Space-based observations in the International Polar Year: educational opportunities to strengthen the STEM pipeline

Data from current and planned satellite missions can play an important role in providing synoptic atmospheric, terrestrial and oceanic environmental data from space. These data promotes multidisciplinary research in the circumpolar regions and can be instrumental in furthering our understanding of the Earth as a System. The International Polar Year in 2007 (IPY-4) presents unprecedented opportunities for integrated circumpolar research and for education outreach to a wide audience ranging from preschoolers through high end researchers, defined by NASA as the ´´pipeline´´. We foresee a world-wide participation which improve science competence and citizen awareness of the importance of the Polar Regions. Opportunities for integrating native knowledge of the indigenous residents of the Arctic is an essential component of IPY programs. Acquisition of reliable ground truth data in support of remote sensing of geophysical and geochemical variables are essential, especially with broad long-term coverage in the Polar Regions. In the United States NASA has developed a strategy for long-term monitoring of some key parameters needed to bring us closer to the answers we need regarding climate change and its relation to social systems. This technology consists of a group of six satellites that can make a suite of earth observations referred to as the ´´A-Train´´. Data from this group of polar orbiting satellites, as well as from the Orbital Carbon Observatory (OCO), and older Quikscat and new Seawinds radar missions, provide focus for an education program based not only on the acquisition of polar data but also on how these data correlate with global observations. This work presents strategies and recommendations for streamlining an effective educational outreach program in the IPY-4. It presents a concept of disseminating data, models and research results to a variety of audience and integrating several traditional aspects in building a strong educational component to IPY-4.