Monitoring the Andean and Antarctic cryosphere with optical and radar remote sensing

The cryosphere, the Earth's surface permanently frozen, encompasses not only the polar ice sheets (Antarctic and Greenland) but also high-altitude snowy areas, sea ice and frozen soils. It occupies 10% of the Earth's surface and acts in regulating the water cycle and atmospheric processes, as well as in the greenhouse gas stocks. Recent technological innovations associated with sensors and image processing make it possible to carry out seasonal and multi-annual observations on a local, regional and global scale of processes related to snow and ice in glacial and periglacial environments. The challenges are mainly linked to advancing knowledge about glacial mass balance, glacier dynamics, variation in snow cover, surface melting processes in snow and ice, glacier fluctuations, ocean-atmosphere interactions and sea ice variability. Furthermore, with the increasing ice-free areas in polar regions and mountain environments, optical and radar sensors are also applied in investigating disaster risk areas, processes related to permafrost and modern glacial depositional environments