Greenland is a key area in the global climate process. The Greenland Ice Sheet is the largest body of freshwater ice in the northern hemisphere. In recent years it has become very clear that global warming is causing the ice sheet to lose mass. Increased melting and ice discharge would have major consequences for global sea level. The warming climate is also already having a considerable impact on the lifestyle of the people of Greenland.
During the next few weeks the Ice Blog will be written from an expedition to Greenland, beginning with a visit to Zackenberg Research Station in remote North Eastern Greenland. Zackenberg is an ecosystem research and monitoring facility at 74°30’N/21°W. The station is owned by the Greenland Home Rule and is operated by the National Environmental Research Institute.
The Ice Blogger will also be visiting the interior ice sheet and the coastal glaciers, finding out first hand about the work of scientists monitoring climate change and its effects, the latest research results, and the implications both for the people of Greenland and for the rest of the world.
Deutsche Welle’s Ice Blog is part of an international broadcasting collaboration to mark the International Polar Year, partly founded by the National Science Foundation. I am extremely grateful to the NSF, Moira Rankine of Soundprint Media Inc. USA who coordinates the international project and my own organisation Deutsche Welle for making all this possible.

People have been asking why there have be no ice blog entries for a few weeks. Sorry, but I have been out of action. Yes, I know, we missed lots of opportunities to talk about the latest climate change developments, from international politics to alarming sea ice measurements and a record number of species under threat. But – sadly – these problems will stay with us for quite some time to come, so we’ll still have plenty of opportunities for debate.
A quick reply to KwanLam Wong, who has been asking how he can contribute to the blog from California. Please keep following it and commenting Kwanlam, and keep us posted on how climate change is affecting California. Your state’s financial problems seem to have been stealing the limelight (as well as Michael Jackon, of course). Otherwise California has the reputation of being a leader in the USA on environmental issues. How do you see that from the inside? An as an architect, are you designing buildings with a minimal environmental impact?
The big Ice Blog news is that I am off to GREENLAND, via Iceland next Monday. That will be my 3rd Arctic trip. More in the Ice Blog in the days to come.

The latest round of UN climate talks are underway here in Bonn.
I came across this “beggar” outside the swish hotel in Bonn where the conference is taking place. I think his motto says it all:

It doesn’t often happen that I hear something on the news that makes me shout “hooray” as I’m driving along in the car. I did that yesterday when I heard the Obama administration has revoked a rule passed by their predecessors excusing oil and gas companies in polar bear habitat from special reviews to make sure their work doesn’t harm the animals.

(One of those great pics for WWF by Erik Malm)
It was a scandalous decision, taken as one of President Bush’s last official acts, which illustrates his low respect for nature conservation and backward policies on fossil fuels and climate change.
US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said science had to serve as the foundation for government decisions and federal agencies would have to consult with biologists before taking any action that might affect threatened or endangered species. Good on you Mr Salazar, and more power to you and your team. As President Obama marks his first 100 days in office, there are plenty of positive signs for the environment and climate policy. Nature conservation, renewable energies for energy security and job creation – let’s take that as an upbeat ending to today’s blog post. Good news for the bears for a change. We’ll catch up with the penguins’ problems later…

I recently had an interesting visitor. Moira Rankin, from the US Soundprint Media enterprise, one of my partners in the ongoing Arctic feature series, dropped in to Bonn on a trip to Europe. She is heading for Siberia, to visit a core drilling project, which I hope to be able to give you more news on in May.
Moira was telling me about a forum they’d held to get peoples’ reactions to some of our programmes on climate change. One of the main things that came out was that people really want to know “what does it mean for me”? Climate change really comes home to people when they know it is going to affect them personally.
Well here in Bonn, on the Rhine, in the German state of North-Rhine Westfalia, we’ve been presented with the results of a study looking exactly at that today.
The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, one of the world’s most renowned bodies of its kind, conducted a study commissioned by the states’ Ministry for Environment, Conservation, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. And the results indicate the need for future-oriented policy, now.
We are going to get more heavy rain in winter, with higher risk of flooding. In summer, it’s likely to be the very opposite, with hot, dry summers and less water in the rivers. This, in turn, will affect energy, because we need water for cooling. In some regions, we may also see less ground water forming, because of higher evaporation in hot weather. There are a lot of implications for health, agriculture and biodiversity. We can also expect more frequent and more powerful storms.
Of course this in not as dramatic in some areas of the world, where people’s very existence will be under threat and they will have to migrate to survice.
But as Moira found in her listener research – people are more likely to pay attention and see a need for action if they know they’re going to be affected personally.