1. Opportunities for Collaboration

2. Polar View Overview
Polar View is a member-driven organization that works in cooperation with other polar stakeholders.
Activities:
Outreach: Make EO services more accessible and known to stakeholders interested in the cryosphere;
Policy: Influence the development of policy regarding monitoring and forecasting in the cryosphere;
Service Provision: Coordinate and provide integrated monitoring and forecasting services in the cryosphere; and
Service Development: Develop new operational services by defining service delivery requirements and conducting trials and demonstrations.

3. Polar View Members Hatfield Consultants, Canada
AWST, Austria
British Antarctic Survey (BAS), UK
C-CORE, Canada
Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), Denmark
Danish Technical University (DTU), Denmark
eOsphere, UK
Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Finland
GRID-Arendal/UNEP, Norway
Hickling Arthurs Low (HAL), Canada
Hatfield Consultants, Canada
University of Bremen, Germany
Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSat), Norway
Norwegian Meteorological Institute (Met Norway), Norway
S[&]T, Norway
Stockholm University, Sweden
Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI)
Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), Finland
VISTA Remote Sensing, Germany

4. ESA Arctic Activities Proposed at CM-16
Earth Observation (EOEP-5, CCI+):
POLARIS preparatory activities, including hosted payloads
Preparation of Copernicus Space Component Evolution (Enhanced interferometric altimetry)
New ECV’s in CCI+
Telecommunications:
Partnership with private Satcom operator (payloads)
GovSatCom Precursors
VDE or ADS-B capability
Technology:
Polar Satellite Launch Service
Sirius nanosatellites
Science:
Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE)
Navigation:
Evolution of Arctic Test Bed
Polar hosted payloads for GNSS augmentation systems
Applications:
IAP continuation
call for ideas for Arctic and sub-Arctic services and applications

5. Recent Activities Relevant to SAON

6. Polar Data Interoperability Workshop
The Arctic Data Committee, ESA, and Polar View sponsored a Polar Connections Interoperability Workshop last November.
60 representatives from 17 countries and more than 15 polar data organizations and initiatives participated.
The ESA/Polar View “Polar Thematic Exploitation Platform” (Polar TEP) was offered to the community as a central data hub.
Themes:
Representing Indigenous Knowledge, community observations, social sciences.
Education and capacity building;
Governance and sustainability;
Cloud computing;
Data discovery; and
Data as a service;

7. Polar TEP Polar TEP will bring together: Data (EO and non-EO data)
Computing resources
Collaborative tools
Applications and algorithms
Communication tools
Resource allocation tools

8. Arctic Spatial Data Pilot
The United States and Canada are sponsoring OGC to create an "Arctic Spatial Data Pilot".
This is related to, but separate from, the multi-nation Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure initiative.
Polar View (with ADC) is coordinating the Polar Data Community to work with OGC.

9. Polaris The ESA Polaris Programme will address:
Next generation space infrastructure, in order to ensure the availability of an adequate observing system for the polar regions.
Applications, in order to ensure availability of products and services for scientific, public policy, and industrial purposes.
New partnerships, to facilitate synergistic participation of stakeholders.

10. Polaris: Two Polaris studies have been completed:
User Needs
Mission Concepts
Four mission concepts are being pursued:
Concept A: Dual-band Radar Altimeter
Concept B: Arctic Imager in High Elliptical Orbit
Concept C: Multi-band SAR imager
Concept D: Bi-static SAR imager

11. Possible Future Initiatives Involving SAON

12. Collaboration
ESA and Polar View should develop a closer working relationship with SAON.
ESA works by consulting with stakeholder communities and then initiating activities based on the results.
SAON could review previous reports and comment on current needs and changing circumstances (e.g., 2015 ESA/CliC “EO and Arctic Science Priorities” workshop).
ESA and SAON could sponsor a joint workshop to define SAON priorities and influence future ESA activities (possibly through CON and ADC).
SAON could participate in future consultations and studies.

13. Future Opportunities
ESA intends to host a meeting before the summer to review all of ESA’s polar activities. SAON could participate.
ESA will conduct an “L-Band SAR Applications and Requirements Consolidation Study” (following on from previous Polaris studies). Polar View will propose a team and SAON could participate.
SAON could promote and utilize the ESA-sponsored Polar TEP as a node in a sustained Arctic observing network.
The need for additional funding to support polar data interoperability has been identified. SAON could participate in Horizon 2020 proposals.

14. For More Information David Arthurs Managing Director
Polar View Earth Observation Limited
2200 Prince of Wales Drive, Suite 402
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2E 6Z9