Alpine Time

Off to NE Italy & the Dolomites (by boat!) today.
Glacier time!

IPY Launch Day

IPY tagged map - Tagzania

Today is the launch of the International Polar Year (IPY), a large scientific programme focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009 (in order to have full coverage of the Arctic and Antarctic). IPY, organized through the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), is actually the 4th polar year (1882-3, 1932-3, and 1957-8). It will involve over 200 projects, with thousands of scientists from over 60 nations examining a wide range of physical, biological and social research topics. The priorities are:

• Changing Snow and Ice
• Global Linkages
• Neighbours in the North
• Discovery

For a detailed presentation of the research you can download the honeycomb chart here.
You can watch IPY launch events around the world live at the Arctic Portal.

Confirmed decrease of the world’s glacier mass balance

The evident Vernagtferner glacier melting, Tirol - Austria. Since the start of annual mass balance measurements in 1968, the ice loss cumulated to almost 12 metre w.e., with a thickness loss of about 0.5 metre w.e. during 2005.

Source: Commission for Glaciology of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences & Humanities

New data published by the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) confirms the trend in accelerated ice loss during the past two and a half decades and brings the average thickness loss since 1980 of the 30 reference glaciers of 9 mountain ranges (Cascades, Svalbard, Andes, Alaska, Scandinavia, Alps, Altai, Caucasus and Tien Shan) at about 9.6 m (water equiv.). Tentative figures indicate a further thickness reduction of 0.7 m and 0.6 m during 2004 and 2005, respectively.

The perfect Christmas trip

Pay a visit to the Exploratorium, this December, and take a trip to the field sites surrounding the North and South Poles. Its a celebration for the start of the upcoming 2007-2008 International Polar Year, featuring a special series of Webcasts highlighting the scientific work done at the Poles.

This is the Upsalla glacier in Patagonia, the change from 1928 to 2001, the image speaks for itself...