There are many resources available on the internet for exploring the poles with a virtual globe such as Google Earth or NASA World WInd.

The list below contains all the relevant polar resources that we are aware of. (Note: These links are to external sites; www.IPY.org is not responsible for their content.)

• The Polar View Earth observation program publishes a wide range of layers for the Antarctic, including data on sea ice coverage, ice drift, drift buoys, large icebergs, the location of various research vessels, and the location of over 120 Antarctic research stations and bases.
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• The Arctic Research Mapping Application (ARMAP) provides information about thousands of Arctic research projects, as well as a range of framework map layers, through a suite of web mapping tools and services.
  
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• The Damocles Earth observation program publishes a wide range of layers for the Arctic, including data on ice concentrations, ice drift, drift buoys and sea surface temperatures.
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• The US National Snow and Ice Data Center publishes a series of layers with data on the cryosphere, including glacier footprints, historical comparisons, images of the break-up of the Larsen B ice shelf, permafrost, sea ice and snow extent and Antarctic glaciological data.
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• The British Antarctic Survey's Antarctic Digital Database contains detailed topographic data downloadable in variety of formats, including Google Earth's native KML format. (Free registration required.)
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• MeteoGroup publishes a dynamic layer (direct link) of weather forecasts for locations around the world, including the polar regions. In Google Earth, zoom to a view and wait a few seconds for the placemarks with available weather forecasts to refresh.
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• On Google Earth Community, Core5 has published overlays of live Aurora activity over both poles.
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• The Danish Polar Center hosts a KML layer focused on Greenland, showing the bases used for I{Y-endorsed projects, local weather, and the track of research vessel Tara.
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• On Google Earth Community, pm77 has published an exhaustive resource on Shackleton's 1914-1916 expedition to Antarctica.
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• On Google Earth Community, sanandak has published the route of Roald Amundsen's 1911-1912 expedition to the South Pole.
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• On Google Earth Community, CScott has published an overlay for Antarctic ice thickness.
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• The Sierra Club has published a layer with relevant data on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
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• On Google Earth Community, Chris Gregory has published a georeferenced photographic record of his travels on a 1961-1962 expedition to Antarctica.
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• Courtesy of EarthSlot, the route of the annual Iditarod, the cross-Alaska dog-sled race, with live tracking wen it happens.
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• A French eclipse hunter publishes a list of overlays showing upcoming solar eclipses, including the annular eclipse on Antarctica on February 7, 2008.
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• On Google Earth Community, an overlay showing high resolution imagery of Bouvetøya, a sub-Antarctic island often called the Earth's most remote island.
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• On Google Earth Hacks, imagery of the newly-discovered Wilkes Land crater on Antarctica. It is one of Earth's largest craters.

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