Spot Image and CNES contributing actively to International Polar Year
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Watching Earth’s poles from space
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Spot Image and CNES are taking an active interest in these issues and supplying satellite data for IPY research programmes.
Earth-observing satellites are mapping the poles to provide scientists with a more precise picture of how glaciers are changing and to help them understand the impacts of climate change on our planet. Spot Image and CNES have joined the SPIRIT project (SPOT 5 stereoscopic survey of Polar Ice: Reference Images and Topographies) in partnership with French survey and mapping agency IGN and the LEGOS space geophysics and oceanography research laboratory. This project’s chief aims are to:
- Image 2.5 million sq.km. of the Arctic and Antarctic regions, covering glaciers, small ice caps and coastal areas.
- Provide access to an archive of SPOT 5 HRS imagery through a dedicated interface called Polar DALI (http://polardali.spotimage.fr:8092/IPY/dalisearch.aspx) for research laboratories working on themes in line with IPY.
- Distribute the SPIRIT DEM product described below free of charge to research laboratories approved by CNES.
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Spot Image is offering a SPIRIT digital elevation model (DEM) product based on SPOT 5 HRS imagery designed specifically for glaciology
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The SPIRIT product comprises:
- several DEMs derived from different correlation parameters
- associated correlation masks
- an HRS orthoimage
This product set is generated from a single HRS stereopair and covers an area of up to 15,000 sq.km.
The SPIRIT DEM product will give users a baseline topography for mapping glacial change.
To find out more, download the SPIRIT DEM product sheet (PDF).
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SPOT 5 HRS acquisitions over polar regions
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To consult which zones HRS has been tasked to image, see the Northern and Southern hemisphere maps below.
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You can keep track of SPOT acquisitions of the polar regions every month on the status map below. (Last updated 28/02/2008)
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