The Arctic and Antarctica. What do those words conjure up in your imagination? Polar bears and penguins? The aurora borealis/australis or the midnight sun? Indigenous cultures, kayaks, and komatiks, perhaps? What about darkness, cold, frostbite, scurvy, and cannibalism? Freezing, thawing and melting? Speaking of which, did someone mention ice? The latter, which occurs in numerous different forms, collectively known as the cryosphere — snow; sea ice; freshwater ice; glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets; permafrost — is the focus of this seven-session course, and provides a framework in which to introduce related information about art and artists, science and scientists, governments and governance, flora and fauna, terrestrial and marine oases, explorers and exploration, consequences of global heating, and more. No specialist knowledge is needed. Just bring your curiosity about the polar regions and ice, and why they matter.

( Martin Jeffries) This course is informed by my career as a polar scientist, who, as an academic researcher, travelled to the Arctic and Antarctica to study sea ice, freshwater ice, icebergs and ice shelves, and later worked for the Federal government as an Arctic research program director and senior polar policy advisor. Now retired and living in West Lebanon, NH, I remain connected to polar science as the current chair of the Polar Research Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.