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LATEST NEWS Presented below are News items related directly to Polar View activities, events and services.
05.02 - Polar View providing ice flow imagery to Russian Polar Expedition team Polar View is providing support to two Russian explorers - Fedor Konyukhov and Viktor Simonov - who have embarked on Russian Polar Expedition 2013: North Pole - Greenland. The expedition, which embarked on April 6, 2013 and continues for four months, will cover 4000 kilometres from the North Pole to the Greenland Ice Cap through the Arctic Ocean. [Read More]
10.11 - Report on Space Technologies and Arctic Policies This report aims to provide a comprehensive and coherent perspective on how space-based technologies can support Arctic policies at national, regional, and international levels. [Read More]
09.28 - EUMETSAT will host workshop on European Satellite Snow Monitoring Perspectives The workshop, to be hosted in Darmstadt, Germany, aims to bring the major European satellite snow monitoring initiatives together with their key users to examine the current status and future development of satellite snow monitoring capabilities. [Read More]
05.30 - Video Synopsis of Snow in Europe During the 2011-2012 Winter Vista products, extending to the East, West and South regions of Europe, demonstrate lasting snow cover. [Read More]
09.07 - Polar View imagery tracks ice shelf calving triggered by Japan's earthquake and tsunami Recent satellite photos from the European Space Agency show huge icebergs were created when the Japanese tsunami hit West Antarctica's Sulzberger Ice Shelf. [Read More]
For the first time, Barcelona World Race officials are utilizing sophisticated satellite data, reconstructed and analyzed by a team of experts at C-Core, to monitor iceberg activity in the Southern Ocean. In the past, skippers sailed "blind" through the southern ocean as there was little conventional shipping traffic travelling through this the area and satellites of the time only made visible or infra-red "pictures" available. These images were often useless due to the dominant cloud cover prevalent in this part of the world. [Read More]
09.20 - Polar View team member assists in tracking massive Petermann Ice Island A senior project engineer with C-Core, a Newfoundland, Canada based research firm and Polar View team member, is actively involved in tracking an ice island - the largest of its kind in the northern hemisphere since 1962 - originally calved from the Petermann glacier (of Greenland). [Read More]
09.13 - Polar View launches enhanced and consolidated Snow Monitoring Portal for 2010-11 season For the 2010-11 winter season, Polar View proudly launches an enhanced and consolidated Snow Monitoring service that combines and streamlines the various products of our service partners, and offers geographical coverage of the complete pan-European service area. [Read more]
The recently re-launched Polar View Antarctic Node website, coordinated by the British Antarctic Survey, won the prestigious 2010 British Cartographic Society Avenza Award for excellence in electronic mapping. [Read More]
04.30 - Polar View Adds New Antarctic Ice Chart Service to Its Portfolio Polar View in the Antarctic region recently launched an enhanced interpreted ice chart service. This service compiles data from a variety of different of sources to provide ice charts at a much higher resolution that are updated more frequently than those previously available. [Read More]
04.27 - Polar View releases 2005-2009 Final Report The Polar View 2005-2009: Final Report summarizes the operations and achievements of the Polar View consortium between 2005 and 2009. [Read More]
02.08 - Polar View Antarctic Node launches new website and enhanced ice service for 2010 season Polar View sea ice service in the Antarctic, coordinated by the British Antarctic Survey, has greatly improved the service for the 2009/2010 Antarctic season. A combination of easier access through the new website and a significant increase in the number of images available means more real time sea ice information for users ranging from science vessels and tour ships to rescue missions. [Read More]
In a recent press release, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador boasted of the high level of expertise the province had in dealing with water management issues and the innovative technologies it had available to do so, and Polar View was mentioned as a key contributor to attaining this achievement. [Read More]
View
2009 News Items
Konyukhov and Simonov are using Yellow Brick (Iridium) beacons for tracking, to give the support team their accurate position. The ice drift images provided by Polar View will help in ice navigation and give the support team an impression of whether they will beat the summer ice melt to their goal in Greenland. They are currently covering 20 to 25 kilometres daily. Polar View previously helped Konyukhov in 2008 as he sought to sail around Antarctica. During that expedition, the explorer was provided with iceberg location in the southern Atlantic Ocean. [For more detail on the explorers and Russian Polar Expedition 2013 please visit www.konyukhov.ru/]
Vista products, extending to the East, West and South regions of Europe, are used to measure lasting snow cover. A video demonstrating a 10-day time-lapse of these measurements for the winter between the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012 can be seen here.
