The Age of Wireless Internet meets the Space Age for researchers navigating the ship-smashing, ice-clogged waters of the Arctic Ocean during the International Polar Year.

A view from the bow of ship navigating Arctic Ice
Credit: ESA

Using an onboard Iridium satellite phone, scientists can dial up the Internet, log into a European Space Agency website and download the latest Envesat radar image of the ice conditions surrounding their ship.

“Once an image has been selected, it will open in a new window where users are able to view the entire image as well as zoom in on their exact location for detail,” explains a release from the European Space Agency.


More details:

This technology was first used during the Arctic expedition of Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen, who were forced to cancel their voyage (in early March after only seven days) 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.

Satellite view of Arctic sea ice
This Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR)
image acquired on 4 March 2007 shows fractures
and openings in the sea-ice north of Ward Hunt Island
located on the north coast of Ellesmere Island.
Credits: ESA-KSAT 2007

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.

Along with providing the satellite data free to researchers on 48 different projects, the ESA will co-lead a large IPY project gathering satellite “snapshots” of the Arctic to use as “benchmarks” to climate change. The agency will complete the Global Interagency IPY Polar Snapshot Year (GIIPSY) with the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University.

The satellite service was developed by Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), of Norwegian Space Centre and Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace.