An article on Earthzine by Mark R. Drinkwater — Coordinating Satellite Observations during the International Polar Year 2007-2008 — looks at all the different ways in which satellite remote sensing programs are contributing to our understanding of the poles during IPY. The article includes an overview of the Global Interagency IPY Polar Snapshot Year (GIIPSY), the IPY Space Task Group (STG) and the Integrated Global Observing Strategy Theme on Cryosphere known as IGOS-Cryo. Together, these programs are making possible a global 'polar snapshot' that the article concludes "will provide the opportunity to engage a new generation of researchers, experts, educators, policy makers, and polar residents in understanding the polar regions and changes in its environment, as well as the global consequences of these changes."