact with the rest
of the climate system. He coauthored a 2005 study
that found that much of the Arctic’s near-surface
permafrost could thaw by 2100.
Jordan Powers (ESSL/MMM) is NCAR’s project
lead for the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System
(AMPS), a real-time weather prediction system
designed specially for Antarctica’s extreme
polar environment. The model has helped facilitate
medical evacuations and other rescues from Antarctica,
including the rescue of scientists and crew from
the Magdalena Oldendorff, a supply ship that
became trapped in ice along the Antarctic coast
in 2002.
Shannon McNeeley (ISSE), a graduate student at
the University of Alaska–Fairbanks and
ISSE visiting scientist, is carrying out a project
in community-based research to document
Alaska Natives’ observations of climate
change. Her goal is to gain climatic insights
into a remote and little-studied region that
has been significantly affected by warming temperatures,
and to understand issues of vulnerability and
adaptive capacity of interior Alaska Natives.
Other ISSE scientists are also studying human-climate
interactions in the
polar regions.
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On the Web
International Polar Year
IPY at NCAR
IPY at GLOBE
Peggy
LeMone’s Chief Scientist Blog
Windows
to the Universe: Earth’s Polar Regions
In this issue...
International
Polar Year kicks off this month
Project
BudBurst to debut
GLOBE
at Night
Short
Takes
Denise
Stephenson Hawk joins SERE
An
interview with Katy Schmoll
Mesa
Lab a medieval castle?
Just One Look
Staff Notes home page | News Center
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