New framework to link up Europe’s polar research

More than 26 leading scientific institutions across Europe are signing up to closer research cooperation through a new European Polar Framework agreement today in Brussels.  The framework agreement is a major outcome from the four-year EUROPOLAR ERA-NET initiative, funded by the European...

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Podcast: Professor Jörn Thiede on the European Research Icebreaker Aurora Borealis

Professor Jörn Thiede from the University of Copenhagen, who is also the former director of the Alfred Wegener Institute (1997 – 2007), speaks about the European Research Icebreaker Aurora Borealis. The development of Aurora Borealis, the first European research vessel for the Arctic, is the main...

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The technical design of the European Research Icebreaker - Aurora Borealis

(Berlin) The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association and the engineering company Wärtsilä Ship Design Germany (formerly Schiffko, GmbH) today presented the technical design of the European Research Icebreaker “Aurora Borealis" in Berlin. Aurora Borealis...

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European Commission recognises ESF’s role in European research on polar science

The European Commission has adopted a new communication plan on "The European Union and the Arctic Region" which highlights the effects of climate change and human activities in the Arctic. Apart from setting out EU interests and policy objectives, the new plan, which marks the first step towards...

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What is really happening to Greenland ice cap?

The Greenland ice cap has been a focal point of recent climate change research because it is much more exposed to immediate global warming than the larger Antarctic ice sheet. Yet while the southern Greenland ice cap has been melting, it is still not clear how much this is contributing to rising...

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Europe's Polar Ambitions

Please click here for the article Europe's Polar Ambitions by SciencePoles For more on SciencePoles  please go to www.sciencepoles.org

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Editorial: Cold Rush for Polar Position

Please click here for an editorial written by Paul Egerton (the executive director of the European Polar Board and the European Polar Consortium at the European Science Foundation), Carlo-Alberto Ricci (professor of geology at the University of Siena and the chairman of the European Polar...

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IPY needs full archive system to continue ‘extraordinarily success’, director says

International Polar Year (IPY), the largest and most ambitious scientific effort for half a century, has been an “extraordinarily international success” since its launch in March 2007 but the initiative could be in danger of losing its momentum and purpose if a comprehensive data storage facility...

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Aurora Borealis breaks new grounds - and old ice

It can crush ice sideways and stay precisely on station to an accuracy of a metre. It can drill a hole 1,000 metres deep into the seabed while floating above 5,000 metres of ocean and it can generate 55 megawatts of power.  Aurora Borealis will be the first ever international ship, the...

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Podcast: European Polar Board’s Professor Carlo-Alberto Ricci on the EPB’s works and INFRAPOLAR

Listen to the podcast The Chairman of the European Polar Board (EPB) Professor  Carlo-Alberto Ricci speaks about the EPB’s achievement in 2007 and its plan for 2008. He also discusses the EPB’s plan to launch INFRAPOLAR, an effort to network European Polar Research stations in the Arctic and...

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