Arctic Field Projects
Project Title: POLAR-PALOOZA (Award# 0632262)
PI: Haines-Stiles, Geoffrey (ghs@passporttoknowledge.com)
Phone: (973) 656.9403
Institute/Department: Geoff Haines-Stiles Productions, inc. (d/b/a PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE),
IPY Project? YES
Funding Agency: US\Federal\NSF\EHR\ESIE
Program Manager: Dr. Sandra Welch (swelch@nsf.gov)
Discipline(s): | Education and Outreach | Legacy Projects |
Science Summary:
Despite the success of well-regarded movies like "March of the Penguins," the polar regions remain a great unknown for most people. Public knowledge about the Arctic and the Antarctic is either nonexistent, incomplete or burdened with misperceptions. The International Polar Year (2007-2009) presents an opportunity to change this. The people who can best effect this change are those who know the poles best, through living or working there. Based on innovative but proven models, POLAR-PALOOZA will use three complementary strategies to engage, inform and inspire large audiences. (1) A national tour, under the title "Stories from a Changing Planet," will include in-person presentations at over 25 science centers, museums, and libraries as well as many schools across North America. The presentations will be augmented by high-definition video taped on location at the poles, audio and video pod-casts, and special education and outreach activities for targeted audiences. "Stories from a Changing Planet" will provide these diverse audiences with an exciting opportunity to meet and interact directly with polar experts, and to appreciate why the Poles and the research being done there are directly relevant to their lives. (2) The “HiDef Video Science Story Capture Corps” (HDvCC) is a team of professional videographers, using the latest generation of low-cost, high-quality cameras, deployed to both poles. They will document the work of multiple researchers and projects, rather than focusing on one topic for one single broadcast. The resulting HD footage will be cataloged, archived and made available as public domain material (via NSF's Office of Legislative and Public Affairs), accessible to government research agencies for media releases, to the researchers and their home universities, and to science centers and museums. (3) POLAR-PALOOZA will edit short video and audio pod-casts from this archive, and distribute them nonexclusively through an open network of websites, including iTunes, Google, Yahoo, and the official IPY, US-IPY, NSF and NASA websites. Intellectual merit: Based on previous experience with the NSF- and NASA-supported MARSAPALOOZA initiative, which demonstrated that charismatic researchers and engineers, properly supported, could serve as effective scientific story-tellers, the project will demonstrate the power of this new model of informal science education, build a support structure for IPY activities, and extend this innovative approach to the critically important arena of environmental changes at the poles, and their global implications. POLARPALOOZA targets underserved groups and regions, and has developed a detailed strategy by which to reach out to females, minorities and mid-sized and smaller communities over the entire two years of IPY. A balanced cadre of researchers, both male and female, young and old, ethnically-diverse and representing the many disciplines engaged in polar research, has already been identified, and over 25 have committed to participating. The project’s Advisors include members of the National Academy’s Polar Research Board, and the two U.S. representatives to the international IPY Education and Outreach Committee. Selinda Research Associates, Inc. will offer formative and summative evaluation, periodically publishing findings of use not just to POLAR-PALOOZA but also to the entire IPY community.
Logistics Summary:
For this IPY education and outreach project, documentary and sound artists will visit both polar regions during 2007 and 2008 to collect new high-definition video (HDV) footage and sound recordings that will contribute to POLAR-PALOOZA (PPZA). In spring 2007 one team member will visit the APLIS field camp north of Prudhoe Bay for just under two weeks in early April. Another team member will accompany the North Pole Environmental Observatory project via Resolute to Alert. Note: Due to an early breakup of the Russian ice runway at "Borneo" the team was unable to document NPEO science activities close to the North Pole. Two PPZA team members will accompany the Lovvorn/Grebmeier teams (NSF grant 0454454) aboard the USCGC Healy for cruise 07-02 in the Bering Sea from mid-May through mid-June 2007. In late spring to summer of the same year, two team members will work in the field with Greenland researchers. The team will accompany researchers in the Ilulissat/Jakobshavn Glacier/Swiss Camp areas. The team also taped at Summit Station and Raven Camp. Later in the summer, a videographer will visit the Barrow, Alaska region for 2 weeks to videotape researchers in the field, including George Divoky and the Oechel group, and to interview Richard Glenn and others about climate change. PPZA may return to Barrow in early- to mid-summer 2008 for up to 4 weeks to videotape complementary fieldwork occurring later in the year and to document work occurring in Chukotka, Russia.
For this project, --VPR will provide ANG coordination and access to field sites on "flights of opportunity," as-needed camping gear and outerwear for a team of four, and any required commercial tickets and user days in Greenland. --The grant is responsible for tickets and lodging en route to Deadhorse, Alaska. Starting in Deadhorse, the participant will be absorbed into the APLIS logistics chain. --The PI will work directly with cruise lead scientist Jackie Grebmeier to arrange logistics for the Alaska/Bering Sea portion of the fieldwork. --For NPEO, the grant is responsible for tickets and lodging en route to Resolute. Starting in Resolute, the participant will be absorbed into the NPEO logistics chain. --BASC will provide access to infrastructure and support at Barrow (2 people for up to 4 weeks) in 2007/08. --The grant is responsible for tickets and lodging to/from Scotia, NY. Any side trips by the research team to non-VPR supported field sites are the financial responsibility of the grant. --For work in Russia, The PI will work directly with BASC to arrange for any work in far eastern Chukotka.
| Season | Field Site | Date In | Date Out | #People |
| 2007 | Alaska - Barrow | 05 / 25 / 2007 | 06 / 01 / 2007 | 2 |
| 2007 | Arctic Ocean and Seas - APLIS | 04 / 02 / 2007 | 04 / 16 / 2007 | 1 |
| 2007 | Arctic Ocean and Seas - Bering Sea | 0 | ||
| 2007 | Canada - Alert, Ellesmere Island | 04 / 14 / 2007 | 04 / 22 / 2007 | 1 |
| 2007 | Canada - Resolute, Cornwallis Island | 04 / 12 / 2007 | 04 / 14 / 2007 | 1 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Ilulissat | 05 / 09 / 2007 | 05 / 14 / 2007 | 1 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Kangerlussuaq | 05 / 06 / 2007 | 06 / 08 / 2007 | 3 |
| 2007 | Greenland - Summit | 05 / 17 / 2007 | 06 / 04 / 2007 | 2 |
| 2008 | Alaska - Barrow | 2 | ||
| 2008 | Russia - Chukotka | 1 |
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