Home Page | Beijing Stories from today's explorers of the North and South about how and why the Poles affect China Beijing: Penguins, Polar Bears and Disappearing Ice Tuesday, October 20 Postgraduate seminar, Chinese Academy of Sciences (not open to the public) Wednesday October 21 - 14:00-17:00 Public presentation at the new Beijing Science and Technology Museum Earth's Poles are the coldest, most remote, and remain the most unexplored regions on the planet. But what happens there affects weather and climate everywhere, even in such a vast nation as China, far from 90 degrees North or South. Today the Arctic and Antarctica are changing faster than anywhere else on Earth, and those changes affect all of us, both now and in the future. And in this first decade of the 21st Century, China is making major new investments in polar research in the Arctic, at sea, and deep in the heart of the Antarctic continent. Now the Poles come to Beijing in an exciting scientific "road show" (or "traveling science presentation.") Leading Chinese researchers join with visiting American scientists to share stories from the North and South, and showcase astonishing new discoveries. What's unique about their presentation - for audiences young and old, specialists and the general public - are their personal stories of adventure and research, supported by dramatic new high-definition video and authentic artifacts, such as the clothing worn to protect against the cold. Presenters include: Cunde Xiao, an expert on how ice cores record Earth's past atmosphere, winner of many Young Career scientist awards, Deputy Director of the Institute of the Climate System, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, and participant in several national expeditions to Antarctica. Cheng-sen Li, distinguished botanist and former Director of the Beijing Museum of Natural History, and a specialist on how fossil plants reveal Earth's changing climate. Professor Li has studied, taught and done research internationally including Antarctica, Wales, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, the United States, Poland, France, India, the Ukraine, and Russia. Mary Alabert, professor of engineering at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, and lead US scientist on the joint Norwegian-US Scientific Traverse of East Antarctica. Dr. Albert also heads the US Ice Core Drilling Program Office and leads continuing snow and ice research at Summit Station, Greenland. Bob Bindschadler, glaciologist for NASA, the US space agency, and expert on using satellites to study the changing ice sheets of both Greenland and Antarctica. In 2008, he led a reconnaissance expedition to Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica, the fastest-moving glacier on the continent. George Divorky, ornithologist at the Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, who has been studying black guillemots on Cooper Island, AK, for more than 30 years, seeing climate change in their evolving nesting patterns. This high-powered team of dynamic presenters will show High Definition videos of their adventures and research, and explain in memorable terms why what's happening at the Poles matters critically to China. They'll model the cold weather clothing that helps them survive, and explain where and how they live, what they eat, and why they love their work. There'll be plenty of time for questions and answers and a chance to interact with some of Earth's most extreme explorers. (With luck, some of the younger members of the audience will be the polar explorers of the next generation!) 2009 is the 50th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty, a landmark international agreement that has preserved the Antarctic for peaceful scientific research. Come celebrate the adventure and example of polar research showing how all Earth's nations can contribute to discovery and exploration! POLAR-PALOOZA in China is made possible by support from the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration, CAA, the Polar Research Institute of China, PRIC (based in Shanghai), and by the U.S. National Science Foundation. A POLAR-PALOOZA Presentation