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POLAR VIEW
Short Title: Polar View Project URL: http://www.polarview.org/ Proposal URL: http://classic.ipy.org/development/eoi/proposal-details.php?id=372 The proposed activity will build on the Polar View network and infrastructure to develop a single point of access to ice-related information for IPY investigators. Polar View is an international consortium of members from government, industry and academia that have formed a strategic partnership to effect the operational monitoring of polar environments using Earth Observation (EO) technologies. Satellite monitoring is a powerful tool for polar monitoring. It is the only operational method to provide information over large and often inaccessible areas in a cost-effective manner. EO-derived information can support monitoring and analysis related to sustainable development (e.g. transportation, resource exploration, site remediation, bio-productivity monitoring), the environment (e.g. climate change, pollution, animal populations and habitats), and public safety (e.g. activity monitoring, disaster management, search and rescue). It is planned to provide expert control of the remotely sensed information collaboratively with responsible ice services on the basis of routine ice charts, in particular for areas experiencing higher probability for ambiguous interpretation, such as Antarctica, areas during melt season and the fast ice zone. Funded under the European Space Agency (ESA)/European Commission Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative, Polar View brings together service providers, researchers and most of the world's national ice services to provide operational information services related to polar environments to international, national and local stakeholders worldwide. Polar View maintains close links with the JCOMM Expert Team on Sea Ice, the International Ice Charting Working Group, and the European and Canadian Space Agencies to support its operations. A dedicated web portal will be developed to deliver Polar View IPY ice information. It will include a standard suite of products consisting of ice information routinely produced by the national ice services and Polar View for both logistics (e.g. sea ice distribution information for shipping) and science (e.g. development and detailed spatio-temporal distribution of ice leads). In addition, the specialized, custom-tailored products will be offered in support of specific IPY activities. The products will be generated primarily, but not exclusively, using EO data. The portal will be a convenient, single (although not the only) access point for ice-related information. Polar View will contribute its existing mechanisms to minimize EO data acquisition conflicts and coordinate with EO data providers. Access to the information on the Polar View portal will be open to all IPY researchers.