The Role of Satellites in the International Polar Year by Dr David Carlson Director, IPY International Programme Office Wednesday 23 May 2007 ** SPECIAL EVENT **	International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008
Public open lecture - All visitors welcome - No admission fee - No tickets required - Doors open 5:30pm

The International Polar Year (IPY) is a large scientific programme focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009.

In order to have full and equal coverage of both the Arctic and the Antarctic, IPY 2007-2008 covers two full annual cycles from March 2007 to March 2009 and will involve over 200 projects, with thousands of scientists from over 60 nations examining a wide range of physical, biological and social research topics.

Space research during IPY focuses on space itself, particularly solar processes that impact earth's outer atmosphere, on making measurements of distant space from polar regions, and on the use of satellite sensors in space to monitor polar conditions and processes. Satellite sensors will provide large-scale views of snow and ice properties and dynamics, of ocean colour and roughness, of terrestrial geography and vegetation, and of atmospheric processes and properties.

Earth-observing satellites play a unique and essential role in polar research. Perhaps nowhere else on earth does the combination of wide area coverage, high resolution, and all-weather, all-season, and all-hour operations available from satellite sensors provide such an essential view of global processes.

During IPY researchers will explore the on-the-ground (and in-the-ocean) processes that explain trends seen uniquely in long-term (almost 30-year) satellite data records by:

• applying current satellite remote sensing data to studies of terrestrial ecology, glaciology, oceanography, and meteorology;
• using real-time satellite imagery to guide operations; and
• sharing and comparing data using geo-browsers based on satellite imagery.

This lecture will introduce several IPY projects that depend on satellite data and show some recent polar surprises derived from satellite remote sensing.

See also SciencePoles "From Idea to Reality: Planning the International Polar Year 2007-2008" here..

About the speaker David Carlson received a B.A. in Biology from Augustana College, Rock Island, IL (1973) and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Maine, Orono, ME (1981). He served as an NRC Post-Doctorate Research Associate at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. Dr. Carlson served on the graduate faculty in the College of Oceanography at Oregon State University from 1983 through 1990. While at OSU, he led research and education programs in the areas of marine chemistry, small-scale ocean physics and rheology, oceanic microbiology, and intertidal chemical ecology. Dr. Carlson joined the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in 1991 to lead the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere - Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) International Project Office. Dr. Carlson and the TCIPO staff worked with leading international scientists to plan and implement this large research experiment (~1200 people from more than 20 nations focused on El Nino and the western Pacific tropical warm ocean pool. From 1994 to 2003, Dr. Carlson directed the Atmospheric Technology Division within the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The Atmospheric Technology Division provided advanced observing systems and associated support services to university researchers for purposes of climate and weather research worldwide. Dr. Carlson led the planning, proposal, and acquisition process for an $80M aircraft, and stimulated an innovative summer undergraduate engineering internship programs. During 2004, Dr. Carlson took a sabbatical year with the Climate and Global Dynamics Division at NCAR, working on upper ocean – lower atmosphere exchange processes. Starting from May 2005, Dr. Carlson has served as Director of the International Programme Office for the International Polar Year. The IPY, planned for 2007 through 2008, represents an international effort to draw research and public attention to polar regions, particularly to the role of polar regions in global climate change and to the impacts of climate change on polar regions. The IPY International Programme Office resides at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, England.

Public open lecture : all visitors welcome : no admission fee : no tickets required

commencing at 18:00, refreshments served from 17:30

The lecture plus questions and answers should finish no later than 19:30. There will then be a cash bar for those who wish to remain until about 21:00.

(prior RSVP by email or phone of intended attendance appreciated)

This lecture has been organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) Space Group. The presentation will take place in the Lecture Theatre at 4 Hamilton Place, London W1J 7BQ. Nearest underground station Hyde Park Corner. See location maps doc.. also multimap.com..  streetmap.co.uk..

For further details: Ms Hinal Patel, Conference & Events Department, Royal Aeronautical Society, 4 Hamilton Place, London W1J 7BQ. tel 020 7670 4345 fax 020 7670 4349 email conference@aerosociety.com

To receive details of the RAeS Space Group and other future events please an email to space@aerosociety.com with "subscribe" in the subject.

Related web sites: The Royal Aeronautical Society www.aerosociety.com  RAeS Space Group www.aerosociety.com/space/  International Polar Year (IPY) www.ipy.org  UK Met Office www.metoffice.gov.uk  European Space Agency (ESA) www.esa.int  SciencePoles www.sciencepoles.org  British Antarctic Survey (BAS) www.antarctica.ac.uk