C24A-01 INVITED
Polar Science in a Time of Rapid Change
The polar regions play key roles in the climate system, and we are now in a time of rapid change in the polar regions that is vividly witnessed in daily accounts in newspapers, television, internet sites, and podcasts that depict polar change, including crumbling ice shelves and melting of the fragile Arctic sea ice. The International Polar Year 2007-2009 has focused attention of scientists around the world on polar issues, and the award of the Nobel Prize to the IPCC has served to heighten the awareness of citizens and policy-makers. Now is an unprecedented time to use new technologies to investigate previously inaccessible realms and to form international partnerships to investigate evidence of polar climate change during a time of changing climate. Recent research and education results from the polar research community during the current IPY will be discussed, including those from scientific traverses across Antarctica, expeditions in the Arctic, ice coring in both polar regions, and discoveries by individuals and small groups.