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CONTENTSCommentary
Committee on Earth Observation Satellites(CEOS)
CEOS Working Group Structure
Review of Past Activities: The CEOS Dossier
CEOS Activity Plan for 1993
CEOS Data Exchange Principles---This page
Resolutiom of Satellite Data Exchange Principles in Support of Global Change Research (Draft) 18 May 1993
Summary of CEOS Ad Hoc Data Policy Meeting
Summary of User Requirement Workshop
1993 CEOS Meeting Calender
CEOS Data Exchange Principles
Lisa R. Shaffer
Assistant Associate Administrator for External Coordination
Office of Mission to Planet Earth/NASA, USA
One primary objective of CEOS is to optimize the benefits of space borne Earth observations through cooperation among the members in the development of compatible data access, products, formats, services, and policies.
- CEOS encompasses all civil Earth remote sensing satellite programs.
The committee's objectives derive in part from the desire to make it as
easy as possible for users to obtain and apply Earth observations data
from different satellites for a variety of purposes. Compatible policies
and mechanisms for data access and exchange are an integral part of this
effort.
To help realize this objective, CEOS began at its 1990 plenary meeting to discuss common data policy principles. Members adopted a change to the CEOS terms of reference to include a specific requirement for members to ensure data availability to the international community. Members also agreed to participate in a series of ad hoc meetings intended to establish general principles covering satellite data policy, and to consider apecifically the question of data access. CEOS agencies agreed to begin with global change research use before addressing policy principles for other types of data use.
The CEOS Resolution of Satellite Data Exchange Principles in Support of Global Change Research was adopted at the sixth plenary meeting in 1992 (see next page). As part of the process, CEOS members recognized that individual programs may have different objectives, but that there are shared interests in maximizing data use and supporting research, particularly global change research. The principles reaffirm the commitment of members to nondiscriminatory data distribution, the avoidance of any exclusive periods of data access. Members recognized the common goal of providing data to global change researchers on a consistent basis reflecting primarily the cost of filling the user request. It was also recognized that the constraints of mission operations and available resources may require different mechanisms for data exchange/sharing to be found or different programs. CEOS members agreed to implement these data exchange principles to the fullest extent possible.
For global change researchers, the exchange and sharing arrangements will be offered to those researchers chosen through selection procedures, such as research announcements with a peer review or similar process, open to international participation within the context of the research priorities of the relevant global change programs. Global change researchers, jointly with their sponsoring institution, will be required to sign a data agreement stipulating the terms and conditions of data use; and members agreed that all data provided through the CEOS data sharing and exchange mechanism will be available to other selected global change researchers.
At the third Ad Hoc Data Policy Meeting May 25-27, 1993 in Tokyo, Japan, participants reported on the staus of their provision of data for global change research, nothing that much data is already available and actively used by global change researchers. With the exception of some data from market-driven systems, these satellite observations are provided by CEOS members to selected investigators on a free or cost of reproduction basis, and the CEOS principles are already successfully being implemented. To evaluate the applicability of these principles for high resolution data that may involve commercial considerations, CEOS is undertaking a data access pilot project in support of core programs of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP).
At the third Ad Hoc Meeting, IGBP identified geographic areas and time periods where data from remote sensing satellites like MOS, Landsat, and SOPT are required to complement analysis already NASDA, NASA, and CNES then presented the basic data policies for their respective satellite programs, and then described the special arrangements that could be offered specifically in support of this CEOS/IGBP pilot project. In the case of MOS and Landsat, the satellite operators have already offered a multitier pricing structure to accommodate research requirements. Rights to reproduce the data for sharing among selected investigators is also permitted for global change research for Landsat and MOS. In the SOPT case, CNES currently subsidizes data purchases and provides the data at lower cost for selected researchers. In additions, other CEOS organizations expressed interest in contributing resources to enable provision of data at reduced prices for global change research.
IGBP-DIS was asked to consolidate a requirements document and the data providing agencies agreed to present their respective contribution plans to CEOS and to IGBP-DIS. It was also agreed that, for this project, IGBP would be responsible for selecting the investingators using these data sets. While IGBP has not included requirements for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data for the specific data access pilot project, SAR data are also being used in order global change research such as deforestation studies under a cooperative program of ESA and the European Communities. SAR data provision could be extended to other global change research activities as appropriate.
For further information on CEOS data policy activities, readers may consult the 1992 CEOS Consolidated Report and minutes of the CEOS plenary and ad hoc meetings, which are available from the CEOS secretariat.
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