Date

Multiple Resources Available

  1. Workshop Results Available
    Frontiers in Understanding Climate Change and Polar Ecosystems:
    Summary of a Workshop (2011)

  2. Newsletter Available
    IDPO Ice Bits, Summer 2011
    Ice Drilling Program Office

  3. Newsletter Available
    APECS August 2011
    Association of Polar Early Career Scientists


  1. Workshop Results Available
    Frontiers in Understanding Climate Change and Polar Ecosystems:
    Summary of a Workshop (2011)

In August 2010 the U.S. Polar Research Board of the National Academies
initiated the Polar Frontiers series with a workshop entitled "Frontiers
in Understanding Climate Change and Polar Ecosystems: Summary of a
Workshop (2011)." Although climate change is already causing observable
impacts on terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems in polar
regions, the inherent complexity of ecosystems and the fact that they
are subject to multiple stressors makes understanding the extent of
future environmental change difficult.

Scientists with expertise in arctic, Antarctic, marine, and terrestrial
environments came together at a recent National Academies workshop to
consider accomplishments in the field to date and identified five
frontier questions that could help researchers gain a better
understanding of the impact of climate change on polar ecosystems:

- Will a rapidly shrinking cryosphere tip polar ecosystems into new
states?
- What are the key polar ecosystem processes that will be the "first
responders" to climate forcing?
- What are the bi-directional gateways and feedbacks between the
poles and the global climate system?
- How is climate change altering biodiversity in polar regions and
what will be the regional and global impacts?
- How will increases in human activities intensify ecosystem impacts
in the polar regions?

Further information on the results of the workshop can be found in the
workshop brief and report that are available at:
http://tinyurl.com/DELS-NAS-WorkshopSummaries.


  1. Newsletter Available
    IDPO Ice Bits, Summer 2011
    Ice Drilling Program Office

The summer 2011 issue of the Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO)
newsletter Ice Bits is available online. Ice Bits, an update of IDPO and
Ice Drilling Design and Operations activities, is published quarterly in
electronic format and can be accessed as a PDF file, at:
http://icedrill.org/news/icebits.shtml.

Selected items in this issue include:

- Overview of IDPO and IDDO Activities During the Quarter;
- Highlight: Multidisciplinary Science on the Greenland Ice Sheet is
Enabled by Agile Ice Core Drills;
- Highlight: Interdisciplinary Community Workshop Examines the
Future for Ice Coring and Drilling;
- Education and Outreach: Outreach Support for U.S. Scientists;
- IDDO Career Opportunity: Mechanical Engineer(s) Needed;
- IPICS 2012 Open Science Conference;
- Long Range Science Plan 2011-2021 and Long Range Drilling
Technology Plan;
- 2011 Technical Advisory Board Meeting; and
- Requesting Ice Drilling Support.

For further information, please go to:
http://www.icedrill.org.


  1. Newsletter Available
    APECS August 2011
    Association of Polar Early Career Scientists

The August 2011 issue of the Association of Polar Early Career
Scientists (APECS) newsletter is available online. This issue highlights
the contributions of early career researchers to polar science.

The newsletter reports on a number of symposia and workshops building
the skills and careers of early careers researchers, recognizes the
achievements of APECS members starting new field campaigns in the
Arctic, and celebrates the award of the Martha T. Muse Prize to APECS
founding member Jose Xavier. It also includes news about the future of
APECS, recent activities, new career opportunities, and the growing
network of polar early career researchers.

To view the newsletter, please go to:
http://tinyurl.com/APECS-AugustNewsletter.