SCAR Awards a Medal for Achievement to Dr. David Walton of the British Antarctic Survey

From the SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research) Newsletter
Issue 7, June 2006:

"SCAR Awards its First Medals for Achievement"

"On July 12, 2006, as part of the opening ceremony for the SCAR Open Science Conference, in Hobart, Tasmania, the President, Professor Jörn Thiede will award the following three SCAR medals: ... (iii) to Dr. David Walton (UK) the SCAR Medal for International Scientific Coordination. The full citations will be made available at the meeting. SCAR Secretariat team congratulates the Awardees and wishes them all the best in the future."

Ross Goodwin
Arctic Science and Technology Information System (ASTIS)
Arctic Institute of North America, University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Scientists note stunning loss of ice, snow - from CBC North

Last updated May 18 2006 04:23 PM CDT
CBC News
From elders watching the movement of sea ice in Nunavut to climatologists studying satellite weather maps, people are amazed and alarmed by how quickly spring is coming to the Arctic this year.

Record-warm temperatures have taken their toll on ice cover in Canada's Arctic waters and snow cover on land.

"I've never seen it so wide open this time of year," said Environment Canada's David Phillips, talking about the body of water between Baffin Island and mainland Quebec. "It's just blue, blue as the bluest sky."

...

For the full article, please go to the CBC web site at:

http://www.cbc.ca/north/story/nor-warming-icemelt.html

Submitted by Elise Chodat, Bibliographic Systems Librarian, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

Memoirs of Australian Antarctic Scientist John Bunt

John Bunt's Antarctic Memoirs have been published.

Bunt, an Australian scientist now retired, worked on sea ice algae physiology in Antarctica and other topics, and was an early diver under the ice in Antarctica.

About this book:

"A rare account, at first hand, of the brave new world of Antarctica in the early days of the 1950s, within the repetitions and routines of scientific work in a place of ultimate isolation, camaraderie and the magic of the first contact with the last unknown region of our planet." David Malouf

Ordering information is available on the publisher's site at SeaView Press.

Peter Brueggeman
Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library, UCSD

William Mills Polar Book Prize & Award Ceremony

Announcement of the William Mills Polar Book Prize and Invitation to Award Ceremony

H.M. Tory Professor of Anthropology Mark Nuttall's Encyclopedia of the Arctic has won the 2006 William Mills Polar Book Prize.

The prize is awarded biennially to the most important contribution to Arctic or Antarctic literature published in the past two years.

Please join us on Thursday June 22nd, 2006 at 3:30pm MDT in the Professor Emeritus room on the 3rd floor of the Cameron Library, University of Alberta (11320 - 89 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) for the award presentation and light refreshments.

About the Williams Mills Prize

The William Mills Prize is adjudicated by an international committee of Polar Libraries Colloquy members. The Polar Libraries Colloquy is a biennial meeting of librarians and others concerned with the collection, preservation, and dissemination of information dealing with the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The next Polar Libraries Colloquy will be in Edmonton in 2008.

Liz Dennett
Chair of 2006 William Mills Prize Committee
University of Alberta Health Sciences Librarian

Elaine Maloney
Polar Libraries Colloquy Member
Canadian Circumpolar Institute

International Chair of Inuit Circumpolar Conference named Canadian hero by Time magazine

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, International Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, has been named a Canadian hero by Time magazine.

In its third annual list of Canada's Heroes, Time highlights people who have made a difference to their communities and to their country. The article can be found in the June 19, 2006 issue of Time (Canadian edition).

Excerpt from canada.com:

Sheila Watt-Cloutier believes climate change, and the threats it poses, is as much a story of people than a story of science. Through involvement in numerous organizations, including the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and the United Nations Environment Program she has taken the story of the threats to a way of life in the north around the world. Her passion resonates, reflecting her upbringing, her devotion and her courage.

Joanne Noel
Departmental Library
Indian & Northern Affairs Canada