Download or read book Polar Research from Satellites written by Robert H. Thomas and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Satellite Remote Sensing of Polar Regions written by Robert Massom and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Outlines the evolution of satellite-borne remote sensing of polar regions, evaluates satellites currently in operation, and considers future developments.
Download or read book Polar Oceans from Space written by Josefino Comiso and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-03-24 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Only a few centuries ago, we knew very little about our planet Earth. The Earth was considered flat by many although it was postulated by a few like Aristotle that it is spherical based on observations that included the study of lunar eclipses. Much later, Christopher Columbus successfully sailed to the West to discover the New World and Ferdinand Magellan’s ship circumnavigated the globe to prove once and for all that the Earth is indeed a sphere. Worldwide navigation and explorations that followed made it clear that the Earth is huge and rather impossible to study solely by foot or by water. The advent of air travel made it a lot easier to do exploratory studies and enabled the mapping of the boundaries of continents and the oceans. But aircraft coverage was limited and it was not until the satellite era that full c- erage of the Earth’s surface became available. Many of the early satellites were research satellites and that meant in part the development of engineering measurement systems with no definite applications in mind. The Nimbus-5 Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer (ESMR) was a classic case in point. The sensor was built with the idea that it may be useful for meteorological research and especially rainfall studies over the oceans, but success in this area of study was very limited.
Download or read book Enhancing NASA s Contributions to Polar Science written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2001-04-23 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The high latitudes of the Arctic and Antarctic, together with some mountainous areas with glaciers and long-lasting snow, are sometimes called the cryosphere-defined as that portion of the planet where water is perennially or seasonally frozen as sea ice, snow cover, permafrost, ice sheets, and glaciers. Variations in the extent and characteristics of surface ice and snow in the high latitudes are of fundamental importance to global climate because of the amount of the sun's radiation that is reflected from these often white surfaces. Thus, the cryosphere is an important frontier for scientists seeking to understand past climate events, current weather, and climate variability. Obtaining the data necessary for such research requires the capability to observe and measure a variety of characteristics and processes exhibited by major ice sheets and large-scale patterns of snow and sea ice extent, and much of these data are gathered using satellites. As part of its efforts to better support the researchers studying the cryosphere and climate, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-using sophisticated satellite technology-measures a range of variables from atmospheric temperature, cloud properties, and aerosol concentration to ice sheet elevation, snow cover on land, and ocean salinity. These raw data are compiled and processed into products, or data sets, useful to scientists. These so-called "polar geophysical data sets" can then be studied and interpreted to answer questions related to atmosphere and climate, ice sheets, terrestrial systems, sea ice, ocean processes, and many other phenomena in the cryosphere. The goal of this report is to provide a brief review of the strategy, scope, and quality of existing polar geophysical data sets and help NASA find ways to make these products and future polar data sets more useful to researchers, especially those working on the global change questions that lie at the heart of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise.
Download or read book Polar Research from Satellites written by R. H. Thomas and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Polar Icebreakers in a Changing World written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-03-14 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States has enduring national and strategic interests in the polar regions, including citizens living above the Arctic circle and three year-round scientific stations in the Antarctic. Polar icebreaking ships are needed to access both regions. Over the past several decades, the U.S. government has supported a fleet of four icebreakersâ€"three multi-mission U.S. Coast Guard ships (the POLAR SEA, POLAR STAR, and HEALY) and the National Science Foundation's PALMER, which is dedicated solely to scientific research. Today, the POLAR STAR and the POLAR SEA are at the end of their service lives, and a lack of funds and no plans for an extension of the program has put U.S. icebreaking capability at risk. This report concludes that the United States should continue to support its interests in the Arctic and Antarctic for multiple missions, including maintaining leadership in polar science. The report recommends that the United States immediately program, budget, design, and construct two new polar icebreakers to be operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. The POLAR SEA should remain mission capable and the POLAR STAR should remain available for reactivation until the new polar icebreakers enter service. The U.S. Coast Guard should be provided sufficient operations and maintenance budget to support an increased, regular, and influential presence in the Arctic, with support from other agencies. The report also calls for a Presidential Decision Directive to clearly align agency responsibilities and budgetary authorities.
