The IPY Oslo Science Conference, scheduled for 8-12 June, is one of the biggest polar science meeting. Four IPF staff members will be attending. Needless to say, we are all exited.

Early results from studies undertaken during the International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY) will be released. Particular emphasis will be put on new research into the linkages between climate change in the Polar Regions and global climate systems.

IPY Oslo will provide an excellent opportunity to get up to pace with the latest in global climate research - some of which will provide the scientific foundation for COP16 in Mexico in November, as well as the next IPCC report.

Science Conference

• Jean de Pomereu is the Convenor of the session: 'Global Learning: The Impact of the Media', on Friday 11 June AM
• Joseph Cheek is presenting the media coverage of the Princess Elisabeth Station during the same session

Both of them will also dedicate some of their time to interviewing scientists from the polar science community for our SciencePoles website.

Teachers Conference

At the same time, 114 teachers from 20 countries will gather in Oslo for the Oslo IPY Teachers Conference.

• Sandra Vanhove is a member of the Polar Teachers Conference Committee;
• Mieke Sterken, the former Belgian representative in the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS), is a science mentor in APECS’ early career workshop from June 5th to 7th.

Polar Cinema

A couple of IPF movies will also be featured during the polarCINEMA programme taking place during the whole week.

Because of the ash cloud spitted out by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, our colleague Nathalie Van Isacker has to spend a few more days in Shanghai than what was originally planned. That gave her a bit more time to visit the city, take more pictures of the Ice Cube Project and attend the first “test day” of the exhibition.

Since the Ice Cube might not be shipped back to Belgium after the Shanghai World Expo, we were thrilled to receive these new pictures and we thought that we would share them with all of you.

  We don’t know yet when Nathalie will be fly back to Belgium, since air traffic is only starting to resume here in Brussels. Meanwhile, she is buzzy participating in the project supervision and running the last tests before the grand opening on May 1st 2010. We don’t know yet when Nathalie will fly back to Belgium, since air traffic is only starting to resume here in Brussels. Meanwhile, she is busy participating in the project supervision and running the last tests before the grand opening on May 1^st 2010.

To prepare for the grand opening of the Shanghai World Expo 2010, Nathalie Van Isacker, our Scientific Officer at the International Polar Foundation, will be in Shanghai from April 15th to April 19th. She will help Maria Millan from Atelier Brückner supervise the on-site construction of the giant “Ice Cube” for the EU Belgian Pavilion.

Once completed, the IPF’s “Ice Cube” will highlight Belgium’s support of science and showcase our country’s efforts to cut CO₂ emissions. The theme of the exposition, “Better city, better life”, is an ideal background for the International Polar Foundation to present the Princess Elisabeth Station and the Polaris Climate Change Observatory in the two blocks that make up the “Ice Cube”. You will be able to see the rapid progress being made on the “Ice Cube” in the accompanying picture gallery.

In the meantime, we would like to thank all of our partners and the project team for everything they’ve done to make this project possible.

CryoSat-2, successor to CryoSat, was launched successfully from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on April 8th, 2010. The freshly launched satellite will provide accurate data on the variations of ice thickness in the Polar Regions, whether on land or on the sea surface. CryoSat-2, the third of the Earth Explorer satellites to have been launched in the past year, is part of a larger European effort to better understand the impact of climate change on these remote, yet sensitive regions.

Back in 2007, Alain Hubert, President of the International Polar foundation took snow depth measurements during his “Arctic Arc expedition”. This crossing from Siberia to Greenland, covering 1,654 kilometers in 106 days, was an ideal opportunity for the ESA to collect precious data that would contribute significantly to the validation of the CryoSat mission.

Representing the IPF at the CryoSat-2 launch event at Darmstadt, Germany, Executive Director Thierry Touchais underlined the need for better education around polar sciences and climate to bring citizens to a sound level of awareness and knowledge about the complex issues of climate.

During an official ceremony that took place on April 1^st, 2010, Mrs. Sabine Laruelle, Belgian Federal Minister for Science Policy, and Alain Hubert, President of the International Polar Foundation, signed a partnership protocol between the IPF and the Belgian State. The protocol, besides marking the donation of the Princess Elisabeth research station to the Belgian State, defines the International Polar Foundation as the Antarctic Operator within the Belgian Polar Secretariat and the rightful owner of the intellectual property rights as the author of Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.

 The Belgian Polar Secretariat is responsible for all scientific, operational, financial and administrative matters related to Princess Elisabeth Antarctica in order to conduct scientific research in a safe environment. This public-private partnership will now be presided over by Alain Hubert for a five-year term.

