Themes

The international IPY organisation has formulated six research themes for the fourth International Polar Year 2007-2008. Furthermore, the Netherlands national IPY committee has defined a number of preliminary topics of special interest to the Netherlands.

 

National themes

The research plans for IPY in The Netherlands focus on four main themes:

1. Changes in the cryoshere due to climate change
2. Changes in the Southern and Arctic ocean
3. Polar terrestrial and coastal ecosystems and global change
4. Influence of human activities on polar regions, and influence of climate change on humans.

 

International  themes*

1. Status: to determine the present environmental status of the polar regions.
2. Change: to quantify, and understand, past and present natural environmental and social change in the polar regions; and to improve projections of future change.
3. Global Linkages: to advance understanding on all scales of the links and interactions between polar regions and the rest of the globe, and of the processes controlling these.
4. New Frontiers: to investigate the frontiers of science in the polar regions.
5. Vantage Point: to use the unique vantage point of the polar regions to develop and enhance observatories from the interior of the Earth to the Sun and the cosmos beyond.
6. Human Dimension: to investigate the cultural, historical, and social processes that shape the sustainability of circumpolar human societies, and to identify their unique contributions to global cultural diversity and citizenship.

*taken from the Pre-publication copy of "A Framework for IPY" by the ICSU IPY Planning Group,  version October 2004.