The Polar Geospatial Center: Community and Facility Support

极地地理空间中心（PGC）是明尼苏达大学的一个极地科学和后勤支持组织。通过向美国政府资助的研究人员分发和使用国家地理空间情报局提供的高分辨率光学图像，PGC能够为科学家通过测绘和遥感项目研究北极和南极解决各种地理空间问题。这有助于支持美国国家科学基金会的使命，即通过促进创新的新技术和产品来了解地球及其全球和区域系统，例如两极地区的数字高程模型，绘制海冰覆盖的季节变化和大陆冰盖的动态（例如，由于全球气候变化造成的冰损失和格陵兰岛和南极洲冰盖表面融水的量化）。为极地大气和海洋研究、冰川学、地质学、地球物理学和永久冻土变化准备详细的地形图，确定被冰或融水掩盖的实际海岸线，以及极端天气事件的影响，观察极地植物群的季节性变化和气候驱动的生态系统变化，甚至计算脊椎动物（如北极熊、企鹅等）的数量。PGC通过向美国国家科学基金会极地社区提供以下产品和服务，促进科学家获取地理空间资源和各自领域的知识：(1)获取数十亿平方公里的重复覆盖商业卫星图像，这些图像由美国政府机构从多家公司获得许可，用于南极和北极；(2) PGC在解决广泛的地理空间、高性能计算和人工智能问题方面的具体机构知识；(3)地理空间教育课程和在线材料，将PGC的专业知识和经验转化为NSF极地科学社区，鼓励不同类型的研究生和本科生参与极地遥感和地理空间科学。PGC通过在线教育材料、可访问的文档以及学生就业和指导，教育下一代科学家使用和操作地理空间产品。PGC将通过与为少数民族服务的机构合作，努力扩大对极地（和）地理空间科学的参与。PGC也是公共地理空间数据的来源，它使研究人员、教育工作者和其他来自NSF极地社区以外的人能够调查当前对地球表面过程理解的局限性。PGC与工业（b谷歌，ESRI）和其他政府机构（NASA， NGA）的合作伙伴关系通过这些合作伙伴的平台进一步增强了地理空间数据的可用性和可访问性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Polar Geospatial Center (PGC) is a polar science and logistics support organization at the University of Minnesota. By distributing and using high-resolution optical imagery made available by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to U.S. Government-funded researchers, PGC is able to solve various geospatial problems for scientists to study both the Arctic and Antarctic with mapping and remote sensing projects. This helps to support the National Science Foundation's mission to understand the Earth and its global and regional system by facilitating innovative new techniques and products - such as Digital Elevation Models for both polar regions, mapping seasonal changes of sea ice coverage and dynamics of continental ice sheets (e.g., ice loss due to global climate change and quantification of meltwater on the ice sheet surface in Greenland and Antarctica), preparing detailed topography maps for polar atmospheric and ocean studies, glaciology, geology, geophysics, and permafrost changes, identifying actual coastlines masked by ice or meltwater and impacts of extreme weather events, watching polar flora seasonal changes and climate-driven ecosystem shifts, and even counting vertebrate (e.g., polar bears, penguins, etc.) populations. The PGC facilitates scientists' access to geospatial resources and respective domain knowledge by providing the following products and services to the NSF polar community: (1) Access to billions of square kilometers of repeat-coverage commercial satellite imagery licensed from multiple companies by U.S. Government agencies for the Antarctic and Arctic; (2) The PGC's specific institutional knowledge to solve a broad range of geospatial, high-performance computing, and artificial intelligence problems; and (3) Geospatial educational courses and online materials to translate the PGC’s expertise and experience to the NSF polar science community and encourage diverse graduate and undergraduate students to participate in the polar remote sensing and geospatial science. PGC educates the next generation of scientists with the use and manipulation of geospatial products through online educational materials, accessible documentation, and student employment and mentorship. PGC will work to broaden participation in polar (and) geospatial science through partnership with minority-serving institutions. PGC is also a source of public geospatial data that empowers researchers, educators, and others from outside the NSF polar community to investigate the limits of the current understanding of Earth surface processes. PGC’s partnership with industry (Google, ESRI) and other government agencies (NASA, NGA) further enhance availability and accessibility of geospatial data via these partners’ platforms.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.