Just a quick Monday news to tell you that we are thrilled to see that the Ice Cube structure is currently being built on the site of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo.

Project Manager Maria Millan (Atelier Brückner) is currently supervizing the construction of the Ice Cube shell and the realisation of the scale models for both the Polaris Climate Change Observatory and the Princess Elisabeth Station. The whole IPF team is quite happy to receive these pictures showing that the project is progressing at a rapid pace. We have all put a lot of efforts into this and it is nice to see them pay off.

We hope to be able to post a picture gallery and more updates as soon as possible. Meanwhile, many thanks to the whole project team and to all our partners.

On March 22nd, Steven Goderis, a PhD student at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, became the second recipient of the Antarctica InBev-Baillet Latour Fellowship Award. The official awarding ceremony took place at headquarters of the International Polar Foundation in Brussels and was attended by representatives of both the InBev-Baillet Latour Funds and the IPF.

The Antarctica InBev-Baillet Latour Fellowship Award, a joint initiative by the InBev Baillet Latour Funds and the International Polar Foundation, was given to Steven Goderis for his “Micrometa” project, which will look in-depth at micrometeorites to try to gain better insight into planet formation and the evolution and development of our solar system. With the 150,000-Euro grant, the young doctoral student will now have the opportunity to pursue his research at and in the vicinity of the Princess Elisabeth Station in Antarctica.

Mr. Goderis, who has already been to Antarctica this season to take part in the 51st Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE 51) to look for meteorites, will return to Antarctica to pursue his “Micrometa” project within the next two years.
 

During a ceremony at the Princess Elisabeth Station, Sven Kerremans (Laborelec) and Jean Chalon (Schneider Electric) symbolically handed over the keys of the station's technical core to Alain Hubert, President of the International Polar Foundation. The event celebrated the completion of the final systems tests. The Princess Elisabeth Station is now officially the first research station ever to solely operate on renewable energies!

This world première was made possible by an innovative energy management system designed and implemented by Laborelec (GDF Suez), which rests on a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), the "brain" of the station developed by Schneider Electric.

Princess Elisabeth Antarctica thus proves that an alternative approach to energy consumption is possible by distributing available resources according to priorities, instead of endlessly supplying energy to meet an uncontrolled demand. By the end of this Antarctic summer season, a new satellite link will allow all the energy-related systems to be managed and adjusted remotely throughout the winter season.

Polar Quest is the new educational project from the International Polar Foundation, supported by the "Actieplan Wetenschapscommunicatie" of the Flemish Government.

The project was submitted within the framework of a call for submissions by the Departement Economie, Wetenschap en Innovatie (EWI) for educational projects popularizing science.

The aim of Polar Quest is to inform students of the challenges and importance of scientific research in the Polar Regions, with particular focus on the brand new Belgian Princess Elisabeth Station in Antarctica. This will be achieved through participation in a contest in which the teacher of the winning class will have the unique opportunity to conduct scientific research at the PEA Station in Antarctica! As for the students, they will take home some wonderful prizes as well.

The contest will start during the 2010-2011 school year and will be open to all Flemish classes of the 5th grade of secondary school (16-17 years old). For more information, please visit EducaPolesn (Project in Ducth only).

The International Polar Foundation was invited to be part of the Belgian pavilion to showcase Belgium’s involvement in sciences related to better understanding our climate. Working with Atelier Brückner (Stuttgart), the IPF has devised an LED-lit giant ice cube to draw visitors into the world of Polar Regions, polar science and climate change, with the Princess Elisabeth Station as the main feature.

Passive buildings and energy efficiency are at the heart of the Princess Elisabeth Station and central to the World Expo 2010 main theme: “Better City, Better Life”. Belgium’s involvement in polar science and better climate knowledge is a gateway to the broader context of current Climate Change.

This Ice Cube is divided in two spaces, separated by a “crevasse” through which visitors can walk. Movies and sounds recreating the atmosphere of Polar Regions will be displayed on one wall of this crevasse, while the other wall will be made of real ice slowly melting.

Windows open on the sides of this Ice Block will reveal both spaces inside.

First Space

• Princess Elisabeth Station: situation model
• Climate Change: where are we at?
• Aiming for Zero Emission: changes are mandatory and technologies are available

Second Space

• Climate Change and its impact on you (the visitor)
• Bridging the Science-Society divide
• Existing solutions

More news, along with a fully detailed project sheet will be published shortly, but we wanted to share this project with you as soon as we could.