International Polar Year
21 February 2007
After a week of being deprived of a landline i.e. internet access, this week sees over twenty nations around the world celebrating the launch of the fourth International Polar Year 2007-2008. The first IPY was 1882-3, but these launches are just the tip of the iceberg, scientists from over 60 nations will be taking part in hundreds of projects that will actually span 2 years to include Artic and Antartic regions.
A friend I mentioned in a previous post (my main posting re this was unfortunately lost in a database error) was a member of the team, led by researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany, which found a number of likely new species and gained an insight into the dynamics of the polar ecology. The areas of study became accessible only five years ago, following the collapse of the Larsen B ice-shelf.
Besides discovering more about our past and our survival under artic conditions, this IPY is important for looking at the changes in snow cover and sea ice and it’s consequences for terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Linking through to the global impact on sea levels, the affects on our coastal cities and low-lying areas, and the influence upon millions of people whose daily use of water for personal consumption or for agriculture depends on these sources. However, more immediately, those inhabitants of northern regions that face rapid environmental change at a rate that could be described as being ‘unnatural’.
As far as my local stomping ground is concerned, this last week saw the return of flocks of Lapwing on the 21 and a Curlew appeared on the 22 February. There were more around over the weekend, good hear their stident calls again.
Wolves again
