International Polar Bear Year

Posted by Evelyn Kanter Mar 7, 2007

This is the first International Polar Year in a half-century and one of the largest collaborative science programs in history.

Previous polar years in 1882–1883, 1932–1933 and 1957–1958 (which was called International Geophysical Year) helped establish much of our current knowledge about these remote and forbidding places, and the animals who live there.

Scientists around the world will focus their attention on the Earth’s polar regions and their relationship to our climate, ecosystems, and society. The goal is to improve our understanding of the critical role of the polar regions in global processes, get the public talking about it, and help attract the next generation of earth scientists.

The First International Polar Year was inspired by Karl Weyprecht, an officer with the Austro-Hungarian navy. Weyprecht argued that polar expeditions should be driven by scientific research instead of exploration. Although he died before the First International Polar Year in 1882, 11 countries participated in 15 Polar expeditions, fulfilling his dream and heralding a new age of scientific discovery

Twenty-five years later, 40 nations participated in Arctic research from 1932-1933, mostly studying meteorology, magnetism, aurora, and radio science.

in 1957, 67 nations conducted research, with 12 nations maintaining 65 stations in Antarctica, which continue to monitor changes in weather and the number and behavior of its animals, including the polar bear.