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CONTENTSReport from the 9th CEPS Plenary in Canada
Australian Research Agency Chairs CEOS---This page
CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services (WGISS)
CEOS and Ocean Color
What is the international Group of Funding Agencies for Global Change Research (IGFA)
The Centre for Earth Observation (CEO) Technical Activities in the CEOS
Framework
Framework/CEOS Holds First Open ForumsNews Highlights/ Meeting Calendar
Summary of User Requirement Workshop
1993 CEOS Meeting Calender
Australian Research Agancy Chairs CEOS
Brian J. J. Embleton
Head, CSIRO Office of Space Science and Applications(COSSA)
Australia's Commonwealth Scientific &Industrial Research Organization
(CSIRO)has become Chair of CEOS.At the conclusion of the Montreal Plenary,
Dr. Brian Embleton, Hear of CSIRO's Office of Space Science and Applications,
assumed the position, succeeding Dr. Garry Lindberg of the Canadian Space
Agency.
- Australia's location in the Asia-Pacific Region will provide an opportunity
to focus attention on achievements, progress and plans for Earth observation
activities in the region.
CSIRO is Australia's premier R&D agency, with responsibility for research in fields that include communication science and engineering; minerals and energy technologies; rural and agricultural sciences; industrial technologies and environmental and natural resources. CSIRO's Office of Space Science and Applications (COSSA) is responsible for co-ordinating the Earth observation activities and has recently established the CSIRO Earth Observation Centre.
The CEOS Chair, coming to CSIRO, is timely because it coincides with initiatives in CSIRO designed to strengthen R&D performance in Earth observation science and technology. The region is also one that is facing significant social and environmental challenges, and the application of space technologies is regarded by many agencies as a sound basis for sustainable development in the region.
The Plenary in Montreal helped to highlight a number of issues which CEOS agencies will need to grapple with over the next 12 months.
these include, spectrum management, including relationships with ITU/WARC and the increasing competition for communication wave bands through the expanding commercial and non-commercial use of communication net works.
Another issue is the extent to which space agencies are willing and able to respond to user's needs. Through the tireless contribution of affiliate organizations, CEOS members now have a much more systematic means of understanding user requirements, at least in the public sector.The CEOS Task Force is now re-analyzing information on user need; the challenge for members is to these inputs, and incorporate them in space sector program planning.
The private sector users bring an additional and important dimension to the category of Earth observation data users. The Chair and the Secretariat will continue the dialogue with the private sector during the coming year.
Finally, following ad hoc presentations in Montreal,CEOS will also be discussing ways of moving towards a global observing system. The new Chair Secretariat will be co-ordinating plans for additional meetings on this topic, beginning with a meeting in Seattle, March 27-28, 1996.
CEOS seeks to achieve harmony in international Earth observation missions for one main reason. This is so that humankind can gain greater social benefit from the application of Earth observation technologies. One of the Chairs' objectives during 1996 will be to encourage the continued documentation of the social benefits of Earth observation.
The 1996 Plenary will be held in Australia's Capital, Canberra, November 13-15. This will be the second occasion for the Plenary to be held in the Southern Hemisphere. Northern visitors to the Plenary will have the opportunity to observe the unfamiliar sights of southern hemisphere constellations, like the Southern Cross. In similar vein, the by-words for the Plenary could be 'some world-different view!'
CEOS Resolution on wgiss
(as adopted by the 9th Plenary, 1995)CEOS,
recognizing the unique characteristics of Earth observation information systems and data communications networks as tools for timely access to, and dissemination and exchange of, data and information,
and recognizing the need to advance the understanding of environmental processes and Earth resources management and monitoring,
also recognizing the necessity to promote effective international cooperation,
establishes the Working Group on Information Systems and Services (WGISS) by consolidating the CEOS WGD and the WGINS,
thus stimulating, coordinating, and monitoring initiatives, thereby enabling users worldwide to exploit more effectively and benefit from data generated by Earth observing satellites and other sources for national, regional, and global purposes, aware that this measure will provide a more effective way forward than the current structure.
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