Recent satellite photos from the European Space Agency show huge icebergs were created when the Japanese tsunami hit West Antarctica's Sulzberger Ice Shelf. This caused 125 sq km of ice to break off - or calve - from a shelf front that has remained stable for the past 46 years. These findings, by a US based team of scientists from NASA, University of Chicago and Northwestern University, were recently published in the Journal of Glaciology. (Vol. 57, No. 205 2011, p785-788). The waves generated by the 9.0 Magnitude earthquakes in Japan travelled about 13,000km across the Pacific Ocean before reaching the Sulzberger Ice Shelf, causing ice to break off and float into the sea. These activities were monitored in detail using a series of these 30m resolution georeferenced images provided by the Polar View team (www.polarview.aq). The journal article in full is available here.
For the first time, Barcelona World Race officials are utilizing sophisticated satellite data, reconstructed and analyzed by a team of experts at C-Core, to monitor iceberg activity in the Southern Ocean. In the past, skippers sailed "blind" through the southern ocean as there was little conventional shipping traffic travelling through this the area and satellites of the time only made visible or infra-red "pictures" available. These images were often useless due to the dominant cloud cover prevalent in this part of the world. Utilizing multiply special-request images obtained from the European Space Agency satellites, C-Core experts analyzed and simplified the data and concluded that there was a real threat from a very large iceberg. This iceberg had just "broken-up" resulting in multiple icebergs of more than 4 kms, dozens of icebergs of 'a few' hundred metres, and hundreds, if not thousands, of smaller pieces. The resulting ice field would have been almost certain to have presented a great danger for the fleet of the Barcelona World Race. Polar View's iceberg monitoring services will be instrumental in reducing this risk and supporting race officials in directing competitors safely through the course. [To see the satellite detection maps as
well as read the full story on the Barcelona World Race website, please
visit www.barcelonaworldrace.org,
or to obtain more information about Polar View's Iceberg Monitoring
service, please visit our Iceberg
Monitoring Service Page]
A senior project engineer with C-Core, a Newfoundland, Canada based research firm and Polar View team member, is actively involved in tracking an ice island - the largest of its kind in the northern hemisphere since 1962 - originally calved from the Petermann glacier (of Greenland).
[To read the full Canada Press story, please visit www.news1130.com, or to obtain more information about Polar View's Iceberg Monitoring service, please visit our Iceberg Monitoring Service Page]
For the 2010-11 winter season, Polar View proudly launches an enhanced and consolidated Snow Monitoring service that combines and streamlines the various products of our service partners, and offers geographical coverage of the complete pan-European service area.
Common and enhanced information on the snow-covered area fulfils the demands for a larger user group, e.g. the global change community and gives stronger recognition and publicity to Polar View. The concept of the portal was developed utilizing the following principles: - intuitive usability by interested parties; The new Snow Service Portal gives users access to recently enhanced 10 day composite products of each service with consolidated specifications and the derived 'Combined Product'. In addition, the portal provides direct links to the service providers and contact persons for the snow products within more narrowly defined geographical regions. [To obtain more information about Polar View's Snow Monitoring service, please visit our Snow Monitoring Service Page]
The recently re-launched Polar View Antarctic Node website, coordinated by the British Antarctic Survey, won the prestigious 2010 British Cartographic Society Avenza Award for excellence in electronic mapping.
Currently, images presented on the website come mainly from Envisat's Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar, which can see through cloud and darkness to acquire the detailed images that are needed for safe and efficient shipping in this region. Simple tools allow users to zoom into areas of interest and download the information they require. [For more detail on the British Cartographic Society Awards please visit www.cartography.org.uk or to read related article on the European Space Agency website, please visit www.esa.int]
Polar View in the Antarctic region recently launched an enhanced interpreted ice chart service. This service compiles data from a variety of different of sources to provide ice charts at a much higher resolution that are updated more frequently than those previously available.
