Below is information about Satellite observations during IPY (GIIPSY), where to download amazing imagery of Antarctica (LIMA), and the IPY Gateway to Polar Observations (Polar View)
To find out more, talk to researchers in the GIIPSY, LIMA, and Polar View projects in the Above The Poles Live Event.
Global Interagency IPY Polar Year Snapshot: GIIPSY
During IPY, a project called GIIPSY, Global Interagency IPY Polay Year Snapshot, is making considerable progress towards characterisation of key high-latitude processes by means of spaceborne snapshots of the polar regions. A number of ongoing efforts are described in the GIIPSY project page which are designed to coordinate these satellite acquisitions, to help demonstrate the benefits of a cryospheric observing system component, and to develop IPY data legacy comprising critical climate benchmarks. The GIIPSY website also has more information.
Read more in these online articles:
EARTHZINE
European Polar Board
Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica: LIMA
A new satellite image of the Antarctic continent is ready for all to see and use. The IPY Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) project has been completed and its stunning result is freely available. Compiled from over 1000 Landsat scenes, the result is a 15-metre resolution, near seamless and cloudless image mosaic of the continent.
A team from NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation and the British Antarctic Survey have worked together for more than a year to produce this uniformly and rigorously processed surface reflectance dataset. In addition to providing scientists with a new tool for discovery and planning, LIMA also provides everyone with a previously unseen and realistic view of the continent.
Anyone interested in seeing the image mosaic and accessing the data should visit the LIMA website at lima.usgs.gov and lima.nasa.gov.
Education tools:
Explore LIMA with NASA Quest, free Web-based, interactive explorations designed to engage students in authentic scientific and engineering processes.
Classroom activities can be found on lima.usgs.gov in the Antarctic mysteries link, then under the subsections of “Is the Ice Moving”.
More about LIMA:
The International Polar Year (IPY) is drawing the public, educators, and scientists closer together around the subject of the polar regions. The education and science communities are becoming increasingly curious and concerned about observed changes of the polar regions. Optical imagery from space, Landsat imagery in particular, is a familiar and effective means to show people their world, including the polar regions as well as being a primary data source in scientific research. Using the first-ever, high-resolution Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) we are familiarizing the public with this remote continent, its vast ice sheet and why what happens there matters to us all. Scientists describe this importance and richly illustrate how satellite remote sensing plays a central role in conducting modern research. Educators, students, and the public are given open access to easy-to-use tools and guided with specific examples to facilitate informed exploration of their own questions about this important area. We are looking for teachers to use LIMA in their classrooms and develop new LIMA activities with their students. The possibility of having students use real data for scientific inquiry should be at the forefront of how science is taught at the high school level.
Polar View: The Polar Information Centre
Polar View is delivering satellite information to support monitoring of the Polar Regions. Often delivered in near real time, it is designed to help operations supporting IPY projects and provides quicker access to required scientific data.
Operating in the Arctic and Antarctic, Polar View brings together multiple information strands from several Earth observation satellites and a variety of service providers. It delivers accurate, near real time information about sea ice conditions in the polar oceans and provides snow and glacier information, plus data about river and lake ice break up for hydrology and flood risk mitigation.
In the Antarctic, most users are ships supporting the science and logistics programmes in the Southern Ocean. Being able to access up to date and accurate information about sea ice concentration and distribution allows them to best place scientific experiments and conduct their operations safely and efficiently in the hazardous sea ice.
As a specific IPY action, Polar View has extended the sea ice services to bring together all operational sea ice information into the IPY Ice Logistics Portal. This provides a convenient point of access to operational sea ice information produced by the world’s ice services and Polar View. Access to products is provided via a series of pre-defined regions for both the Arctic and the Antarctic.
Further information about the Polar View programme and the international consortium responsible for delivering it is available from the links below. Alternatively contact Andrew Fleming at {encode=" This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it " title=" This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it "}
Polar View main site - www.polarview.org
Polar View in the Antarctic - www.polarview.aq
IPY and Google Earth
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