International Polar Year: The social pole?

The International Polar Year.

C hange is ubiquitous in Earth's history, and evidence is clear that Earth's climate is changing rapidly now. The harbingers of change can be seen vividly in the polar regions. The Arctic ice cover is melting, ice shelves in Antarctica are crumbling, glaciers in temperate regions are disappearing, some ecosystems are changing, and permafrost thawing is causing the collapse of roads, buildings, ...

International polar year 2007-08.

Contributions to International Polar Year Science

The life cycle of the Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, intersects in space and time with the expansion and contraction of annual pack ice. Consequently, the circumpolar distribution of krill has often been defi ned as generally limited to an area bounded by the maximum extent of pack ice. Pack ice has both direct and indirect effects on the life cycle of krill. During the austral winter, lar...

Smithsonian at the Poles Contributions to International Polar Year Science

Approximately four decades ago, scientists were fi rst able to enter the undersea polar environment to make biological observations for a nominal period of time. The conduct of underwater research in extreme environments requires special consideration of diving physiology, equipment design, diver training, and operational procedures, all of which enable this under-ice approach. Since those fi r...

Learning from the International Polar Year to Build the Future of Polar Data Management

The research data landscape of the last International Polar Year was dramatically different from its predecessors. Data scientists documented lessons learned about management of large, diverse, and interdisciplinary datasets to inform future development and practices. Improved, iterative, and adaptive data curation and system development methods to address these challenges will be facilitated b...