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Projects: Observing Earth

Planetary Society Joins Working Group on Earth Observation and Global Change

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Click to enlarge > Earth's Western Hemisphere This most detailed color image of the Earth's to date, assembled from data captured by the MODIS instrument on the Terra Earth-orbiting satellite. Source Credit: NASA GSFC

In fall 2007, The Planetary Society was asked to participate with the prestigious Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., to join a working group focused on Earth Observation and Climate Change. They recognized the link between planetary science and understanding our planet Earth, and we were eager to better understand the state of Earth observation and contribute to its future.

February 1, 2008

As a result of The Planetary Society's commitment to studying Earth from space, we were invited to join a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) working group on Earth Observation and Global Change.  CSIS is a well-respected, non-partisan, foreign policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. that focuses on global strategic issues.  This working group, hosted by the CSIS Space Initiatives Program, consists of representatives from science, industry, and government who get together to explore significant issues in Earth observation.

The group assesses current and planned Earth observation missions, the value of Earth observation to key industries, and our ability to better understand and prepare for global environmental changes. The goal of the working group is to produce policy recommendations for national and international Earth observation strategies.

I attended the three meetings of the group held in Washington, D.C.  It was a pleasure to work with many of the world’s Earth observation experts. Earth observing includes both satellite observations and in situ observations such as ocean buoys.  Just as rovers on Mars provide critical ground truth for global satellite observations, surface sensors on Earth provide ground truth data and, in some cases, high time frequency data.  Satellites give us a global perspective -- from disaster response, to urban planning, to monitoring global change -- to help us better understand and work with our planet.

During these meetings, we discussed many interesting "operational" activities of Earth monitoring satellites.  For instance, Earth satellite images were used after the 2004 tsunami, not only to document the damage, but also -- in one case -- to identify a remote village that governments had not realized had been extensively damaged. Once the satellite images came in and the village was identified, emergency assistance was sent in. Our weather satellites offer another good example of how Earth observing satellites provide assistance to Earth inhabitants.

There are also scores of examples of “science research” activities, such as the observations that provide inputs into global change models, ranging from sea surface temperature to atmospheric parameters.  In addition, spacecraft observations are critical to document changes, such as the shrinking of arctic ice packs or glaciers.

A key issue discussed at the meetings is the role of international cooperation and coordination. To properly monitor global change, there are many tens of critical observations that must be made over extended periods of time.  A key to obtaining these many observations -- and to sustaining the observations over the long periods required for analyses -- is not only to look for international cooperation to share costs and resources, but also to coordinate among nations to avoid redundancy and cover all the necessary measurements.  This kind of cooperation has not always occurred, however there are now significant efforts to encourage future coordination.  One of these efforts was 2003 formation of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), which now involves more than 72 countries.

There is still more to be done to coordinate international efforts, and there are still key gaps in planned future Earth observations.  Groups like the CSIS working group on Earth Observation and Global Change will help identify these gaps and how best to fill them. The Planetary Society is excited to be a part of this effort.

Stay tuned: The CSIS working group will release various reports over the coming months.  As they become available, we will provide access to them from our website.

-- Bruce Betts