Download or read book Polar Remote Sensing written by Dan Lubin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-08-31 with total page 868 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The polar regions, perhaps more than any other places on Earth, give the geophysical scientist a sense of exploration. This sensibility is genuine, for not only is high-latitude ?eldwork arduous with many locations seldom or never visited, but there remains much fundamental knowledge yet to be discovered about how the polar regions interact with the global climate system. The range of opportunities for new discovery becomes strikingly clear when we realize that the high latitudes are not one region but are really two vastly di?erent worlds. The high Arctic is a frozen ocean surrounded by land, and is home to fragile ecosystems and unique modes of human habitation. The Antarctic is a frozen continent without regular human habitation, covered by ice sheets taller than many mountain ranges and surrounded by the Earth’s most forbidding ocean. When we consider global change as applied to the Arctic, we discuss impacts to a region whose surface and lower atmospheric temperatures are near the triple point of water throughout much of the year. The most consistent signatures of climate warming have occurred at northern high latitudes (IPCC, 2001), and the potential impacts of a few degrees increase in surface temperature include a reduction in sea ice extent, a positive feedback to climate warming due to lowering of surface albedo, and changes to surface runo? that might a?ect the Arctic Ocean’s salinity and circulation.
Download or read book Polar Research written by Mary A. Mcwhinnie and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-16 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Highlighting twenty years of U.S. scientific research conducted since the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-58, this volume marks a turning point in the history of polar investigations and provides a lucid summary of the contributions of many distinguished scientists. The authors provide an overview of major polar research programs, past and present; explore concepts derived, from highly interrelated aspects of physical and life sciences; and seek to offer a glimpse of future polar science and polar development. The introduction briefly describes major physical, biological, and interdisciplinary research programs, as well as the magnitude, extent, and international character of contemporary polar science. Twenty years of polar biological investigations are then reviewed, and subsequent chapters address principles and advances in meteorology, physical oceanography, glaciology, and the geological evidence that hears on the origin of Antarctica. These physical sciences delineate a matrix for the polar biospheres and provide a background for understanding the major categories of structure and dynamic functioning of the marine ecosystem, polar marine mammals, adaptational physiology, and terrestrial biotic adaptations.
Download or read book A Vision for the International Polar Year 2007 2008 written by and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2007-2008, many nations around the world will host an intense, coordinated field campaign of polar observations, research, and analysis called the "International Polar Year." This report presents an overview of potential science themes, enabling technologies, and public outreach opportunities that can be used to focus International Polar Year on societal needs. The committee recommends that the U.S. scientific community and participating agencies use this opportunity to better understand environmental change and variability in the polar regions; explore new scientific frontiers ranging from the molecular to the planetary scales; and engage the public through varied educations and outreach activities.
Download or read book Polar Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites written by David Powne and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2007-12 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) is a tri-agency acquisition -- managed by the DoD & NASA -- which experienced escalating costs, schedule delays, & technical difficulties. These factors led to a June 2006 decision to restructure the program, thereby decreasing the program¿s complexity, increasing its estimated cost to $12.5 billion, & delaying the first two satellites by 3 to 5 years. The author was asked to: (1) assess progress in restructuring the acquisition; (2) evaluate progress in establishing an effective mgmt. structure; (3) assess the reliability of the cost & schedule estimate; & (4) identify the status & key risks facing the program¿s major segments. Includes recommendations. Charts & tables.
Download or read book Polar Remote Sensing written by Robert Massom and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-08-31 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Polar Remote Sensing is a two-volume work providing a comprehensive, multidisciplinary discussion of the applications of satellite sensing. Volume 2 focuses on the ice sheets, icebergs, and interactions between ice sheets and the atmosphere and ocean. It contains information about the applications of satellite remote sensing in all relevant polar related disciplines, including glaciology, meteorology, climate and radiation balance and oceanogaraphy. It also provides a brief review of the state-of-the-art of each discipline, including current issues and questions. Various passive and active remote sensor types are discussed, and the book then concentrates on specific geophysical applications. Its interdisciplinary approach means that major advances and publications are highlighted. Polar Remote Sensing: Ice Sheets summarizes fundamental principles of detectors, imaging and geophysical product retrieval includes a chapter on the important new field of satellite synthetic-aperture radar interferometry is a "one stop shop" for polar remote sensing information contains significant new information on the Earth's polar regions describes sophisticated groundbased remote sensing applications with specific reference to their use in polar regions.
