The worldwide shrinking of glaciers and ice sheets represents the largest contribution to current sea level rise. Melting at the glacier-atmosphere interface dominates this mass loss, and will likely do so for centuries to come. To quantify present and predict future melt rates requires the use of high-resolution, state-of-the-art regional atmospheric climate models for Antarctica and Greenland, and distributed surface energy balance (SEB) models for smaller ice caps and mountain glaciers. These models invariably require in situ SEB measurements for evaluation and tuning, which makes dedicated meteorological measurements using automatic weather stations (AWS) invaluable for glacier mass balance research. To that end, UU/IMAU has successfully operated a network of AWS on glaciers in the Alps, Norway, Iceland, Svalbard, Greenland and Antarctica (17 currently operational) since the early 1990s, in close collaboration with international partners. These AWS are specifically designed to close the SEB and quantify melt rate. However, the current AWS design is powered by a relatively large number of lithium batteries and has intricate external wiring, rendering it prone to damage and incompatible with ever-stricter international transportation rules for lithium batteries. Moreover, with this high level of international collaboration, a continuously changing group of researchers and technicians should be able to swiftly deploy and maintain our AWS. In order to overcome these problems, a radically different AWS design is proposed here, the intelligent Weather Station for polar use (iWS). iWS uses ultra-low power consumption sensors and electronics (including datalogger), enabling the full integration of electronics and all but two of the AWS sensors in a single unit (wind speed and radiation remain external). In combination with wireless internal and external data communication, this eliminates the need for vulnerable (external) cables and connectors, and greatly facilitates/shortens AWS installation, maintenance and repair visits. With power consumption reduced by over 95%, only three lithium batteries are required to power an iWs: this saves the environment, enhances transport safety/flexibility and reduces costs. Depending on whether the surface is ablating ice or accumulating snow, an independent, locally powered ultrasonic height sensor or snow thermistor string is installed next to the iWS, which communicate their data wirelessly to the iWS unit through Bluetooth. In melt areas over grounded ice, the iWS is combined with WiSe, a system of up to 32 wireless sensors that transmit englacial temperature and water pressure data through a maximum of 2400 m thick ice. We plan a four-year development, test and transition period (2012-2015) at eight AWS locations. After that, iWS is envisaged to replace all current UU/IMAU AWS.