NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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Experiment/Payload Overview

Brief Summary

Crew Earth Observations - International Polar Year (CEO-IPY) supports an international collaboration of scientists studying the Earth?s Polar Regions from 2007 to 2009. Space station crew members photograph polar phenomena including icebergs, auroras and mesospheric clouds in response to daily correspondence from the scientists on the ground.

Principal Investigator

Donald Pettit, Ph.D., Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX

Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)

Cynthia Evans, Ph.D., Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX

Payload Developer

Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX

Sponsoring Agency

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Expeditions Assigned

|14|15|16|17|18|

Previous ISS Missions

Crew Earth Observations have been ongoing since 1961and more than 250,000 images have been taken during the first six years of ISS operations.

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Experiment/Payload Description

Research Summary

• The International Polar Year 2007-2009 will provide a snapshot of the Polar Regions that will be used as a benchmark for detecting change in the areas.



• Observations, through digital still photography and video, from the International Space Station through the Crew Earth Observation program will be used with data gathered from satellites and ground observations to understand the current status of the Polar Regions.



• ISS, as a platform for observations will contribute data that has not been available in the past and will set the precedent for future international scientific collaborations for Earth observations.

Description

International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2009 will be the fourth time in the past 125 years that scientists world wide will combine efforts in observation and exploration for the Earth's Polar Regions. This IPY will include observations made from the International Space Station (ISS) through the Crew Earth Observation (CEO) program.

ISS provides a human observational platform to observe atmospheric phenomena and repeated observations over the IPY. One area of research in which ISS will be participating in is the observation of Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC) and the Aurora phenomenon. PMC (also known as noctilucent clouds) are thin clouds that are found in the mesosphere. They are the highest known clouds with altitudes around 53 miles (85 km) and are visible only at night when illuminated by sunlight below the horizon.

The crewmember will use digital still photography and videos to capture targets that will be part of the CEO program. The targets will be selected on their relevance to the IPY studies. Additional imaging from satellites and ground observation stations will be compared to the data collected by ISS.

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Applications

Space Applications

Observations that are made from Earth's orbit create the model for planetary exploration observations on future long-duration missions.

Earth Applications

Data collected by CEO-IPY will be used by an international collaboration of scientists to determine how the Polar Regions have changed over the past 125 years and might help to explain atmospheric phenomena such as Polar Mesospheric Clouds. The blueprint that the data creates will be used to determine the changes in the Polar Regions in the future. The data gathered will also be used as an educational tool for teachers and students world wide.

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Operations

Operational Requirements

Crewmembers will receive targets through the Crew Observations program that were coordinated by the IPY researchers. Digital photography and video will be taken by the ISS crews. Images will be downlinked to CEO personnel who will catalog and make the images available to the IPY researchers.

Operational Protocols

The IPY will begin in March 2007. The crewmembers will receive uplinked coordinates for the targets of interest from the CEO program. When the ISS passes over a specific target, the crewmembers will use digital photography and video to capture the target. These images and video will be downlinked to Johnson Space Center for cataloging and distribution.

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Results/More Information

Information Pending

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Related Web Sites

International Polar Year

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Publications

Results Publications

• Scambos T, Ross R, Bauer R, Yemolin Y, Skvarca P, Long D, Bohlander J, Haran T. Calving and ice-shelf break-up processesinvestigated by proxy: Antarctic tabular iceberg evolution during northward drift. Journal of Glaciology. 2008 ;54(187): 579 - 591.

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Related Publications

• Evans CA, Pettit DR. International Space Station Supports International Polar Year. Eos. April 10;88(15):171. 2007
• Glasser NF, Scambos TA A structural glaciological analysis of the 2002 Larsen B ice-shelf collapse Journal of Glaciology ;54.3-16. 2008

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Images

Polar Mesospheric Clouds above Kustavi, Finland. Image Credit Pekka Parvianen.
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Mosaic of images of auroral activities taking place over the north pole from the DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program). At the time these images were acquired, STS-116 Shuttle astronaut Christer Fuglesang was visitng the ISS and taking corresponding high-resolution color photographs of auroras.
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NASA Image: ISS006E28967 - This image shows the Aurora Austrailis taken during Expedition Six.
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NASA Image: ISS015E10125 - Iceberg A22A in the South Atlantic Ocean broke off Antarctica in 2002. It was photographed on May 30, 2007 one third of the distance from South America to Cape Town, South Africa. It is one of the largest icebergs to drift as far north as 50 degrees south latitude. Dimensions in early June were 49.9 by 23.4 kilometers, an area of 622 square kilometers, or seven times the area of Manhattan Island.
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Information Provided and Updated by the ISS Program Scientist's Office