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PGC Director Search
The Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) is seeking to recruit a new Director! The Director will be responsible for development and execution of plans to achieve the center’s vision of providing geospatial support to the science and logistics communities in polar regions and advancing the use of geospatial and remote sensing data in the geosciences worldwide.
The position will remain open until filled. Review of applications will begin the week of January 9th, 2023. Learn more about the position and how to apply at
z.umn.edu/pgcdirector.
NSF’s Discovery Files: Mapping the North Pole
Claire Porter, PGC’s acting director, was interviewed for NSF’s The Discovery Files podcast regarding our mapping efforts in making the most detailed polar region terrain maps ever created. Porter uncovers snapshots of the project’s journey, use case scenarios, and the importance of these datasets.
Take a listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon, among many other podcast providers.
ICYMI – Polar Data Accessibility Webinar Recording
We teamed up with PSECCO and a handful of other great polar orgs last month to present information on the what, where, and how to access polar data. In case you missed the Polar Data Accessibility webinar watch this recording, which features short overviews of data resources from PGC and the following:
- National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
- Arctic Data Center
- United States Antarctic Program Data Center (USAP-DC)
- QGreenland
- Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA)
Arctic Tasking Requests Due January 20, 2023
PGC is working with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to coordinate collections of high-resolution commercial satellite imagery from Maxar for the upcoming 2023 Arctic field season.
Please get in touch with your PGC Point of Contact if you have federal funding and are conducting Arctic research or providing Arctic logistics support and would like to submit tasking requests for your area(s) of interest. The deadline for requests for the upcoming Arctic field season is January 20th, 2023.
If you submitted a request for a previous year and would like to have imagery collected for a future season contact your POC for resubmission.
PGC Engagement Vignette
SACNAS: PGC made its first exhibitor booth debut at this year’s Society for Advancment of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science conference in Puerto Rico. It was such a success that we are committed to continuing to represent polar science and geospatial work and engage with the brilliant SACNAS community. 📸 top left: Cathleen Torres Parisian, Cole Kelleher, and Diego Osorio
NNA: PGC provides full geospatial support and expertise for projects funded by the unique NSF program, Navigating the New Arctic.We were thrilled to attend the annual community meeting in-person held in Anchorage, Alaska. We participated in the many workshops, cohort sessions and the special film screening and reception of the documentary film, Newtok, one of America’s first climate change refugees. Available online here. 📸 top right
AGU: PGC returned to staffing its exhibitor booth at this year’s American Geosphysical Union conference in Chicago, Illinois. Many of our staff and students were able to connect with the polar and geoscience community. Claire Porter, PGC’s acting director, presented “Supercomputers and Satellites: Building Worldwide High-Resolution Digital Elevation Models” at the NASA hyperwall. 📸 bottom left: Cole Kelleher and Maochuan Wang
Happy Holidays from Antarctica
We are thrilled to be back this field season to staff our office at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. In response to COVID-19 the United States Antarctic Program implemented reduced operations over the past 2 years and the PGC provided remote support. Since October through mid-January 2023, we have 3 rotating staff and 1 undergraduate student providing mapping support for science and logistic operations. Come say hello if you are in McM!
📸 Shane Loeffler (top left), Jesse Bakker (top right), Rachel de Sobrino (bottom left), Weddel Seal (bottom right), not pictured and soon-to-deploy is Erik Husby
