Picture from IPY website, Elephant Foot Glacier
From March 2007 to March 2009, grab your parka because it is International Polar Year(s). The organization of this falls to the International Council of Science and the World Meteorological Organization and involves 200 projects, 60 nations, and over 1000 scientists. The main research thrust appears to be the impacts of global warming on the poles and potential of a “ice-free” Arctic. Other projects include the installation of an Arctic Ocean monitoring system, described as an early warning system for climate change, and a census of the deep-sea creatures that populate the bottom of Antarctica’s Southern Ocean. You can catch all the going ons at the official website.
