MEDIA ADVISORY:
DECEMBER 13TH: IPY DAY FOCUSSING ON ICE SHEETS
December 5th, 2007
On December 13th, 2007, the International Polar Year (IPY) will launch its second
'International Polar Day', focussing on Ice Sheets and Traverses. In preparation for
this, a special webpage <http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/ice_sheets>, has
been prepared with information for Press and Educators, details of current projects
and expeditions, contact details for scientists around the world, including in the polar
regions, images, background information and useful links and resources.
90% of the Earthʼs freshwater is locked up in the great Ice Sheets of Greenland and
Antarctica. Several papers have discussed the potential impact of Ice Sheets melting
in a warmer climate, but to understand these processes better, we need the results of critical IPY research.
International teams of scientists from Norway, Japan, Sweden, USA and China are
currently engaged in coordinated Antarctic traverses, traveling across, and probing,
the ice to learn more about a wide range of physical and chemical properties of the
East Antarctic Ice Sheet. They are also experiencing the physical challenges of
carrying out cutting- edge research in the coldiest, windiest, and driest continent.
Similar studies occurred in Greenland in the northern summer, involving scientists
from yet more countries. This information will be supported by and compared with
satellite data, ice sheet models, data from static core drilling sites, and remote
studies of sub-glacial water systems. These are the jigsaw pieces that will help us to
understand the complexity of Ice Sheets, how they grow and reduce, and what
implications there might be for sea level in a warmer climate.
More than 20 international IPY projects presently study some aspect of Ice Sheets, or are affected by Ice Sheets. The International Polar Day focussing on Ice Sheets
represents an opportunity to learn more about these projects and to talk to the
experts directly about their research. There will also be a wide range of educational
and community activities including classroom experiments, a virtual balloon launch,
and live web-conferencing with the scientists on traverses in Antarctica.
About IPY and International Polar Days
The International Polar Year 2007-8 is a large international and interdisciplinary
coordinated research effort focused on the polar regions. An estimated 50,000
participants from more 60 countries are involved in research as diverse as
anthropology and astronomy, health and history, and genomics and glaciology. This
fourth IPY was launched in March 2007, and will continue through early 2009. During
this time, a regular sequence of International Polar Days will raise awareness and
provide information about particular and timely aspects of the polar regions. The
Polar Days will include press releases, contacts to experts in several languages,
activities for teachers, on-line community participation, web-conferencing events, and
links to researchers in the Arctic and Antarctic.
The complete schedule for International Polar Days is listed below.
September 21st 2007: Sea Ice
sea Ice, marine life, changing climate
December 13th 2007: Ice Sheets
ice sheets, traverses, expeditions, adventure
March 13th 2008: Changing Earth, Past & Present
ice, climate, oceans, paleoclimate, Earth history
June 18th 2008: Lands, Plants, and Animals/ Land and Life
permafrost, terrestrial biodiversity, hydrology, snow
September 17th 2008: People
social sciences
December 2008: Above the Poles
astronomy, meteorology, atmospheric sciences
March 2009: Oceans and Marine Life
marine biodiversity, physical oceanography
About Ice Sheets
Ice sheets, the large, thick and ʻpermanentʼ frozen masses that cover most of
Antarctica and Greenland, represent a distinctive feature of our planet. Antarctic and
Greenland ice sheets contain almost all of the worldʼs ice and most of the worldʼs
fresh water. Ice sheets accumulate new layers of snow at the surface. They slowly
flow toward coastlines, often in large ice streams, and can extend over adjacent
oceans as ice shelves. During cold climates (ice ages), the mass and area of ice
sheets grow, and global sea level decreases. During warm climates, the mass and
area of ice sheets decrease and sea level rises. Urgent questions of how fast ice
sheets can change require advanced tools and models, but also on-ice
measurements related to those of 50 years ago.
Contact
For more information regarding this event, please contact
Dr Rhian Salmon, IPY IPO Education and Outreach Coordinator
[email protected], +447711181509
Dr David Carlson, IPY IPO Director, [email protected], +447715371759
For more information and contact details, please visit the IPY Ice Sheet webpage:
<http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/ice_sheets>.
For more information about the International Polar Year, please visit www.ipy.org
