Satellite monitoring of ice conditions in polar regions

Data obtained by Russian and foreign polar-orbital satellites for remote sensing (RS) of the Earth is used for monitoring the ice cover of the polar regions. State Research Center of Space Hydrometeorology “Planeta” (SRC “Planeta”) and the Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics (CMMGI), have developed methods and technologies for processing the satellite data. Russian and foreign satellites (active and developing) including the satellite Arktika are described in the present paper. Procedures and techniques for monitoring the ice cover and examples of satellite data related to Arctic and Antarctic territories are given below.