March, 31 2008 Centre to battle climate change
A new research centre is opening in south west Wales to help fight the battle against climate change.
IBM's innovate Centre of Excellence in Environmental Research and Modelling will support environmental and renewable energy research.
It will use supercomputers to model the melting of the polar ice caps and attract green researchers to Wales.
The centre is to open at the end of May at the new Technium site in Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire.
It is not known how many jobs will be created by the development of the new centre.
The facility is the result of a collaboration agreement between IBM, Swansea University and Technium, which is managed by Pembrokeshire Council.
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March, 26 2008 Online Magazine for Elementary Teachers Brings Polar Issues Into Classrooms Nationwide
To fill a national void in the elementary school curriculum and capitalize on student interest in the polar regions, Ohio State University and the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) have launched a new online magazine for teachers in the early grades.
The National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded publication, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears is designed to help teachers develop their knowledge of the Arctic and Antarctica and to use best practices to integrate science and literacy instruction around polar themes. The materials showcased in the publication are chosen specifically to help teachers understand and to explain the role of the polar regions in the global ecosystem. As the magazine's creators note, elementary teachers seldom have either the preparation or expertise to teach science or the time or resources to learn how.
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March, 24 2008 Canadian Science Writers’ Association 2008 Conference - registration now open
Registration is now open for the Canadian Science Writers’ Association 2008 Conference, to be held in Whitehorse, Yukon, from May 24 to 27, 2008. The program has a double focus on Yukon-based science and the International Polar Year.
The conference is open to non-members and has special low rates for students.
For information and online registration, go to http://www.sciencewriters.ca/
March, 21 2008 Researchers say Arctic sea ice still at risk despite cold winter
Using the latest satellite observations, NASA researchers and others report that the Arctic is still on “thin ice” when it comes to the condition of sea ice cover in the region. A colder-than-average winter in some regions of the Arctic this year has yielded an increase in the area of new sea ice, while the older sea ice that lasts for several years has continued to decline.
On March 18 the scientists said they believe that the increased area of sea ice this winter is due to recent weather conditions, while the decline in perennial ice reflects the longer-term warming climate trend and is a result of increased melting during summer and greater movement of the older ice out of the Arctic.
Perennial sea ice is the long-lived, year-round layer of ice that remains even when the surrounding short-lived seasonal sea ice melts away in summer to its minimum extent. It is this perennial sea ice, left over from the summer melt period, that has been rapidly declining from year to year, and that has gained the attention and research focus of scientists. According to NASA-processed microwave data, whereas perennial ice used to cover 50-60 percent of the Arctic, this year it covers less than 30 percent. Very old ice that remains in the Arctic for at least six years comprised over 20 percent of the Arctic area in the mid to late 1980s, but this winter it decreased to just six percent.
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March, 20 2008 Scientists searching for bad weather
For three weeks, scientists has flown high and low over the Barents Sea in search of extreme weather. The goal has been to study cyclones and other weather phenomena from the inside to be able to provide better forecasts to fishermen, the oil industry, and shipping traffic in the north.
From February 25 to March 16, scientists stationed at Andoya has flown over the Barents Sea in search of bad weather. The results will be used to prepare weather models so that meteorologists will be able to provide more precise forecasts.
The bad weather that rages from time to time off of the Norwegian coast is so intense and localized that it is not possible to study by ship. Thus the scientists have been using a Falcon plane equipped with instruments that can measure what is happening inside a polar low pressure system or an Arctic front. They also measured several layers of atmosphere over large areas. Photo:Foto: IPY-Thorpex/ Gudmund Dalsbo
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March, 17 ASSW 2008
Russia is pleased to serve as the host country to ASSW from March 26 – April 2, 2008 in Syktyvkar, Komi Republic. ASSW 2008 is hosted by the Government of Komi Republic, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Komi Science Centre, Ural branch, RAS, Arctic Research Centre, Council of Rectors of Komi Republic.
The ASSW is a collaborative effort between:
International Arctic Sciences Committee IASC
Arctic Ocean Sciences Board AOSB
European Polar Board EPB
Pacific Arctic Group PAG
Forum of Arctic Research Operators FARO
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March, 12 2008 International Polar Day - Changing Earth
March 12th, 2008 marks the third of the quarterly International Polar Days, this time focusing on the Changing Earth; Past and Present.
About International Polar Days
In response to journalists and educators wanting an ‘angle’ on the extremely broad International Polar Year, quarterly International Polar Days are being planned that focus on a particular aspect of polar research. These days will include press releases, background information, access to experts, links to images and video, educational and community activities, and connection to researchers in the field.
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March, 11 2008 Warming climate may cause arctic tundra to burn
Bozeman – Research from ancient sediment cores indicates that a warming climate could make the world’s arctic tundra far more susceptible to fires than previously thought. The findings, published this week in the online journal, PLoS ONE, are important given the potential for tundra fires to release organic carbon – which could add significantly to the amount of greenhouse gases already blamed for global warming.
Montana State University post-doctoral researcher Philip Higuera is the lead author on the paper, which summarizes a portion of a four-year study funded by the National Science Foundation.
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March, 4 2008 Arctic seed vault is a Ft. Knox of food
With plant species disappearing at an alarming rate, scientists and governments are creating a global network of plant banks to store seeds and sprouts, precious genetic resources that may be needed for man to adapt the world's food supply to climate change.
This week, the flagship of that effort, the Global Seed Vault, received its first seeds here, millions of them. Bored into the middle of a frozen Arctic mountain topped with snow, the Seed Vault's goal is to store and protect samples of every type of seed from every seed collection in the world.
As of Thursday, thousands of neatly stacked and labeled gray boxes of seeds — peas from Nigeria, corn from Mexico — reside in this glazed cavelike structure, forming a sort of backup hard drive, in case natural disasters or human errors erase the seeds from the outside world.
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March, 3 2008 Arctic polar cap may disappear this summer
The polar cap in the Arctic may well disappear this summer due to the global warming, Dr. Olav Orheim, head of the Norwegian International Polar Year Secretariat, said on Friday.
The shrinking of the Arctic ice cap has been astonishing, Orheim said in an interview with Xinhua.
"Ice sheet hit the historical low of 3 million square km during the hottest weeks last summer, while it covered 7.5 million square km on average before the year 2000, " he said.
"If Norway's average temperature this year equals that in 2007, the ice cap in the Arctic will all melt away, which is highly possible judging from current conditions," Orheim said.
According to a UN report last year, the world's average temperature could rise by as much as 6 degrees centigrade by the end of the century, causing serious harm to ecosystems worldwide.
Human activity has been the primary driver of the observed changes in climate. Emissions of the key greenhouse gases -- carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere result in the greenhouse effect.
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