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Polar View
Polar View, a GMES Service Element, is supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission with participation from the Canadian Space Agency. It promotes the utilization of satellites for public good and in support of public policy in the areas of sustainable economic development, marine safety, and the environment. The team consists of companies, government agencies and research institutes across Europe and Canada.
Polar View offers integrated monitoring and forecasting services in the Polar Regions, as well as mid-latitude areas affected by ice and snow, using satellite earth observation data from multiple satellites, in combination with ground truth and numerous sophisticated models and automatic tools, to deliver products that accurately illustrate the characteristics of the ice and snow on any given day.
VISTA's contributions to Polar View:
Polar View Snow Service Portal
For an overview on the common snow map products of the involved snow service providers for the areas of Central Europe/Alps, Scandinavia and Baltic Region, a portal website is operated by Vista.
Here you can find the latest overview on snow cover situation across Europe (10 day composite) and find the contact to the service providers in charge.
Access the Polar View Snow Service Portal: www.snowsense.de
Snow Service Central Europe
For the monitoring of the dynamic of the 
snow cover, optical and microwave earth observation is used. Ideally, daily updated maps can be provided:
- Snow covered area
- Snow line
Together with spatial modelling ( PROMET)
- Snow-water-equivalent (SWE)
The snow maps are an important aid for the flood forecast, since rainfall, together with snow melt often produces critical situations. Additionally, the stored water in the temporal snow cover has an increasing impact on regional and inter-regional energy production (Hydropower).
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Fig. 1: Snow coverage for the alpine catchments of Rhine and Rhone
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Fig. 2: Snow coverage derived from earth observation and snow-water-equivalent from joined modelling.
Information on spatial and temporal distribution of stored water is available for the entire area.
Currently the Polar View Snow Products from VISTA are used by the following users:
- LUBW Baden-Württemberg: Flood Forecast Center, Karlsruhe
- LUWG Rheinland-Pfalz: Flood Information Service, Mainz
- General Administration of the Federal State of Vorarlberg, Bregenz
- German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Koblenz
- WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos
- LMU Munich: Department of Geography / GLOWA Danube
- German Weather Service (DWD): SNOW-3
Further information: www.polarview.org