Polar View

European Space Agency (ESA)

2011

Polar View provides near-real-time and historical satellite-based monitoring of polar regions and sea ice conditions. The service includes ice mapping, iceberg tracking, and snow cover data, supporting research in climate change, shipping, and Arctic operations. The platform integrates data from various satellites, including ESA’s Copernicus Sentinels, MODIS, and SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar). The dataset has a size of more than 1000 TB due to decades of satellite data accumulation. Polar View has been continuously operating since 2005. Some of its integrated datasets, like passive microwave sea ice records, extend back to the 1970s. Polar View processes thousands of satellite images per year, generating:

• 6,800+ satellite scenes annually
• 4,700+ map products
• 50,000+ image subsets
• 15,000+ monitoring product

Polar View is made up of multiple thematic sub-datasets, including:

• Sea Ice Data: Ice concentration maps, ice edge tracking, and ice charts.
• Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Imagery: High-resolution satellite radar images used for ice detection.
• Iceberg Monitoring: Near-real-time iceberg locations for safe navigation.
• Snow Cover & Melt: Snow extent and melting patterns.
• River & Lake Ice: Freeze/thaw monitoring for flood risk and transport.
• Glacier & Ice Sheet Data: Glacier runoff, mass balance, and movement tracking.
• Optical Mosaics: Large-scale satellite images of polar regions.