The application of microwave remote sensing for snow and ice research

THE OBSERVATIONAL BARRIERThat part of the Earth's surface least known and understq>e>d is the cryosphere, which we take to include sea ice, ice sheets, snow, glaciers, and permafrost.After several millenia of exploration and discovery by civilized man, the North and South Poles were reached for the first time only in this century.Few chapters in the history of exploration resound with names such as those associated with the Arctic and Antarctic--names connoting courage and daring coupled with keen intelligence and observational abilities-men such as Nansen, Shackleton, Sverdrup, Amundsen, Scott, Rasmussen, and Peary, all of whom performed their great tasks within the last century.The largest single coordinated effort by mankind to increase our knowledge of polar geophysics, the International Geophysical Year (1GY) occurred only 2 decades ago.Hence, a vast part of our knowledge of ice and snow is recently acquired.