Addressing Arctic Issues from Space
09.11.2009 - Atmosphere & Space, Water & Oceans, Land & Geology, Ice & Snow, Arctic
From October 20th to 21st, international scientists, researchers, anddecision makers gathered at the Space and the Artic workshop' in Stockholm, Sweden. The event was co-organized by the Swedish National Space Board and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) together with the ESA, EUMETSAT and the European Community.
The aim of the workshop was to identify the needs and the challenges of working and living in the rapidly changing Artic, and to find ways in which space-based services might help in the process as increased human activity in the region provides both new opportunities and new risks to those working and living in this environment. Contributions from European projects such as DAMOCLES, Polar View, and MyOcean were presented at the conference describing the lessons learned from setting up operational services for the Baltic Sea region could be applied to setting up similar monitoring system for the Arctic.
The highlight of the conference, however, was the Arctic Marine Transport and Space' presentation by Dr Lawson Brigham from the US Arctic Research Commission that outlined the much awaited Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA) report. The report, prepared by the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Working Group under the Arctic Council describes the state of marine use and future challenges.
The report underlines the need for a comprehensive Arctic marine traffic awareness system, improved space sensors measuring sea-ice thickness, mapping snow cover and iceberg tracking in order to ensure ship safety and optimize routes. In order to build the supporting infrastructure, participants in the study looked into how space infrastructure could facilitate communication, environmental monitoring, early warning systems and vessel tracking in the area.
At the end of the workshop, participants agreed on a set of conclusions and recommendations as to how space technology could help Europe meet its objectives in the Arctic.
