International Polar Year is a period of time when scientists and other researchers from around the world join together to conduct research that relates to the two poles – the Arctic and the Antarctic. This research can be biological, geographical, geophysical, meteorological, ecological or social – almost anything that can be discovered! IPY actually spreads over two years – one complete season of polar research at each of the poles.
The poles are great places to conduct research for many reasons. To name just a few: the polar regions play an important role in regulating the Earth’s climate; they are the perfect place to observe the atmosphere and beyond; and preserved within the ice of the polar regions is a ‘library’ of information about what the world was like thousands of years ago.
Questacon will make several contributions to IPY:
Ever wanted to go to Antarctica? Grab your Polar Passport and come along!
Meet Dan Zwartz, a scientist travelling from Canberra to Antarctica, who has invited us along for the journey. After the two week long voyage, Dan will spend the summer months in Antarctica performing experiments, or ‘field work’.
Dan will be keeping us up to date on his travels with the blog, plus he will be answering any questions you may have about one of the coolest spots on Earth!
Polar Passport will continue throughout IPY as Dan travels to different research locations around the world.
The answer is: lots! From infrared astronomy to meteorology and ecology. Dan is a geologist studying changes in the volume of land ice in Antarctica since the last ice age, 20 000 years ago.
Dan is installing and servicing specialised GPS equipment that is sensitive enough to measure that Antartica is still lifting upwards after lots of the ice melted at the end of that ice age. The extra mass (or ‘weight’) of all that ice back then made the whole continent sink down a bit deeper into the Earth’s mantle – now it’s still floating back upwards!
By calculating the amount of lifting of the continent, scientists can work backwards to calculate how much extra ice was there in the ice age.
Keep an eye on Polar Passport for more detail as he does the work. Questacon is tracking his progress as part of International Polar Year.
Questacon and ASPAC are proud to have made the climateXchange website for the Asia Pacific region.
climateXchange is helping to raise awareness of climate change and its impacts on local communities across the Asia Pacific. Science centres and museums in the Asia Pacific are gathering stories on climate change from schools, youth groups and communities. Submissions include pictures, written pieces or videos that examine the effects of climate change both locally and globally.
The collection of submissions are presented on the climateXchange website where users click on a location and view a story about climate change in that area. Visitors will be able to see stories from areas as diverse as The Great Barrier Reef, the Snowy Mountain and Antarctica through the eyes of people who live and work there.
Examples of stories include a video from a primary school in Sydney showing what they are doing to make a difference or an interview with a scientist who is battling hard to save the rare mountain pygmy possum.
To get involved, visit climateXchange.
Questacon is promoting Dan's blog and developing climateXchange as part of its role as Australia’s National Science and Technology Centre and as a member of two organisations: the Association of Science and Technology Centres (ASTC), and the Asia Pacific Network of Science and Technology Centres (ASPAC). These two organisations are working on a project for International Polar Year called Project IGLO.
IGLO stands for International Action on GLObal warming. Project IGLO is an international collaboration between science centres around the world to help raise public awareness about global warming and the huge effect that the polar regions have on the world’s climate.
This is the fourth International Polar Year in about 130 years!
The first international polar year was held from 1882 – 1883, more than 120 years ago! It took seven years to organise, and involved 12 countries. These countries operated 14 research stations around the North Pole. They observed weather, geomagnetism (the study of the Earth’s magnetic field), ocean currents, tides, ice, aurora (colourful displays of light in the night sky) and much more! Much of the data from these observations have been made available by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Seven hundred men travelled to the Arctic during the first IPY. The weather was so extreme that they spent only a small part of their time researching, and the rest keeping warm.
Though most of the research during the first IPY was in the northern hemisphere, two expeditions travelled to the Antarctic. This led to the first detailed description of Earth’s magnetic field.
The second was held 50 years later from 1932 – 1933. During this time, over 40 research stations were established in the Arctic. Huge breakthroughs were made in fields of science like meteorology, magnetism and atmospheric science.
In Antarctica, the US established the first inland winter-long weather station, about 200 km from the Little America Station on the Ross Ice Shelf.
In 1957 – 1958 another period of polar science and exploration occurred, this time called the International Geophysical Year, or IGY. During the IGY, scientists made some very important progress, including finally estimating how enormous Antarctica is, and confirming that continents do actually move!
Perhaps the most important thing to come out of the IGY was the Antarctic Treaty, which was signed by all the nations that took part in the IGY. The Treaty exists to protect Antarctica, and preserve it ‘in the interests of all mankind.. for peaceful purposes’.
The 2007 – 2008 IPY marks the 50th anniversary of the International Geophysical Year. In the past 50 years Antarctica has changed more than ever before. A lot of these changes are due to climate change. Because the polar regions affect all the weather and ecosystems on Earth, even small changes there can have big effects everywhere else. For that reason it is now more important then ever for scientists from around the world to join together and learn as much about the polar regions as possible.