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CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University students and members of the public will have a unique opportunity to learn first-hand about the effects of climate change and human impacts on the environment in Antarctica during a special class that will take them to the remote continent for two weeks.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students, and the general public, to explore one of the most remote and least understood – yet most fascinating – regions on Earth,” said Michael Harte, director of OSU’s Marine Resource Management Program, who will lead the trip.

“The Antarctic is where the rubber meets the road, when it comes to global environmental change,” Harte added. “It is the proverbial canary in the coal mine.”

Participants in the field course will see how human impacts, both immediate and from afar, alter ecosystems on a global scale. By observing and studying these changes in a pristine environment, Harte said, the group will gain insight into potential environmental changes that may be in store for the Pacific Northwest, including declining snow packs, shrinking glaciers and changing vegetation patterns.

Changes in Antarctica may also affect Oregon even more directly, Harte pointed out.

“Vast ice shelves, some as large as small states, have collapsed in this region of Antarctica in the last decade due to climate change,” he said. “With these natural barriers gone, ice flows much faster into the southern ocean from the frozen continent’s ice fields. This new ice is a major contributor to the expected sea level rise that threatens our Pacific Northwest coastal communities many thousands of miles away.”

This Study Abroad program will leave for Antarctica in December 2008. Participants will study and conduct research on the Antarctic Peninsula and the tip of South America. Fieldwork will be carried out from a commercial Antarctic expedition vessel and Zodiacs, from which the participants will study Antarctic wildlife, search for signs of environmental change, and explore the impact of humans on a fragile environment.

The group also will spend four days exploring the natural and cultural systems of Tierra del Fuego on the South American continent.

Harte said he is especially excited about leading a diverse group of students and members of the public to the Antarctic Peninsula.

“This is an opportunity for us to collectively discover how interconnected our global environment is and how unsustainable activities in developed countries can have an impact on the remote ecosystems of the globe that, in turn, react in ways that threaten our own way of life.”

Students and members of the public who wish to go on the trip must sign up for the course by Feb. 15. Class size is limited to about 20 persons. Students may sign up for undergraduate or graduate sections.

Participants who sign up for the class will take an online course in fall term of 2008, taught by faculty at OSU and Gateway Antarctica in Christchurch, New Zealand. The program is offered through OSU, under the auspices of the American Universities International Programs. More information, including costs, is available at: http://oregonstate.edu/international/ by typing “Antarctica” in the search engine box. Or call Kristy Spikes at OSU’s International Programs at 541-737-3006.

“This hands-on, experiential learning program, in an area few people have a chance to visit, is an extraordinary opportunity,” Harte said.