The Contribution of Space Technologies to Arctic Policy Priorities

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Compass /Beidou-2 (China) is implementing a regional system to provide service for areas in China and its surrounding areas in 2012, with global service being provided by 2020. Galileo (EU) is expected to be fully operational by 2020. By placing satellites in orbits at a greater inclination to the equatorial plane than GPS, Galileo will achieve better coverage at high latitudes. yy Sovereignty (National Boundaries, Border Protection, Defence) yy Safety (Marine, Land and Air Transportation, S&R, Disaster Management) yy Environment (Climate Change, Biodiversity, Pollution) yy Economic Development (Infrastructure, Resource Development, Transportation Efficiency) yy Indigenous andSocial Development (Traditional Livelihoods) 2.6.4 Earth Observation Given the Arctic region’s spatial extent, remoteness and isolation, earth observation is frequently the only cost effective and technically feasible means of obtaining reliable information in a timely fashion. EO applications of particular relevance to the Arctic include: the mapping and characterization of snow and ice cover (land and sea ice); the systematic monitoring of shipping routes to detect vessels and icebergs; the assessment of land stability within permafrost regimes; and the description of land cover and land cover changes, often within the context of climate change. Limitations of current EO systems are largely due to limited spatial coverage and revisit frequency, which particularly affects the generation of high-resolution products over large areas, and frequent cloud cover and shortage of daylight in the winter, which limits the use of optical sensors. The recent loss of Envisat and its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensor was a significant loss for Arctic monitoring. The future EO sensors of most importance for Arctic applications are the proposed Sentinel 1 (EU) and Radarsat Constellation (Canada) SAR satellites. These satellites will offer increased frequency of coverage and higher resolutions, important for such applications as S&R, ice products for transportation, biodiversity studies, and disaster response. yy Sovereignty (Border Protection, Defence) yy Safety (Marine, Land and Air Transportation, S&R, Disaster Management) yy Environment (Pollution, Climate Change, Biodiversity, Environmental Protection) yy Economic Development (Infrastructure, Resource Development, Transportation Efficiency) yy Indigenous andSocial Development (Traditional Livelihoods) 2.6.5 Surveillance Space-based surveillance systems are useful sources of information for sovereignty and safety applications in the Arctic. The expansion of movement through the Arctic enabled by climate change is increasing the need for effective Search and Policy Relevance: Policy Relevance:

yy Sovereignty (Border Protection, Defence, Maintaining Presence) yy Safety (Marine, Land and Air Transportation, Policing, Health, S&R, Disaster Management) yy Environment (Climate Change, Biodiversity) yy Economic Development (Infrastructure, Resource Development) yy Indigenous andSocial Development (Traditional Livelihoods, Education, Connectivity) 2.6.2 Weather and Climate Current systems are geostationary in near-equatorial orbits and are unable to provide data on high-latitude atmospheric conditions; the more northerly remote areas of Europe are on the periphery of such system’s field of view. Since 1998, the councils of EUMETSAT, ESA and NOAA have worked to jointly develop satellite systems that will monitor weather and climate change over the poles. Current weather satellite systems that look to the Polar Regions employ Low-Earth Orbits that provide high-quality spatial resolution information over high latitudes but on a narrow flight path – sometimes taking 6 hours before the same area is imaged again (e.g. Metop, NOAA-19). Several missions are proposed to be implemented over the next 10 years to address the deficiencies of current systems (e.g., Arktika, CARVE, CASSIOE, Meteosat Third Gen). In addition to improved imagery at more frequent repeat cycles, the provision of data from the infrared and ultraviolet/visible sounding missions will help derive improved forecasts. yy Safety (Marine, Land and Air Transportation, S&R, Disaster Management) yy Environment (Climate Change) yy Economic Development (Resource Development, Infrastructure, Transportation Efficiency) yy Indigenous and Social Development (Traditional Livelihoods) 2.6.3 Navigation Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are used in the Arctic as the preferred method of navigation for transportation and a variety of other positioning and timing applications. GNSS have some limitations in higher latitudes. For example, the declination of current GNSS satellite orbits leads to low elevation angles in polar areas and the geosynchronous satellites used for augmentation of GNSS signals do not reach to the high Arctic. Also, heightened ionospheric activity at the poles can result in signal delays and variability in location response. The existing GPS system (USA) is undergoing modernization to 2025 and beyond, which involves the addition of: a second civilian GPS signal (L2C) for improved performance in commercial applications; a third civilian GPS signal (L5) for transportation safety; and a fourth civilian GPS signal (L1C) for international interoperability. It also involves improvements to the GPS control segment. Policy Relevance:

15 3. THE STATUS OF SPACE SYSTEMS