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International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

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3.1 IPY Satellite Observation Program<br />

Lead Authors:<br />

Mark Drinkwater, Kenneth Jezek, Tillmann Mohr and Eduard Sarukhanian<br />

Reviewers:<br />

Yves Crevier, Jeffrey Key and Chris Rapley<br />

The importance of satellite observations to IPY<br />

scientific objectives was recognized by the<br />

Joint Committee (JC) and its Scientific Committee<br />

on Observations (SCOBS) during early<br />

IPY planning and preparations. In 2006 SCOBS evaluated<br />

all IPY scientific projects that emphasized requirements<br />

for satellite data, products and services. The<br />

evaluation showed that these requirements were not<br />

consistent among projects and not always sufficiently<br />

detailed to establish immediate dialog between IPY<br />

projects and Space Agencies. Bearing this in mind, the<br />

SCOBS approached the Global Interagency IPY <strong>Polar</strong><br />

Snapshot <strong>Year</strong> (GIIPSY) project (number 91, co-leaders<br />

K. Jezek, Byrd <strong>Polar</strong> Research Center and M. Drinkwater,<br />

European Space Agency) which was selected by JC<br />

in November 2005 as an IPY flagship project in order<br />

to realize the benefit of the growing constellation of<br />

international satellites to the scientific objectives of<br />

the IPY. The goal of GIIPSY was to develop consensus<br />

polar science requirements and objectives that could<br />

best, and perhaps only, be met using the international<br />

constellation of Earth observing satellites (Jezek and<br />

Drinkwater, 2006; 2008). Requirements focused mainly<br />

on all aspects of the cryosphere and ranged from<br />

sea ice and permafrost to snow cover and ice sheets.<br />

Individual topics included the development of high<br />

resolution digital elevation models of outlet glaciers<br />

using stereo optical systems, measurements of ice surface<br />

velocity using interferometric synthetic aperture<br />

radar (SAR/InSAR) and frequently repeated measurements<br />

of sea ice motion using medium resolution optical<br />

and microwave imaging instruments. Later, the<br />

requirements for satellite data, products and services<br />

were extended to cover composition, dynamics and<br />

chemistry of the polar atmosphere.<br />

The functional link between the GIIPSY science community<br />

and the international space agencies was established<br />

through the IPY Space Task Group (STG) as part<br />

PA R T T H R E E : I PY OBSERVING SYS T E M S , T H E I R L E G AC Y A N D DATA M A N AG E M E N T<br />

of SCOBS. <strong>International</strong> space agency participation in<br />

the STG was solicited through a letter sent in November<br />

2006 on behalf of the <strong>WMO</strong> Secretary-General and the<br />

Executive Director of ICSU to the heads of space agencies.<br />

As result, STG membership consisted of representatives<br />

from the national space agencies of Brazil (INPE<br />

– A. Setzer), Canada (CSA – Y. Crevier), China (CMA – L.<br />

Zhao), France (CNES – E. Thouvenot), Germany (DLR –<br />

M. Gottwald), Italy (ASI – F. Battazza), Japan (JAXA – M.<br />

Shimada), Russian Federation (ROSHYDROMET – V. Asmus),<br />

U.K. (BSNC– D. Williams), U.S.A. (NASA – C. Dobson,<br />

NOAA– J. Key and P. Clemente-Colon, USGS – J. Mullins),<br />

the European Space Agency (ESA – M. Drinkwater, ESA/<br />

ESRIN – H. Laur) and the European Organization for the<br />

Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT – K.<br />

Holmlund). To provide a link between the STG and IPY<br />

data management activities, the JC nominated IPY operational<br />

data coordinator O. Godoy (Norwegian Meteorological<br />

Institute) as STG member.<br />

The IPY STG was established for the purpose of<br />

space agency planning, processing and archiving of<br />

the IPY Earth Observation legacy dataset. STG, chaired<br />

by M. Drinkwater, reported to SCOBS whose responsibility<br />

was to ensure that space-based and in situ<br />

observing systems were optimized for IPY purposes.<br />

SCOBS provided the guidelines for a scientific framework<br />

and consolidated science and data requirements<br />

to the STG, through the coordination of scientific<br />

groups such as the GIIPSY IPY project, the WCRP Climate<br />

and Cryosphere (CliC) project and the IGOS-P<br />

Cryosphere Theme team. STG recommendations<br />

were approved by the <strong>WMO</strong> Consultative Meetings<br />

on High-level Policy on Satellite Matters on an annual<br />

basis. The operating strategy for STG was to satisfy IPY<br />

science requirements in a fashion that distributes the<br />

acquisition burden across the space agencies while<br />

recognizing the operational mandates that guide the<br />

activities of each agency. Thus far, the space agencies<br />

o b s e r v I n g s Y s t e m s a n d d a t a m a n a g e m e n t 361

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