Hi from 78°N! Some of us have been here for a couple of days now so we are updating you all on what we have been doing. During the long flight from Oslo we were lucky to have clear views of the sea ice and southern Spitzbergen. Amazing! In Svalbard, we are staying in the student accommodation in Nybyen about 3km from UNIS in old mining barracks. Unfortunately this means a 30 minute walk to UNIS, not a pleasant experience in gale force winds and sub-zero temperatures, although it gives an opportunity to get to know the 22 other people from 11 different countries! Whilst waiting for the field school to begin we took advantage of the good weather and went hiking up Longyearbreen (the local glacier) near our accommodation (with a rifle in case of polar bear encounters!). Part way...

9th ACUNS International Student Conference The Communities of Change – Building an IPY Legacy Conference will highlight research occurring at both poles, including interactions between the cryosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and society. Inter-disciplinary sessions will be arranged based on the number and breadth of Abstracts submitted. Poster Proposals and Travel Support applications are also now being accepted. For information regarding the submission of a poster proposal and regarding travel support, please visit www.communitiesofchange.ca. Abstract Submission Deadline: May 31, 2009 For guidelines a...

The Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence-West (COSEE-West) would like to invite formal and informal educators to participate in an exciting online workshop, "Weather, Sea Level Rise and Climate Change," to be held this November 2008. This invitation is open to any educators who are interested in learning more about how scientists are studying climate change and its accompanying effects on our planet. The online workshop environment will include "rooms" to ask questions of keynote speakers and to hold discussions with other educators around the country and the world. COSEE-West will also post supporting teacher resources in the online environment. When: November 3 - 23, 2008 Who: Formal and informal educators Where: College of Exp...

The NASA HOW (History of Winter) program is held each February (since 2000) in Lake Placid, New York, USA. The HOW Program brings together teachers and learning professionals from around the United States to study SNOW, ICE and the WINTER ECOSYSTEM through intensive classroom and fieldwork exercises led by experts in the field. This year the program is held February 10-16. Also this year, The Global Snowflake Network (GSN) will be launched. Peter Wasilewski and Robert Gabrys created and developed the NASA HOW (History of Winter) program held each February since 2000. The primary foci of the weeklong program (February 10 - 16, 2008) are threefold: 1) SNOW - in the air and on the ground 2) ICE - crystal structure and axial orientation 3) WINTER E...

The Forum on Sustainable Northern Shelter in a World of Diminishing Resources will be held between 28th and 30th October in Fairbanks, Alaska. It is an IPY event sponsored by the Cold Climate Housing Research Center, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the Northern Forum. Further details and registration information can be found on the web site. The circumpolar Forum on Sustainable Northern Shelter, scheduled for October 28-30, 2007 in Fairbanks Alaska, is the outgrowth of an alliance of private and public sector organizations that share the vision of bringing together the most outstanding minds currentl...

To encourage larger participation in the international workshop

The Midnight Sun Dialogue on Climate Change International environmental ministers will meet for The Midnight Sun Dialogue on Climate Change, an informal discussion meeting, at Riksgr

Space scientists performing boundary layer experiments at the edge of Greenland ice cap. Introduction The Greenland Space Science Symposium was arranged in Kangerlussuaq as part of the International Polar Year activities from the 4 to 9 May. The Symposium solemnized the rich history of Greenland as a forum for versatile instrumentation monitoring various processes in the near-Earth space. For example, the behavior of ionospheric electric currents have been monitored now for 35 years with Danish magnetometer chains operating in the Greenland coastal regions. Almost equally long data records (25 years) of plasma densities, velocities, and temperatures have been collected with the US incoherent scatter radar operating in Kelly Ville. Roughly 70 space scie...

You are invited to participate and contribute to the first Virtual Observatories in Geosciences Conference (VOiG). The conference will be at The Curtis Hotel, Denver Colorado, USA - June 12-15, 2007 Each day features plenary and parallel (breakout) sessions to cover areas of broad interests as well as the opportunity for detailed discussions. Time will be allowed for posters, with breaks to facilitate interactions amongst the worldwide VO community. The conference is sponsored by the Electronic Geophysical Year (eGY), USGS, NASA, NSF, SCOSTEP and NCAR. While this conference focuses on geosciences, all interested disciplines are invited to participate. ...

Antarctica is managed internationally under the Antarctic Treaty. Each year, countries that have signed the treaty get together at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM). These meetings bring together a large number of experts, including lawyers, diplomats, scientists and logisticians. This year, the meeting is in New Delhi, India. Naturally, like attracts like, and I’ve been enjoying quite a few discussions with scientists over copious amounts of Indian tea and curry. Scientists who come to the ATCM for the first time definitely find it an eye-opening experience. The discussions at the meeting help you understand why you have to fill in so much paperwork for your research. They also make you realize that your science is only one miniscule elemen...