September 21st: International Polar Day

Published on 20.09.2007 - General Info

This Friday 21 September 2007 marks the quarter point of the International Polar Year (IPY) which started this year in March.

At the same time, in Potsdam, Germany, the second ARENA Conference (Antarctic Research, A European Network for Astrophysics) is coming to an end. The objective of this conference was to establish the best scientific choices that would justify a world-class astronomical observatory in the Antarctic. The end of this conference coincides with the International Polar Day.

Sea ice has been the particular focus of this first quarter of the IPY. This is of course the Arctic pack ice and the ice surrounding the Antarctic continent - a world of its own, according to scientists who study these regions. Pack ice expands each winter and retracts each summer. As we have seen during the "Arctic Arc" expedition, it drifts according to the currents and the winds. Its role is to insulate the atmosphere from the oceans' waters (whether it be the Antarctic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean) and to produce the coldest of salt waters.

For anyone who would like to know more about sea ice, please visit the following websites (all in English):

We should also take this opportunity to point out the fact that, this year, researchers have observed the greatest surface reduction of the Arctic pack ice ever occurred. Indeed, recent reports of the NSIDC show that, by the end of the summer season, the Arctic Ocean pack ice had melted down to a record low of 4.78 million km² on August 20 and 4.24 million km² on September 10! The previous record dates back to September 2005, when the surface covered 5.32 million km².