This year is set to become one of the busiest years for Arctic research, as more than 1,000 researchers from around the world plan to converge upon Canada's North to carry out International Polar Year research.

In Nunavut, those who provide on-the-ground support for the visiting researchers say they are bracing for a hectic summer of research activity.

"It's the biggest year, and so I have to make sure that all the ducks line up so that we don't have people camping in tents in the backyard because we don't have space for them," Mary Ellen Thomas, executive director of the Nunavut Research Institute in Iqaluit, told CBC News.

"So it's interesting, logistically."

Thomas said the institute provided support to 40 International Polar Year projects last year, but expects at least three times that many projects this year. That estimate is on top of all the other research going on in Nunavut, she added.

Researchers began their International Polar Year work when the two-year research event launched last March. Various delays, including those involving funding, postponed some projects back then.

"For many reasons, many of the projects were delayed last year, and they're all coming this year. So we're expecting an extremely busy field season," Thomas said.

In Resolute Bay, the federal government organization that provides support to scientific researchers is also anticipating more people coming up for International Polar Year research.

The Polar Continental Shelf Project plans to hire extra staff as it prepares for a 10 to 15 per cent increase in the number of International Polar Year projects, logistics manager Mike Kristjanson told CBC News.

"We're hoping to have two [staff] on-site here fairly soon, and then we're looking at staffing some more base management positions, you know, just to deal with the added workloads," he said.

Operations at the Resolute Bay facility have been busy since February, but the largest wave of researchers will be coming from mid-June to mid-August, Kristjanson said.

Those researchers will be studying everything from anthropology, zoology and health studies to work on glaciers and the atmosphere, he added.

In total, more than 50,000 scientists from more than 60 countries are taking part in International Polar Year, pursuing physical, biological and social research of the Arctic and Antarctic until March 2009. Their research aims to help gauge the impact of climate change on regions expected to be particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures.

The vast majority of the researchers planning to come north this year are Canadian, while 132 others are coming from Japan, Russia, the United States and parts of Europe.

About two-thirds of the research activities will be based on land, with 30 per cent in northern communities. About 10 per cent of the research will take place on icebreakers.

Scientists won't be the only new faces northerners will notice this summer: Thomas said she's also noticed a big increase in the number of journalists interested in covering International Polar Year activities.