The USGS has a long tradition of scientific monitoring, assessment, and research in the Polar regions.

Beginning with the geophysical and geological surveys carried out in Antarctica in cooperation with the National Science Foundation after WWII, the USGS has participated in activities as diverse as topographic mapping and geodetic control in Antarctica, satellite and ground-based monitoring of glaciers and ice caps, research on movements, distribution patterns and adaptation of polar wildlife, estimates of circum-Arctic energy resources, monitoring changes in permafrost temperatures, and the development of paleoclimate records from polar ice cores.