What is the International Polar Year? A short guide
An International Polar Year (IPY) is a period when scientists from many countries agree to study the Arctic and Antarctic at the same time, with shared goals and methods. There have been four so far, starting in 1882–83, and a fifth is planned for 2032–2033.
What an IPY is
An IPY is not a calendar year and not a single project. It is an agreed window, usually one to two years long, when many research teams work in the polar regions in a coordinated way. They plan their observations together, use comparable instruments and share what they find.
The most recent IPY ran from 1 March 2007 to 1 March 2009. It brought together 228 international projects and an estimated 50,000 researchers, local observers, educators, students and support staff from more than 60 countries.
Why scientists coordinate
The polar regions are huge, remote and expensive to reach. No single country can watch all of them at once. Yet the things scientists want to understand there, such as weather systems, sea ice, ocean currents and the northern lights, cross borders and change from season to season.
The idea behind the first IPY came from Carl Weyprecht, an Austrian naval officer and explorer. In the 1870s he argued that real progress needed a series of expeditions taking observations at the same time, with matching instruments and identical instructions. One station tells you about one place. A ring of stations reporting at the same hours lets you see how the whole system behaves.
That logic still holds. Satellites now help, but ships, ice camps, research stations and the knowledge of people who live in the Arctic are still needed on the ground, and they work best when they are planned together.
The four polar years in brief
| Years | Name | Countries taking part | Remembered for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1882–83 | First IPY | About a dozen | The first large international science collaboration; stations ringing the Arctic |
| 1932–33 | Second IPY | More than 40 | Weather, magnetism and radio science, held during the Great Depression |
| 1957–58 | International Geophysical Year (IGY), counted as the third | 67 | Permanent stations in Antarctica, early satellites and the path to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty |
| 2007–08 (to March 2009) | Fourth IPY | More than 60 | The largest polar research program to date, focused on climate change, biodiversity and human impacts |
Read the full story on History of the IPYs, and see what the most recent one left behind on IPY 2007–2008.
The next one: 2032–2033
Planning for a fifth International Polar Year (often written IPY-5) started in late 2022. It is led by the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Science Council (ISC) among its sponsors. An international coordination office in Tromsø, Norway, with regional offices in the Republic of Korea and Chile, is due to start work in early 2027. Details and how to follow it are on IPY 2032–2033.
About this site. This is an independent educational site. It is not the website of any International Polar Year, and it is not connected with IASC, SCAR, WMO, the ISC or the former IPY 2007–2008 International Programme Office. For official news about the next IPY, use ipy5.info.
Guides in this section
- History of the IPYsHow the polar years began with Carl Weyprecht's idea in the 1870s, and what happened in 1882–83, 1932–33, the 1957–58 Geophysical Year and 2007–2009.
- IPY 2007–2008The fourth International Polar Year in numbers (228 projects, about 50,000 people, 60+ countries), the February 2009 State of Polar Research report and its legacy.
- IPY 2032–2033Planning status of the fifth International Polar Year (IPY-5) in 2032–2033: who organizes it, the new coordination office in Tromsø, key dates and how to follow it.
- Polar dataThe IPY open-data principles, why IPY 2007–2008 data are scattered, and where to search now: NSIDC, Polar Data Catalogue, PANGAEA, AADC, SCAR and SOOS.
- Arctic peoplesAbout 4 million people live in the Arctic, roughly one in ten Indigenous. Meet the Inuit, Sámi, Nenets, Chukchi, Aleut, Athabaskan and Gwich'in peoples.
- Antarctica and the TreatyHow the Antarctic Treaty (signed 1959, in force 1961) works, its 58 Parties, the Madrid Protocol's mining ban, the 2048 myth and who runs the research stations.
- Arctic governanceHow the Arctic is governed: eight Arctic states, the Arctic Council founded in 1996, its six Indigenous Permanent Participants, 38 observers and the pause since 2022.
- Teaching resourcesClassroom resources for polar science from NSIDC, NOAA's Arctic Report Card, Discovering Antarctica, PolarTREC and APECS Polar Weeks, with activity ideas.
Sources
- Past IPYs, IPY-5 (International Polar Year 2032–33)
- History of the First International Polar Year, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
- IPY summary report published by ICSU/WMO Joint Committee for IPY, UArctic
- 70 years ago: scientists establish the International Geophysical Year, NASA
- Norway to host IPY-5 Coordination Office, in partnership with the Republic of Korea and Chile, IPY-5
- International Polar Year 2032-33, International Arctic Science Committee