Fifth International Polar Year moves ahead with a coordination office at Tromsø in Norway

25 October 2026

Preparations for the Fifth International Polar Year are under way, with the intensive phase to run in 2032 and 2033 and the first project endorsement call expected in late 2026.
Preparations are led jointly by the World Meteorological Organization, the International Arctic Science Committee, the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research and the International Science Council.
The International Coordination Office will be at Tromsø in Norway, led by UiT The Arctic University of Norway with the Norwegian Polar Institute, with a budget of US$10 million over nine years starting 1 January 2027.
Regional offices are at the Korea Polar Research Institute and the Chilean Antarctic Institute, and countries are setting up national committees.
Its priorities include ice-sheet change and sea-level rise, climate feedbacks, water and food security, biodiversity and extreme events.
The initiative builds on more than 140 years of international polar cooperation, the first International Polar Year having been held in 1882 and 1883.