The only participant for education from the UK at the International Polar Year Conference in Oslo

© John Petter Reinertsen/Samfoto/IPY-OSC

IPY – The International Polar Year – has emerged as the largest internationally coordinated planetary research effort in the past 50 years. Substantial new funding – more than US$ 400 million – was pledged for IPY. The IPY Oslo Science Conference demonstrated, strengthened, and extended the IPY’s remarkable accomplishments in science and educational outreach.

I was selected as the UK’s only participant to the IPY teachers conference, to discuss ways of bringing polar science into the classroom. I joined 150 teachers and educators from around the world and 2,500 researchers and scientists for this week long conference in Oslo – Norway.

© John Petter Reinertsen/Samfoto/IPY-OSC

The Polar Regions are an integral and rapidly changing part of the Earth system. Humankind’s future environment, well-being and sustainable development require that we comprehensively understand and observe polar systems and processes and the changes that are already upon us. The message of IPY is loud and clear: what happens in the Polar Regions affects the rest of the world and concerns us all.

The International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY) was an intensive, internationally coordinated scientific research campaign in the Arctic and the Antarctic sponsored by the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). In two action-packed years, IPY researchers observed exciting new phenomena, made fundamental scientific discoveries, developed new methods and tools, advanced interdisciplinary and international links in polar science and, most importantly, gained new understanding of the role of the Polar Regions in the total Earth system.

IPY 2007-2008 took place during a time when our planet was changing faster than ever in recorded human history, especially in the Polar Regions. Polar changes are critical because of various feedbacks involving the ocean, the cryosphere and/or the biosphere, each of which has the potential to accelerate the rates of global changes. The need for polar research has never been greater. I was proud to have been involved with the IPY.

The IPY Oslo Science Conference emphasized the breadth and global impact of polar research during IPY. It highlighted the extraordinary interdisciplinary and multinational efforts in research and in communication of research to the public. Participants presented early scientific results from all the IPY themes, particularly in the urgent areas of:

1. Linkages between polar regions and global systems
2. Past, present and future changes in polar regions
3. Polar ecosystems and biodiversity
4. Health and well-being of northern people and communities
5. New frontiers and new directions in polar research
6. Polar science education, outreach and communication

IPY resulted in a plethora of research activities and observations, all underpinned by a mutual appreciation of the value of shared logistical facilities, research capabilities and data. The Conference demonstrated the benefit of early and open data sharing and the prospects for future discoveries based on the data collected.

What struck me the most about this conference was the shear scale of involvement and collaboration from scientists all over the world. During talks and presentations of findings, I did not hear a single scientist say that climate change is not happening and that we are not contributing to this. The IPY has show that the polar regions are warming .. rapidly and we are having a direct impact.

Education Through Expeditions features at the poster presentation

Posted 04 July 2010