A unique stamp collection, a specially minted silver coin, and an official history will be released as part of the Royal New Zealand Air Force's 75th anniversary celebrations at Parliament tonight.

Bethunes at Webb's is proud to offer the prestigious C L Thomas Collection of rare books and related materials.

The collection was begun by Thomas, a Napier pharmacist, at the beginning of the twentieth century and was extended by his son and daughter-in-law.

A third US retailer has announced it will not stock seafood from Antartica's Ross Sea for environmental reasons, reports Greenpeace.

St John drives some big vehicles, but even we have to bow before the big jets of the United States Antarctic Programme.

HMNZS WELLINGTON has returned from the sub-Antarctic islands, where it helped Department of Conservation workers carry out important research on Auckland Island wildlife.

Christchurch International Airport Limited (CIAL) has released its interim report for the six months to December 31 2011.

The call overnight by the Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA) for an extended marine protected area (MPA) targeted to close down the toothfish fishery is flawed on scientific, conservation and political grounds, Gareth Morgan says.

The NZ Defence Force 2011/2012 season in Antarctica has come to a successful conclusion with the remaining NZ Defence Force personnel leaving Antarctica earlier this week.

Dr Gareth Morgan -

The Our Far South Voyage marked it's half way point over the weekend by getting a welcome and tour at Scott Base, Antarctica. Three days of splendid weather and blue skies, awe-inspiring.

By Gareth Morgan

A couple of weeks ago, 52 Kiwis hopped on board Russian icebreaker, The Spirit of Enderby, and sailed south from Bluff, headed to Antarctica.

PEARL forced to stop year-round monitoring of greenhouse gases, pollution

Canadians have donated about $10,000 to help keep a unique High Arctic research station from closing after its federal funding stops, says the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences.

Presented by professional journalist and professor of journalism, Marion Coomey from Ryerson University, this webinar will outline how to pitch your story idea to the media (and get them interested enough to call back!), how to write a press release, and how to be prepare to be interviewed, including tips and hints for being relaxed and at ease on radio or TV. Recorded 14 March 2012. Also available at http://vimeo.com/38612367.

Welcome to the webpage for the APECS regional chapter for the Northeast US! This is a group for people involved in polar research and based in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware,  Maryland, Virginia or Ohio.

This group was started in early 2012, in order to create a local community and facilitate knowledge sharing, through both structured interactions at conferences as well as informal gatherings at restaurants, coffee shops, and bars.  In the coming years, we hope to grow an active committee, which will provide resources for members to: develop writing and presentation skills, engage in community outreach/education, receive scientific or career guidance from established scientist "mentors," find funding sources, and share research! 

We'd also like to hear what resources, interactions, and opportunities you're interested in, so if you have ideas or want to get more involved in making this group happen, please email Alexandra Giese: alexandra.l.giese.gr@dartmouth.edu or Christie Wood: chwood@clarku.edu

Highly-regarded reference book publisher ABC-CLIO is seeking a qualified author/editor (or co-authors/co-editors) to write/edit a two-volume encyclopedia of Antarctica, geared toward high school students.  Title will be available as a printed book and e-book, sold mostly to high school, public, and academic libraries. Approximate total word count is 300,000-350,000 words, with 250-300 entries around 500-2,000 words each. Included in this word count is a preface, introduction, timeline, and sidebar entries. Role of Author would involve writing entire encyclopedia. Role of Editor would involve writing at least 10% and recruiting and managing contributors to write the rest. Interested author/editors please submit c.v. to Kaitlin Ciarmiello at kciarmiello@abc-clio.com for more information.

Little more than a week ago two Belgian explorers, Dixie Dansercour and Sam Deltour, finished the longest (4829,4 km) unassisted and non-motorized expedition in Antarctica. Adding another chapter to a long history of Belgian Antarctic exploration. The perfect time for a delegation of APECS Belgium to visit the ‘New Belgica Project’. 

Let's refresh our memory by going back to the end of the 19th century. In 1896, Adrien de Gerlache, the most famous Belgian explorer, bought a whaling vessel in Norway and gave it the name 'Belgica'. One year later, he and his international crew set sail for Antarctica, what became the first Belgian South Pole expedition and the first purely scientific expedition to Antarctica. The passenger list included the names of Roald Amundsen and Frederic Cook. Two names that would not go unnoticed in polar history, yet for very different reasons.

However, the expedition did not go as planned. In March 1898 the vessel got stuck into the ice, forcing the crew to spend the winter in the Antarctic. Lack of food and sunlight took its toll on the crew. Two members of the crew went mad; one of them actually left the ship to 'walk back to Belgium'. Two people died during the expedition. Finally, near the end of 1899, the ship returned to the port of Antwerp. With this, the Belgian Antarctica expeditions were born and Adrien de Gerlache and the crew of the Belgica were the first to provide a full annual cycle of observations in Antarctica.

One of APECS' central activities is the Career Development Mentor Panel. Easy to organize at any polar meeting where there are a few APECS members, a mentor panel is a great way to meet mentors and get advice, no matter what stage you might be at in a polar career. At the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting, there was an APECS Panel featuring a range of panellists - from postdocs to experienced researchers and consultants to educators. 

The video of this event is now available here. The panellists introduce themselves briefly and then we opened the floor for a moderated conversation on many aspects of careers in polar science that the audience would like! The panellists are:

• Breck Bowden, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, UVM
  uvm.edu/~wbowden/
• Kriss Rokkan Iversen (1st APECS President), SALT
  salt.nu/
• Valentina Radic (AGU Cryosphere Young Investigator 2011), EOS, UBC
  eos.ubc.ca/about/researcher/V.Radic.html
• Andrew Thompson, CalTech
  gps.caltech.edu/~andrewt/
• John Walsh, IARC, UAF
  iarc.uaf.edu/people/jwalsh
• Janet Warburton, PolarTrec
  polartrec.com/

This panel discussion was sponsored by SEARCH: Study of Environmental Arctic Change, and the venue was provided by ARCUS: The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States. Thanks to the panellists for their time and event organizers Kristin Timm, Angelika Renner, and Allen Pope.

For more on APECS mentors, please visit apecs.is/mentors, and if you're interested in organizing a similar panel at an upcoming Polar conference, please contact APECS at info@apecs.is!

Shell has been training a dachshund and two border collies to detect oil spills beneath snow and ice.

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The Virtual Poster sessions have been going LIVE! Every month a different Polar discipline is in the spot light. The live poster sessions are an opportunity to listen, learn, and ask questions directly from experts in the topic. Plus presenters have the opportunity to present their findings to an international audience. The virtual poster session is just one of the ways APECS helps to connect people and share knowledge. 

It has been very successful. Many senior and early career researches have taken the time to share their research.  All past virtual poster sessions are now available on the website. You can view the video recordings of the sessions at either the VPS Live sessions, the video gallery, or directly from the Vimeo channel. Special thanks to Jenny Baeseman for handling and management and to Samuel German for editing all the videos!

Enjoy what you discover!