This issue of the Annals of Glaciology contains a wide range of papers focusing on research carried out as part of the International Polar Year (IPY). The papers present studies of past, present and the future of the large ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, but also studies from much smaller ice sheets and individual glaciers. This volume stands as a testament to the high quality and the wide scope of work done as a part of the IPY.

As the chief scientific editor I would like to thank all the members of the editorial board for their careful and diligent work. The members of the editorial board were: Ed Bueler, Robert A. Bindschadler, Bernd Kulessa, Shawn Marshall, Frank Pattyn, Martin J. Siegert, Andrew M. Smith, David G. Vaughan and John Woodward. Special thanks go to John Woodward for recognising the need for a thematic volume of this type and for his tireless efforts in making this collection of papers possible. I would also like to thank the Secretary General of IGS, Magnus Mar Magnusson, and his staff at the Cambridge office for the production of this volume of Annals of Glaciology.

It is with sadness that I note the death of one of the contributors to this volume, Dr Jens Wendt, who died in an aircraft incident on 6 April 2009 after conducting a very successful layer scanning survey in the central-south Andes of Chile. Jens Wendt was known for his never-ending capacity for hard work and commitment to scientific excellence and his contribution to glaciology will be missed.