WorldChanging's Geoff Manaugh writes a long an interesting piece on the likely ways in which Antarctica may change in the coming decades. He's not just talking about climate change — there is also the fact that increased human visitation is raising the chances of new species taking root on the continent, altering the local ecosystem.

Geoff also looks at what's being done to reduce the risk of these alien species taking hold. He covers the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Edinburgh this past June, and notes that the IPY is also set to tackle the question of Antarctica's enivronmental fitness. Well worth reading.

In the UK, the BBC will be coming out with a new polar-themed documentary series this weekend. It's called "Blizzard: Race To The Pole," and it recreates one of the most grueling episodes in polar history: The race between Norwegian Roald Amundsen and Englishman Robert Falcon Scott in 1911 to be the first man to reach the South Pole.



Continue reading BBC documentary re-enacts 1911 Scott-Amundsen race.

Navigating through the Norwegian fiords has been truly magnificent. With grand mountainous landscapes, winding channels with strong currents, a scattering of fishing villages and the midnight sun we have enjoyed every mile of it. We can see many similarities with the landscapes of Patagonia and South Georgia. At the start of the year we were sailing past the abandoned Norwegian whaling stations in South Georgia. Now the cultural links between the southern whaling grounds and this part of the world are even more evident to us as we sail past small isolated fishing villages that resemble in some ways the Norwegian settlements in the south.

Continue reading Norwegian Fjords.

We've updated our IPY chart to version 4.0. This latest version presents 218 endorsed IPY proposals: 166 in science and 52 in education and outreach. The number in each hexagon refers to the proposal ID number in the IPY Full Proposal database (scroll to the bottom of the page). An associated spreadsheet provides the full project names and lead persons for each proposal.


Click to view a larger JPG version (600 KB).

Here is the chart as a PDF (1.5 MB).

Continue reading IPY chart updated to version 4.0.

LATITUDE60! is the Portuguese Program for education during the International Polar Year. It is directed to all levels of education to reach every age group, from early childhood to adulthood. The program was launched at the Geographical Society of Lisbon on the 5 July 2006 but various presentations of the program will be carried out through the country, including Azores Islands until October 2006.

The main objectives of this program is to educate all generations about the polar regions, provide examples of the high quality science the Portuguese has been carrying out in collaboration with other countries and engage young students to polar research. A collaboration with associations caring for children with a disability or with any special needs, is also being implemented. There is also strong collaboration with schools, universities, and educational institutions such as Lisbon Oceanarium and Zoomarine, Algarve.

Continue reading IPY Education in Portugal.