Welcome to the Virtual Base Camp, the starting point for your exploration of the polar regions with PolarTREC teachers and researchers! PolarTREC expeditions will journey to the Arctic and Antarctic throughout the International Polar Year (2007-2009). Click on an expedition to learn more about a project, read journals, view photos, post questions, and interact with the team.

Expedition Maps

Arctic Expeditions

Antarctic Expeditions

Current Expeditions

Bering Ecosystem Study: Summer Ice-free Conditions

Bering Sea Ecosystem Study (BEST)-Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program (BSIERP)

June 14 - July 15, 2009 | R/V Knorr, Bering Sea

Teacher Mark McKay Venture Academy/Delta VISTA Stockton, CA

Researcher Ray Sambrotto Columbia University Palisades, NY

Upcoming Expeditions

High Arctic Change ‘09

The Svalbard REU - Holocene and Modern Climate Change in the High Arctic

July 10 - August 15, 2009 | Svalbard, Norway

Teacher Mike Rhinard Riverglen Junior High School Boise, ID

Researcher Ross Powell Northern Illinois University DeKalb, IL Researcher Julie Brigham-Grette University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA

Seabird Ecology in the Bering Sea

Seabird Telemetry - Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program

July 15 - August 15, 2009 | Pribilof Islands, Alaska

Teacher Thomas Harten CHESPAX, Calvert County Public Schools Prince Frederick, MD

Researcher Dan Roby Oregon State University Corvallis, OR Researcher Rosana Paredes Oregon State University Corvallis, OR Researcher Rachael Orben University of California Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA

Greenland Education Tour ‘09

Greenland, Denmark, United States Joint Science Education Tour '09

July 17 - 25, 2009 | Various Locations, Greenland

NSF Einstein Fellow Jennifer Thompson Washington, DC

Alaska Climate Variation ‘09

Coupled Glacial and Lacustrine Evidence for Decadal- to millennial-scale variability in the climatologic Aleutian Low, southern Alaska

July 25 - August 11, 2009 | Southcentral and Southwest Alaska

Teacher Barney Peterson James Monroe Elementary School Everett, WA Researcher Darrell Kauffman Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ

Researcher Heidi Roop Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ Researcher Caleb Schiff Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ

Antarctic Undersea ROV ‘09

Development of a Remotely Operated Vehicle for Under Sea Ice Research in Polar Environments

October 1 - November 15, 2009 | McMurdo Station, Antarctica

Teacher Michele Cross Corning East High School Corning, NY

Researcher Bob Zook Moss Landing Marine Labs Moss Landing, CA Researcher Stacy Kim Moss Landing Marine Laboratories Moss Landing, CA

Polar Bear Response to Sea Ice Loss

Adaptive long-term fasting in land- and ice-bound polar bears: coping with ice loss in the Arctic?

October 17 - December 17, 2009 | Coast Guard Ship, Beaufort Sea

Teacher Cristina Galvan East Palo Alto Academy Menlo Park, CA Researcher Henry Harlow University of Wyoming Laramie, WY

Researcher Merav Ben-David University of Wyoming Laramie, WY Researcher John Whiteman University of Wyoming Laramie, WY

Microorganisms in Antarctic Glacier Ice

Biogeochemistry and Geomicrobiology of Taylor Glacier Basal Ice

October 26 - November 17, 2009 | McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Teacher Lindsay Knippenberg South Lake High School St. Clair Shores, MI

Researcher Mark Skidmore Montana State University Bozeman, MT

Dissolved Organic Matter in Antarctica

The Biogeochemical Evolution of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Fluvial System on the Cotton Glacier, Antarctica

November 27 - December 23, 2009 | Cotton Glacier, Antarctica

Teacher Sarah Diers Langley Middle School Langley, WA Researcher Yu-Ping Chin Ohio State University Columbus, OH

Researcher Christine Foreman Montana State University Bozeman, MT

CReSIS Unmanned Air Vehicle in Antarctica

Surveying Conditions of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

December 1 - January 10, 2010 | West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide, Antarctica

Teacher Gary Wesche St. John Francis Regis School Kansas City, MO Researcher Sridhar Anandakrishnan Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA

Researcher Je’aime Powell Elizabeth City State University Elizabeth City, NC Researcher Richard Hale University of Kansas Lawrence, KS

IceCube: In-ice Antarctic Telescope

IceCube Neutrino Lab

December 19 - January 10, 2010 | South Pole Station, Antarctica

Teacher Casey O’Hara Carlmont High School Belmont, CA Researcher Francis Halzen University of Wisconsin Madison Madison, WI

Researcher Tom Gaisser University of Delaware Newark, DE Researcher Jim Madsen University of Wisconsin River Falls River Falls, WI

Completed Expeditions

Bering Ecosystem Study: Early Spring Plankton and Benthos

Bering Sea Ecosystem Study (BEST)-Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem

March 8 - 31, 2009 | USCGC Healy, Bering Sea

Teacher Deanna Wheeler J. C. Parks Elementary School Indian Head, MD

Researcher Lee Cooper University of Maryland Solomons, MD

Ocean, Atmosphere, Sea Ice, and Snowpack Interactions

Ocean-Atmosphere-Sea Ice-Snowpack (OASIS) 2009

March 15 - April 3, 2009 | Barrow, Alaska

Teacher Betsy Wilkening Wilson K-8 School Tucson, AZ

Researcher Harry Beine University of California at Davis Davis, CA

Geologic Climate Research in Siberia

Scientific Drilling at El’gygytgyn Crater Lake, Chukotka, Northeast Siberia

March 21 - April 22, 2009 | Crater Lake El’gygytgyn, Russia

Teacher Tim Martin Greensboro Day School Greensboro, NC Researcher Martin Melles University of Cologne Researcher Pavel Minyuk Northeast Interdisciplinary Scientific Research Institute

Researcher Christian Koeberl University of Vienna Researcher Julie Brigham-Grette University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA

Bering Ecosystem Study: Spring Plankton and Changing Ice Cover

Bering Sea Ecosystem Study (BEST)-Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program (BSIERP)

March 31 - May 12, 2009 | USCGC Healy, Bering Sea

Teacher Simone Welch Oyster Bilingual ES Washington, DC

Researcher Carin Ashjian Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, MA

Prehistoric Human Response to Climate Change

Social Change and the Environment in Nordic Prehistory: Evidence from Finland and Northern Canada

May 6 - 31, 2009 | Yli-Ii, Finland

Teacher Michael Wing Sir Francis Drake High School San Anselmo, CA Researcher Dustin Keeler State University of New York at Buffalo Buffalo, NY

Researcher Ezra Zubrow University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY Researcher Greg Korosec State University of New York at Buffalo Buffalo, NY

CReSIS Greenland Ice Sheet Studies

Validation and Calibration of High Resolution CReSIS Radar Data

May 22 - June 8, 2009 | NEEM Camp, Greenland

K-12 Science Coordinator Cheri Hamilton Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) Lawrence, KS

Researcher Dorthe Dahl-Jensen University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark