The University of Washington conducts exciting polar research. Find out about projects and news at these sites....

Polar Science Center

The University of Washington is one of the world's leading centers of polar science research. Of particular interest is the relationship between polar regions and the global climate system.


North Pole Environmental Observatory

Where have all the buoys gone? Research buoys of the North Pole Environmental Observatory were placed in the ice near the North Pole, but have travelled.... Check out this site for a daily look at temperatures and ice drift around the North Pole.

An international research team established a temporary camp at the North Pole in April 2000, laying the groundwork for a five-year project to take the pulse of the Arctic Ocean and to learn how the world's northernmost sea helps regulate global climate. The team deployed a system of floating buoys and, beginning in 2001, collected data on everything from the salinity of the water in the Arctic Ocean to the thickness and temperature layering of its ice cover. This is the first time such a congregation of drifting buoys was placed at the North Pole.



Stephen G. Warren

Stephen G. Warren, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysics, has studied climate processes on the Antarctic Plateau (at South Pole Station and Vostok Station) and in the Antarctic sea-ice zone (from ships traveling between Australia and Antarctica). The interaction of solar radiation with clouds, snow, sea ice, and ocean water is being studied to determine the relative importance of sea ice and clouds on the energy budget of the Antarctic Ocean. Research on the Plateau has included solar radiation reflected by the snow, thermal conductivity of snow, and deposition of aerosols from the atmosphere to the snow (for interpretation of ice-core records). Currently two University of Washington students in Atmospheric Sciences are working at South Pole Station through the Antarctic winter to measure the spectra of infrared radiation emitted by clouds, snow, and greenhouse gases, and to determine heights, thicknesses and crystal sizes in clouds.

Steve Warren's Stories from South Pole Station


Radar Mapping of Antarctic Ice Streams

New radar mapping techniques allow scientists for the first time to measure long-ago changes in Antarctic ice streams.Don't miss the map of Antarctica's shrinking ice sheet.