UW's first Polar Day is March 30

The UW Future of Ice Initiative is hosting the university's first Polar Day, a day of talks by faculty and students who work in the polar regions, with time for questions and discussions.

The event starts at 9:15 a.m. at the UW Club's Yukon Pacific Room, but attendees are welcome to arrive starting at 8:30 a.m. for coffee and pastries. The first 50 people to arrive will receive a free lunch.

The UW Polar Day Schedule is below:

• 9:15 Eric Steig: Introduction
   
• 9:30 Kyle Armour, Department of Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences
  Why has the Southern Ocean cooled while the Arctic has rapidly warmed?
   
• 10:15 Ben Fitzhugh, Department of Anthropology
  A Fire in the Library: Arctic warming, coastal erosion, and the catastrophic loss of scientific and cultural understanding
   
• 11:00 Coffee break
   
• 11:30 Heather Nicol, UW Visiting Fulbright Chair (Trent University)
  The US Chairmanship of the Arctic Council
   
• 12:15 Lunch break
   
• 1:30 Jodi Young, Department of Oceanography
  How to be fast when you're cold. Phytoplankton physiology at high latitudes
   
• 2:15 Peter Boveng, Erica Escajeda and Irina Trukhanova, NOAA-PMEL and Applied Physics Lab
  Life on the edge: seals, polar bears, and the future of the sea ice in the Arctic
   
• 3:00 Coffee break
   
• 3:30 Knut Christianson, Department of Earth and Space Sciences
  Ice-Sheet Contribution to Sea-Level Rise: How Much, How Fast?
   
• 4:15 Sarah Myhre, Department of Oceanography
  Mt. Baker Ski Area and the Future of Ice Initiative: Academic boundary partnerships in a future of abrupt climate change