The Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the planet, and as a result, sea ice is receding opening northern sea routes. This will increase the level of commercial shipping and give an easier access to the resource wealth of the region (hydrocarbons, minerals, and fish). The detrimental effect on land and marine wildlife will be increased by pollution caused by the increasing of the commercial activities.
The Arctic is a challenging region: distances are vast, the weather is difficult, and for much of the year it is dark. Although increasing, Arctic populations are small. Space technologies have many attributes that make them ideal for application in the Arctic context: satellites can see remote areas that could not be accessed in any other way, they can cover wide areas with relatively little infrastructure and they can provide types of information that are not available from any other source.
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