Download or read book Atmospheric and space research from the polar regions written by Michael J. Rycroft and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The polar regions are unique laboratories for carrying out research on both the atmosphere and the near-Earth space environment. The relatively undisturbed conditions help us explore phenomena like the greenhouse effect and the springtime antarctic ozone depletion, the so-called ozone hole. Further out, UV and x-radiation from the Sun produce the Earth's ionosphere, vital for man's communication network. Yet satellite and polar research is showing us how events on the Sun can adversely affect this near-Earth space environment..
Download or read book Goals and Priorities to Guide United States Arctic Research written by United States. Arctic Research Commission and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Issues in the Integration of Research and Operational Satellite Systems for Climate Research written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2000-01-10 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the second of two Space Studies Board reports that address the complex issue of incorporating the needs of climate research into the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). NPOESS, which has been driven by the imperative of reliably providing short-term weather information, is itself a union of heretofore separate civilian and military programs. It is a marriage of convenience to eliminate needless duplication and reduce cost, one that appears to be working. The same considerations of expediency and economy motivate the present attempts to add to NPOESS the goals of climate research. The technical complexities of combining seemingly disparate requirements are accompanied by the programmatic complexities of forging further connections among three different agencies, with different mandates, cultures, and congressional appropriators. Yet the stakes are very high, and each agency gains significantly by finding ways to cooperate, as do the taxpayers. Beyond cost savings, benefits include the possibility that long-term climate observations will reveal new phenomena of interest to weather forecasters, as happened with the El Niño/Southern Oscillation. Conversely, climate researchers can often make good use of operational data. Necessity is the mother of invention, and the needs of all the parties involved in NPOESS should conspire to foster creative solutions to make this effort work. Although it has often been said that research and operational requirements are incommensurate, this report and the phase one report (Science and Design) accentuate the degree to which they are complementary and could be made compatible. The reports provide guidelines for achieving the desired integration to the mutual benefit of all parties. Although a significant level of commitment will be needed to surmount the very real technical and programmatic impediments, the public interest would be well served by a positive outcome.
Download or read book United States Arctic Research Plan written by Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (U.S.) and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive statement of U.S. national needs and priorities in the areas of national security, national resource development, and acquisition of new scientific knowledge in the arctic. Includes recommendations for all disciplines.
Download or read book Lessons and Legacies of International Polar Year 2007 2008 written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2012-09-08 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: International Polar Year 2007-2008 (IPY) was an intense, coordinated field campaign of observations, research, and analysis. It was the largest, most comprehensive campaign ever mounted to explore Earth's polar domains. Legacies and Lessons of the International Polar Year 2007-2008 summarizes how IPY engaged the public to communicate the relevance of polar research to the entire planet, strengthened connections with the Indigenous people of the Arctic, and established new observational networks. Legacies and Lessons of the International Polar Year 2007-2008 also addresses the objectives articulated for IPY in the 2004 National Research Council report, A Vision for International Polar Year (NRC, 2004). These objectives include: suggestions for scientific communities and agencies to use the IPY to initiate a sustained effort aimed at assessing large-scale environmental change and variability in the polar regions, the need to explore new scientific frontiers from the molecular to the planetary scale, investment in critical infrastructure and technology to guarantee that IPY 2007-2008 leaves enduring benefits for the nation and for the residents of northern regions, as well as increase public understanding of the importance of polar regions in the global system. Legacies and Lessons of the International Polar Year 2007-2008 explains how activities at both poles led to scientific discoveries that provided a step change in scientific understanding and helped translate scientific knowledge into policy-relevant information. At a time when the polar regions are undergoing a transformation from an icy wilderness to a new zone for human affairs, these insights could not be more timely or more relevant. From outreach activities that engaged the general public to projects that brought researchers from multiple disciplines and several nations together, the legacies of IPY extend far beyond the scientific results achieved, and valuable lessons learned from the process will guide future endeavors of similar magnitude.
Download or read book Planning for the International Polar Year 2007 2008 written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2005-01-04 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 will be an internationally coordinated campaign of polar observations, research, and analysis that will further our understanding of physical and social processes in the polar regions, examine their globally-connected role in the climate system, and establish research infrastructure for the future. Within this context, the IPY will galvanize new and innovative observations and research while at the same time building on and enhancing existing relevant initiatives. It also will serve as a mechanism to attract and develop a new generation of scientists and engineers with the versatility to tackle complex global issues. In 2004, the National Academies' Polar Research Board organized a workshop to explore the challenges associated with these initiatives. Planning for the International Polar Year 2007-2008 summarizes the presentations and discussions from this workshop.
