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Pole Watch
International Polar Year examines how the eco-systems of the arctic and antarctic regions affect the Earth; Barnard College helps organize upcoming Polar Weekend at the American Museum of Natural History
Mar. 7, 2007 — "I don't think anything really prepares you for the shock of it," says Anne Aghion '82. She is talking about Antarctica, that vast and frozen continent on the bottom of the world, untouched by permanent human settlement. "The shock occurs on so many levels. The shock of scale, the shock of cold. It really boggles the mind." Aghion, an Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker, spent four months in Antarctica last fall documenting what that extraordinary place does to the people who live and study there. "Some people feel obliterated by it. Others feel enlarged."
Aghion will present clips from Living Antarctica—in which she tries to convey the cold and the scale and the enclosing silence (a silence unlike anything most people have ever known, she notes)—and share information about her experience at the American Museum of Natural History's upcoming Polar Weekend this Saturday and Sunday. Hers will be one of two-dozen performances, lectures, and presentations celebrating International Polar Year (IPY), which began March 1. IPY is an enormous cooperative and interdisciplinary project (perhaps the largest ever) that will coordinate the work of thousands of scientists in dozens of countries dedicated to the increasingly urgent work of studying the North and South Pole and how they interact with the earth's climate system as a whole. (For more on IPY, visit www.ipy.org.)
Photo by Anne Aghion '82
Saturday's event, which features a half-dozen prominent Barnard affiliates among its organizers and exhibitors, opens at noon with a Canadian Inuit throat singing exhibition. The event goes on to consider all aspects of the past, present, and future of the Poles, from stories of intrepid explorers who first observed those regions, to the ancient record of the earth's changing climate preserved in its ice, to the clues these regions offer us into the future of a warming climate. Because New York City has, for more than a century, been a hub of polar discovery, with explorers and scientists setting off from its piers, this year's gathering focuses on the city's vital role in the history of polar exploration. Climate scientists will be on hand to explain to the public the state of our present knowledge. The event is pitched toward families with their children, with segments on penguins and polar bears, among others.
"Polar regions are feeling the effects of Global Warming first and fastest," says Stephanie Pfirman, an oceanographer and chair of Barnard's Environmental Science Department, one of the official organizers of Polar Weekend. This is the fourth international program to study some aspect of the earth's systems. The first Polar Year was marked in 1882-1883, the second in 1932-1933. More than 20 years after that came International Geophysical Year, from 1957-1958. The current program actually is slated to last two years so that scientists can observe changes through two complete seasonal cycles. At the end of the two-year period, says Pfirman, we will have a much clearer picture of the prospects the earth faces. Current estimates suggest that the entire North Pole could be ice-free in summer by 2060. "This couldn't be happening at a better time. We are at a critical moment and we really need to know what's happening," she says.
—Wesley Yang
Polar Weekend is organized and co-sponsored by Barnard College, the American Museum of Natural History, Columbia University, the Explorer's Club, and Wings World Quest. Those leading and participating in the two-day festival of lectures, panel discussions, films, and family events include:
Anne Aghion '82, an Emmy award-winning filmmaker and a 2005 Guggenheim Fellow now at work on a documentary film about the extraordinary human adventure of conducting science in Antarctica. Supported by NSF's Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, the film is slated to air on the Sundance Channel in 2008. More information can be found at www.livingantarctica.org.
Elaine Charnov '85 is the director of The Public Programs and artistic director of the Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. She has taught documentary film workshops at universities worldwide and has written for U.S. and international publications on issues relating to anthropology film and media.
Ellen Futter '71 has been president of the American Museum of Natural History since 1993. She previously served for 13 years as president of Barnard College, where, at the time of her inauguration, she was the youngest person to assume the presidency of a major American college. With her strong record of public service, she is widely recognized as a dynamic voice for education and is an active supporter of women's issues.
Laura Kay is professor of physics and women studies at Barnard College. Her main research interest has been the study of Active Galactic Nuclei through spectropolarimetry. Professor Kay was one of the first women to overwinter at the US South Pole Station. She co-teaches, with Stephanie Pfirman, Barnard's First Year Seminar on Exploring the Poles.
Stephanie Pfirman, co-leader of the event, is Alena Wels Hirschorn '58 and Martin Hirschorn Professor in Environmental and Applied Sciences Professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Science. Throughout her career, Professor Pfirman has been involved with researching the Arctic environment, and is currently investigating environmental aspects of Arctic sea ice. A member of the National Academy of Science's Polar Research Board, she has also dedicated herself to the development of women scientists and interdisciplinary scholars, and currently serves as co-PI on the NSF-sponsored Advancing Women in the Sciences Initiative of the Columbia Earth Institute.
Debika Shome '98 is the assistant director at the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED), an interdisciplinary center that studies human reactions to climate change. She is currently working on a project that examines the role of experience in climate change detection, risk perception, and behavior in New York City. At AMNH IPY, she will be presenting information on the psychology of global warming.
For more information on Polar Weekend, please visit www.amnh.org/polar. |
