AbstractUK-based operations that range from ship routing and resource exploration to weather forecasting and glaciology have direct and growing interests in the oceans of the polar regions. Typically, information describing sea-ice conditions in localised regions is required on short time scales. To explore this market, the UK's Defence Research Agency, as part of a programme of the British National Space Centre, has commissioned the development of a prototype sea-ice workstation by a consortium led by Earth Observation Sciences Ltd.The sea-ice workstation (SIWS) uses data from several current earth observation sensors, thereby combining the advantages of regional survey, all-weather capability, and high-resolution imagery. The workstation has been designed to run with a minimum of operator intervention in order to optimise speed of operation and ensure consistency of results. The geophysical processing chains generate charts of the ice edge, ice type, ice concentration, ice-motion vectors, and sea-surface temperatures.Although taking full advantage of developments made elsewhere, the project has also made significant progress in research into the automated mapping of ice types. Existing ice-motion algorithms have been significantly enhanced as well. Considerable emphasis is being placed on the validation of the results from the system in order to assess their quality, this being one of the major concerns of potential users. The sea-ice workstation was completed in July 1994 and will form the basis for a series of evaluations that are intended to assess the value of the system for mapping and monitoring sea ice.