Catering in particular to research vessels and supply ships heading to the research stations in the area as well as Antarctic tourist ships, Polar View collects a broad range of Earth observation data to make the ice charts. Once collected, a team of experts interprets the data to create an easy-to-read ice chart. Collecting the data and providing an interpreted product makes things easier for end users. According to Andrew Fleming of the British Antarctic Survey, Polar View’s Antarctic Node Manager, the new service “provides an interpreted picture of what the ice types are and their distribution, rather than leaving users to have to interpret various different products themselves.” The Norwegian Ice Service, which puts the ice charts together for Polar View, uses a variety of sources of data, including high-resolution passive microwave and SAR (synthetic aperture radar) data from AMSR-E (Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth observing system) and ENVISAT ASAR (Advanced SAR) supplemented by MODIS (Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) optical data whenever possible. The service currently provides updated ice charts once per week, and will continue to do so until the very end of the Antarctic season in May. The service will start up again in late September at the start of next year’s Antarctic season. [To access the ice charts, please visit
www.polarview.aq/mapview.php
and choose the ‘Ice chart nu met.no’ tab at the top of the
page, or for further information please contact Andrew Fleming at andrew.fleming@polarview.org]
The Polar View 2005-2009: Final Report summarizes the operations and achievements of the Polar View consortium between 2005 and 2009. The report outlines the principal policy drivers and end user requirements for the Polar View services, the organization of the Polar View network and its governance structure, the elements comprising Polar View's portfolio of services, end user feedback on service performance and utility, major Polar View achievements, and the path forward towards future opportunities and challenges for the network. [To download a copy of the report, please click here]
Polar View sea ice service in the Antarctic, coordinated by the British Antarctic Survey, has greatly improved the service for the 2009/2010 Antarctic season. A combination of easier access through the new website and a significant increase in the number of images available means more real time sea ice information for users ranging from science vessels and tour ships to rescue missions. The new website now provides an interactive map displaying the latest imagery and sea ice information. Simple tools allow users to zoom into their area of interest and see recent cloud free satellite imagery from the European Space Agency. In combination with other information provided by partners in Denmark and Germany, anyone can access an up to date picture of current sea ice conditions, even on ships with limited internet access. The launch of this enhanced website was highlighted in an article in the European Science Foundation Newsletter (March 2010). The article noted that the range of users that access this Polar View service continues to expand, encompassing everyone from science vessels to tour ships to those co-ordinating rescue efforts. It also indicated that users will benefit from easier assess and more reguraly updated sea ice information than was previously available, all of which will make for a more comprehensive sea ice service for the Antartic region. [To access this new website, please visit www.polarview.aq. To read the full press release from the British Antarctic Survey please visit www.antarctica.ac.uk]
In a recent press release, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador boasted of the high level of expertise the province had in dealing with water management issues and the innovative technologies it had available to do so, and Polar View was mentioned as a key contributor to attaining this achievement. Innovative technologies at the province's disposal include the satellite services Polar View provides the province under the Badger River Ice Service. The service was set up in 2003 as a collaboration between the province and Canadian Polar View member C-CORE. It uses satellite imagery to monitor river ice for potential ice jam flooding along the Exploits River for residents of the small town of Badger, which is located downstream from potential areas where jams occur and is susceptible to highly damaging flooding. The press release mentions that "the flood monitoring service represents a major improvement in the flood forecasting capability for the residents of Badger, as the satellite imagery improves prediction of the timing of any impending floods." It also states that the service "has drawn international attention and is now used in several countries, including Russia where it is used on the Siberian Rivers - the Lena and the Yenissei." [To read the press release in full, please visit www.releases.gov.nl.ca, or to obtain more information about Polar View’s River Ice Monitoring Service Page] |
The
huge island of ice is currently drifting toward Canada's east coast
and is considered a potential threat to transatlantic shipping and offshore
energy platforms. But C-CORE's ice expert says its sheer bulk, measured
at 250 square kilometers, is not the real reason the lumbering hulk
could play havoc with the shipping lanes off Newfoundland's Grand Banks
- Some fragments could well make it down into the shipping lanes and
if you've got high seas, these things are very difficult to pick up
on radar." However, with today's technology, iceberg that are this
large can be easily tracked by beacons, satellites and the International
Ice Patrol, a branch of the U.S. Coast Guard that uses fixed-wing aircraft
to warn mariners of icebergs.
Consolidated
snow monitoring products, characterized by lower spatial and temporal
resolution, are now easily accessible at the 
The
Since
the beginning of March,