How fast are glaciers melting? What impact will polar changes have on the planet? For the next two years, scientists from more than 60†countries will try to answer these questions and others as they study the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The International Polar Year (IPY) will run from March 1, 2007, to March 1, 2009. The two-year span allows researchers enough time to study two annual cycles in each polar region.
This is only the fourth time that nations have banded together to study the poles. The first polar year began in 1881. "Those polar scientists and explorers provided detailed scientific information that we still make reference to today," Paula Dobriansky, of the U.S. State Department, said at an opening ceremony for IPY held in Washington, D.C., last week.
Researchers hope that the new observations will lead to better understanding of what is happening at the ends of the Earth.