26 February, 2007 -- International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 officially gets underway on 1 March, 2007. IPY, which is a programme of the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), will be the largest internationally coordinated scientific research effort in 50 years.
During the course of IPY, thousands of scientists, from over 60 countries and a wide range of research disciplines, will carry out 220 science and outreach projects under six major themes:
- Status: to determine the present environmental status of the polar regions
- Change: to quantify and understand past and present environmental and social change in the polar regions, and to improve projections of future change
- Global linkage: to advance our understanding, on all scales, of the links and interactions between polar regions and the rest of the globe, and of the processes controlling these links
- New frontiers: to investigate the frontiers of science in the polar regions
- Vantage point: to use the unique vantage point of the polar regions and develop and enhance observatories from the interior of the Earth to the Sun and the cosmos beyond
- Human dimension: to investigate the cultural, historical, and social processes that shape the sustainability of circumpolar human societies and to identify their unique contributions to global cultural diversity and citizenship
The campaign also aims to educate and involve the public while helping to train the next generation of engineers, scientists and leaders.
Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, Mr Michel Jarraud says: IPY comes at a crossroads for the planets future; Februarys first phase of the Fourth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has shown that these regions are highly vulnerable to rising temperatures.
However, meteorological and other
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Contact: Mark Oliver
moliver@wmo.int
41-022-730-8417
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
25-Feb-2007
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