Polar View Antarctic Node Recognized for Its Contribution to Marine Safety in Southern Ocean
27.07.2010 - Atmosphere & Space, Water & Oceans, Ice & Snow, Antarctic
While remote, the Southern Ocean is increasingly being used as route for sea traffic by scientists, transport companies and fisheries. However conditions ranging from pack ice to icebergs are a serious threat to marine safety. Because of its remote location, the most adequate means to survey the area is satellite imagery, which offers a safe way to obtain timely and accurate information on sea ice.
For some years now, the European Space Agency (ESA) has been providing crucial information for safe navigation in the Polar Regions. The Polar View ice-monitoring service in the Antarctic has recently been significantly upgraded by new satellite images made available through a new interactive website. The Polar View Antarctic Node website offers a combination of frequently updated images and easy access and has been recognized for its excellence, winning the 2010 British Cartographic Survey Avenza Award.
Polar View is an international consortium of companies, government agencies and research institutes that provide Earth observation services and data products for environmental monitoring and safety in the Polar Regions.
While the imagery is currently provided by Envisat's Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar, further development could see the involvement of the Sentinel satellites being developed by ESA for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative. Once launched, in 2012, these satellites will provide more data for services in the Polar Regions.
