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CONTENTS10th Anniversary Celebration in Berlin
Report from CEOS 8th Plenary in Berlin
10th Anniversary Celebration in Berlin
Integrated User Data Requirements for Global Change Research---This page
CEOS Special Report on Successful Applications of Earth Observation Satellite Data (Pilot Version)
Advancing Global Topographic Kowledge: Significant Progress, but CEOS Members Can Help Greatly
Advancing Global Topographic Kowledge: Significant Progress, but CEOS Members Can Help Greatly(continued page)
CEOS Activity Plan for 1995/News Highlights/CEOS Meeting Calendar
Integrated User Data Requirements for Global Change Research
Donald E. HinsmanWorld Meteorological Organization
At its fourth Plenary meeting, CEOS established itself as a forum for programmatic and policy discussions among satellite operators, and between space segment operators and the international user community. At that meeting, CEOS Members agreed to invite international user groups to affiliate themselves with CEOS and to participate in future Plenary meetings and thus the CEOS Affiliate was established.
- Since the fourth CEOS Plenary meeting, major international user groups
are participating in CEOS consultations as CEOS Affiliates including the
World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Geosphere-Biosphere
Programme (IGBP), the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the Global
Climate Observing System (GCOS).
One important contribution made by the CEOS Affiliates is a statement of their satellite data requirements. Satellite data requirements are stated in two forms. First, each CEOS Affiliate has identified specific data requirements in terms of spatial and temporal resolutions and accuracy. Individual programme requirements can be found in the CEOS Dossier, Volume C, Section 2. The second form for the data requirements combines all the individual programme requirements into a single statement that will meet all the CEOS Affiliates' needs. The statement is called the CEOS Affiliates' Dossier and uses Instrument type as a means to combine the various programme requirements into one coherent statement. A concerted effort was made to use standard terminology across the various prrogrammes and to avoid ambiguity in the descriptions of needs. The Dossier contains sections describing the overall and individual programme needs at the instrument level, and the characteristics for a particular instrument referred to in the overall and individual programmes.
In developing the CEOS Affiliates' Dossier, a meeting of CEOS Affiliates was organized in Geneva, March 1993, to discuss common satellite data requirements. Each Affiliate agreed to present its requirements by indicating the measurement required, a type of instrument that could obtain the measurement, and a candidate sensor (s) for that type of instrument. Candidate sensors were identified from the list of the plans pf CEOS Members. Where appropriate, the Affiliates agreed on common terminology to identify a particular measurement. For example, sea surface temperature (SST) appeared as a required measurement in WCRP, WMO, IOC, IGBP and GCOS, The Affiliates also agreed to common terminology for the instrument type.
Upon combining the instrument types into one list, the Affiliates unanimously agreed that three classes of satellite instruments and / or missions will contribute to fulfill their total data needs: a basic real-time observing system component; an earth system monitoring component; and an experimental component. The basic real-time observing system supports the needs of operational environmental forecasting. Earth system monitoring requires the basic reeal-time data and the information from the earth system monitring package. Scientific research will use data form all three components. It on thus be seen that a common requirement for all three applications is the continuation of operational environmental satellite systems that provide long-time series data sets. In addition to this basic real-time components, earth system monitoring requires more complex satellite systems and sensors. Finally the basic real-time and earth system monitoring components, when supplemented by the experimental component, are the prerequisites to support scientific research. The experimental component develops in parallel to the other two such that long-term data set continuation, if required, can be realized in future satellite systems of the basic or earth system monitoring components. The three components, as an ensemble, represent the needs of the CEOS Affiliates.
CEOS Affiliates identified instrument types for each of the three components. Although many specific data requirements may be important to different Affiliates, one instrument type will normally satisfy several needs. For example, an imaging multi-spectral (vis, IR) radiometer provides the basic rediance measurements for inferring many geophysical and vegetation properties; cloud amount and cloud top temperature, cloud particle properties, aerosols in the troposphere, earth surface albedo, snow cover, vegetation index, etc.
In recognizing the multiplicity of satellite data products, the Affiliates have identified three instrument types for the basic real-time observing system: imaging multi-spectral (vis, IR) radiometer, atmospheric sounder (IR, microwave), and wind (microwave) scatterometer. Earth system monitoring requires the basic real-time observing system and in addition: high-resolution multispectral mapper, ocean colour radiometer, imaging multi-spectral (microwave) radiometer, earth radiation budget radiometer, limb-scanning spectrometer, radar altimeter, precision radar altimetry package, and mapping radar (SAR). Finally, scientific research requires the basic real-time and earth system monitoring systems and calls for a range of new exploratory or "proof-of-concept" missions to include doppler lidar, advanced atmospheric chemistry spectrometer, rain radar, multidirectional radiometer, polarimeter/radiometer, cloud radar profiler, and gravity gradiometer. Figure 1 is a chematic of the three components.
The Affiliates also have identified their requirements for spatial and temporal coverages that call for three categories of satellites, operational satellites, earth system monitoring satellites and experimental satellites.
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