Second International Polar Year (1932)
The Second International Polar Year (1932-1933) encouraged research in meteorology, magnetism, atmospheric science, and in a charged layer of the atmosphere, the ionosphere, which is integral to space weather near Earth.
The Second International Polar Year (1932–1933) was proposed and established by the International Meteorological Organization in order to build on the successes of the first International Polar Year. Scientists also wished to focus on new scientific investigations, such as on the global implications of the newly discovered jet stream, a fast moving wind through the atmosphere.
The Second International Polar Year commenced on Aug. 1, 1932, and continued until Sept. 1, 1933. Forty nations participated, and despite the dire global economic conditions, it heralded advances in meteorology, magnetism, atmospheric science, and in the mapping of phenomena in a charged layer of the atmosphere called the ionosphere, which advanced radio science and technology.
The results were long lasting. Forty permanent observation stations were established in the Arctic -- a significant expansion in ongoing scientific Arctic research. In Antarctica, the U.S. contribution was the second Byrd Antarctic expedition, which established a winter-long meteorological station approximately 125 miles south of Little America Station on the Ross Ice Shelf at the southern end of Roosevelt Island. This was the first research station inland from Antarctica’s coast.