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EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 87, NO. 50, doi:10.1029/2006EO500003, 2006

Global Interagency IPY Polar Snapshot Year

Kenneth C. Jezek

Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA


Mark R. Drinkwater

European Space Agency, ESTEC, Earth Observation Programmes, Noordwijk, The Netherlands


Abstract

Satellite observations are revolutionizing our ability to observe the poles and polar processes. No other technology developed since the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–1958 provides the high-resolution, continental-scale, frequent-repeat, and all-weather observations available from spaceborne sensors. The utility of that technology is evidenced by associated scientific advances including measurements of trends in polar sea ice cover and extent, the realization that the polar ice sheets can change dramatically at timescales of decades or less, and the quantification of relationships between processes at the poles and at middle and equatorial latitudes.

Published 12 December 2006.

Index Terms: 0799 Cryosphere: General or miscellaneous; 0794 Cryosphere: Instruments and techniques.

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Citation: Jezek, K. C., and M. R. Drinkwater (2006), Global Interagency IPY Polar Snapshot Year, Eos Trans. AGU, 87(50), doi:10.1029/2006EO500003.