IPY Report: October 2008
Contents
1. IPY Oslo 2010 Science Conference: Deadline for Session Proposals
2. Conferences: SACNAS, COP 14, AGU
3. Polar Days: People; Above The Poles
4. Please update your project page
5. Data Reminder
6. Schedule for February
Report no. 18,October 2008
From: IPY International Programme Office
To: IPY Project Coordinators
cc: IPY Community Google Groups
1. The IPY Oslo 2010 Science Conference: Deadline for Session Proposals
Please note the deadline for session proposals for the IPY Oslo 2010 Science Conference: 24 October 2008. We heard many potential session ideas in St Petersburg: the need or opportunity for comparisons, integrations, intercalibrations, etc. Remember the most recent time that you said “What we really need is ...” - now you have an opportunity to propose that as a session!
Please also note the great flexibility available for content and format of a ‘session’. The organizers invite proposals for workshops, policy debates, screening of films or documentaries, book fairs, art exhibitions and the like.
Please use this deadline as an opportunity to shape the conference and to inform the organizers of possibilities and plans. Find more information at:
http://www.ipy-osc.no/
2. Upcoming Conferences
IPY IPO will support exhibits at:
SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science), in partnership with APECS; Salt Lake City, USA, October 2008;
Ville europeenne des Sciences, at Le Grand Palais, in partnership with DAMOCLES, TARA and IPF; Paris, November 2008;
COP-14 (United Nations Climate Change Conference), in partnership with IPY Norway, CICERO, and WMO; Poznan, Poland, December 2008; and
AGU (American Geophysical Union) Fall Meeting, in partnership with USA National Science Foundation; San Francisco, USA, December 2008
Please contact the IPO if you
- have information you would like shared at any of these events; or
- will be at the events yourself and are interested in helping represent IPY.
3. IPY Polar Days - People (September) & Above the Poles (4th December)
The IPY Polar Day - People, provoked strong interest and stimulated some remarkable connections. At one point we heard Zambian students talking to a Swedish researcher through a connection moderated by an aboriginal community radio in Canadian. Later, we heard the Chief of a northern community talking to the chief of Mawson Station in Antarctica. There were also virtual balloons launched from a record number of countries, and stimulating interaction between classes around the world. More at:
http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/detail/buzzing_from_people_day/
We now turn our attention to the next IPY Polar Day - Above the Poles, on December 4th. We will feature the IPY projects concerned with polar weather, with atmospheric transport to polar regions, with the polar upper atmosphere, and with observations from space and into space. If this is your area of research, please join us by suggesting school activities and resources, sharing your research and profile on the web, writing a blog, joining a live event, or working with local media. For more information and ideas, please contact Rhian (
).
4. Project Pages on ipy.org
As we work with IPY Projects on Polar Days, we occasionally discover that ipy.org does not display current information for that Project. Each IPY Project has a dedicated page on ipy.org, a page on which you can post a summary, images, and links to your Project home page. Please check your page on ipy.org. Projects can be found via:
http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/content/projects
For help in adding or changing material, contact Rhian (
).
5. Data Reminder
To stimulate progress toward the IPY goal of complete metadata by March 2009 (see
http://ipydis.org/index.html
), letters will go to lead national funding agencies and to National IPY Committees. These letters will list the IPY Projects associated with each country and encourage that country to assist their Project Coordinators and support data coordination efforts within their programmes. Most of us acknowledge the need for capturing this metadata but also recognize that we fall behind, individually and collectively, in meeting our reporting responsibilities. We hope the letters arriving in the next few days will remind agencies and help researchers.
For more information on this process, please contact Dave Carlson (
) or Mark Parsons (
).
6. IPY Celebration Planning: Schedule for February 2009
The IPY Education, Outreach and Communication media working group has developed the following outline of events to occur before and around 1 March 2009. We welcome all ideas and comments.
December 2008
IPY events and exhibits at COP14 and AGU conferences: announce and publicize February events
December 4th:
Above The Poles Day press release includes February events
February 2009
IPY Projects: Announce and publicize accomplishments and results
25 February 2009
Celebration Event, WMO, Geneva: On the occasion of the completion of the four major field seasons of IPY research.
1100-1200:
Press Conference
Short statements from WMO, ICSU
Announce release of ‘Status of Polar Research’
Joint Committee to answer press questions
Basic messages ? rapid changes, strong global linkages, discovery
1530-1700:
Celebration Event
WMO presentation
ICSU presentation
Dignitary presentation?
Colourful IPY presentation
Awards
IPY Film (if funded)
Emphasize youth, future, engagement with northerners
1700:
Reception
26, 27 February, 2-5 March:
National IPY events, celebrations, and announcement of plans
March 2009 (mid)
IPY Polar Day ? Polar Oceans
April 2009
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting & Arctic Council Meeting