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March
30, 2007 International Polar
Year expeditions attempting to navigate through the treacherous,
ice-infested
waters of the This
technology was first used during the Arctic expedition of Ann Bancroft
and Liv
Arnesen, who were forced to cancel their voyage seven days in due to a
combination of damaged gear, frostbite and extreme cold. Although they
were
unable to access the images because extremely low temperatures
prevented them
from switching on their computer, people at their base camp viewed the
images
and passed on the sea ice conditions to them by phone. International Polar
Year (IPY) is an
internationally coordinated two-year effort in which more than 5000
scientists
from 60 countries will conduct research in the Arctic and Antarctic to
increase
our knowledge of the polar regions, how they are changing and how those
changes
impact the health of our planet. This IPY not only
marks the first
time satellites will be used to help guide expeditions but also the
first time
scientists will be armed with satellite measurements to better
understand these
regions, which play a vital role in the Earth's climate and ecosystems.
ESA will make
significant
contributions to IPY on a variety of scientific fronts. In addition to
providing Earth observation data free of charge to 48 projects, the
agency will
co-lead a large IPY project – the Global Interagency IPY
Polar Snapshot Year
(GIIPSY) – with the Byrd Polar Research Centre. The goal of
GIIPSY is to make
the most efficient use of Earth-observing satellites to capture
essential
snapshots that will serve as benchmarks for gauging past and future
changes in
the environment of the polar regions. This service was
developed and is
being operated by Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), equally owned by
the
Norwegian Space Centre and Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace.
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