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US Launches International Polar Year on February 26

National Science Foundation and National Academies to co-host kick-off in Washington, D.C.

The United States will mark the start of International Polar Year (IPY) with an event hosted by the National Academies and the National Science Foundation on Feb. 26, 2007, in Washington, D.C. During the ceremony, a panel of polar scientists will discuss the latest research and present an overview of expeditions to take place during IPY. There will also be remarks from government leaders whose agencies play an active role in this international effort.

International Polar Year is a global research effort to better understand the polar regions and their climatic effect on the Earth. More than 200 scientific expeditions will take place over the next two years to study changes to permafrost, the melting of polar ice sheets, and marine life in the cold and dark. The research completed during IPY will provide a baseline for understanding future environmental change.

When:
Monday, Feb. 26, 2007, 10 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Where:
Auditorium, National Academies building, 2100 C St., N.W., Washington, D.C. Those who cannot attend may watch a live video webcast of the event and submit questions using an e-mail form at http://national-academies.org.

Who:
Ralph Cicerone, president, National Academy of Sciences

Members of Congress:

• Brian Baird, representative, Washington (invited)
• Lisa Murkowski, senator, Alaska (invited)

Federal Agency Speakers:

• Arden Bement, director, National Science Foundation
• James Connaughton, chairman, White House Council on Environmental Quality
• Shana Dale, deputy administrator, NASA
• Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Mark Myers, director, U.S. Geological Survey

Science panel:

• Mead Treadwell, chair, U.S. Arctic Research Commission
• Robin Bell, senior research scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, N.Y.
• Robert Bindschadler, chief scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
• Gretchen Hofmann, associate professor, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Deanna Kingston, associate professor, department of anthropology, Oregon State University, Corvallis
• Konrad Steffen, director, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder

Reporters must register in advance with the National Academies' Office of News and Public Information, tel. 202-334-2138 or e-mail news@nas.edu.

Public registration for this free event and more information about IPY is available online at http://www.us-ipy.org/.

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