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International Polar Year 2007-08

SCAR, along with IASC and other partners are now concentrating on the legacies of the International Polar Year. The information below represents an archive of relevant reports and information during the IPY.

Ministers Sign 2009 Declaration on the IPY and its Legacy

The 2009 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting began in Washington DC on April 6 2009 with a joint meeting of the Parties to the Antarctic Treaty and the Member States of the Arctic Council, who came together in the persons of their various Environment Ministers to sign a joint Ministerial Declaration on the International Polar Year and Polar Science. The declaration (see pdf attached) is a call to arms for more research in the polar regions and for implementing the IPY legacy. The meeting was opened by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who underlined the intention of the new US administration to focus on the issue of climate change.

International Polar Year website: www.ipy.org
IPY Science Conferences:
- 1^st IPY Science Conference, St Petersburg, July 2008 (SCAR's 3^rd Open Science Conference)
- 2^nd IPY Science Conference, Oslo, 8-12 June 2010
  You can find the conference programme on the programme web page; the individual theme sessions can be found by clicking on the left menu items on that page.
- 3^rd IPY Science Conference - "From Knowledge to Action"
  22 - 27 April 2012, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
IPY 2007-08 Preparation Phase
SCAR Papers relevant to IPY
IPY Data Management
"Scope of Science for the International Polar Year"
Related programme: International Year of Planet Earth (2007-2009)
The First International Polar Year
- Scientific Work of the Second Austro-Hungarian Polar Expedition, 1872-4
  © Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
- Fundamental Principles of Scientific Arctic Investigation, by Charles Weyprecht, 1875
- Programme of Work of an International Polar Expedition, by Comte Wilczek and Carl Weyprecht, 1877
SCAR and the IPYs over the years
- International Collaboration in Antarctica - the IPYs, IGY and SCAR, with acknowledgements to Polar Record

IPY Proposals approved in April 2006

Next steps in the evolving shape of the programme - November 2005
List of approved Antarctic or Bipolar proposals - updated April 2006
Honeycomb chart of accepted proposals
Proposed Activities

Press Release

International Council for Science Launches International Polar Year 2007-2008, an Endeavor of Historical Proportions

SCAR News on the IPY

Tour of IPY in Google Earth can find at: http://www.earthslot.org/ipy/

Launch of the International Polar Year (IPY), 2007-2008:

It's official: The International Polar Year 2007-2008 will be launched on 1 March 2007 at the "Palais de la Découverte", a famous science museum in central Paris. A press conference is being organized for the event by IPY's co-sponsors, ICSU and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and the IPY Programme Office in Cambridge. The event will take place in conjunction with the IPY Joint-Committee meeting being held on 28 February and 2 March. More than a dozen countries are also planning national launch events on or around 1 March and an international IPY group is working hard to stimulate activities in schools and science centres around the globe.
The Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) has designed a web page with information and media news about IPY in Spanish (IPY=API in Spanish: Año Polar Internacional): http://www.inach.cl/api/medios.htm
Report from the IPY Consultative Forum in Hobart, Tasmania, 8 July 2006
In association with the XXIX SCAR meeting in Hobart, on July 8 the International Polar Year Steering Committee held an IPY Consultative Forum to introduce the wider community to the goals and activities of the IPY and the progress being made, and to give the community an opportunity to ask questions about plans and progress and involvement.
Hydrographers make plea for IPY scientists to collect more detailed bathymetric information, especially around the Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetlands to improve the safety of navigation.
Progress Report for SCAR
SCAR nominated to participate on new International Polar Year Joint Committee for planning and coordination of the International Polar Year
Call for Expression of Intent for the IPY

Example of National Approaches

IPY Director Dave Carlson gives closing address for IPY

Dave Carlson speaking during the closing ceremony for IPY

The photograph shows Dave Carlson on the podium at WMO Headquarters during the closing ceremony for the IPY on 25 February 2009, summing up the exciting results achieved so far.

Photographs from the IPY Joint Committee Meeting and Dinner, 4-5 July 2008 in St Petersburg, Russia

IPY JC meeting room with participants around the table

IPY JC Meeting (left to right): T de Bruin, O Rogne, N Munro, M Beland, I Allison, C Summerhayes, K Alverson, T Mohr, D Carlson, G Hovelsrud, J Lopez and R Bell.

IPY JC meeting room with participants around the table

IPY JC Meeting (left to right): T de Bruin, O Rogne, N Munro, M Beland, I Allison, C Summerhayes, AARI technician, T Mohr, K Iverson, J Lopez and R Bell.

IPY JC meeting room with participants around the table

IPY JC Meeting (left to right): T Yamanouchi, R Salmon, M Beland, O Rogne, N Munro, I Allison (obscured), K Alverson (holding paper), AARI technician, T Mohn (obscured), D Carlson, G Hovelsrud, H Odmark (obscured), J Lopez, R Bell, V Kotlyakov, E Sarukhanian, C Rapley (back of head) and, against the wall, K Iverson.

IPY JC meeting room with participants around the table

IPY JC Meeting (left to right): against wall, M Pauls and S Zicus; foreground D Carlson, H Odmark (obscured), G Hovelsrud, J Lopez, R Bell, E Sarukhanian, P Cutler, C Rapley, T Yamanouchi, K Daniel, R Salmon, O Rogne, N Munro, I Allison, unknown (obscured) and K Alverson.

IPY JC dinner top table, with Ed Sarukhanian speaking