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Projects: Observing Earth

Earth Observations: An International Venture

by Amir Alexander

The view from METEOSAT-7
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The view from METEOSAT-7
METEOSAT-7 looks down upon Earth from a geostationary orbit positioned at 57.5° longitude. Credit: John Walker's Earth and Moon Viewer

Preserving scientists' ability to observe and monitor Earth from space is a high priority not only for the United States but also for the international community as a whole. Alongside NASA and NOAA, the European Space Agency (ESA) has an active Earth-observing program, as do the national space agencies of India, Japan, France, Brazil, China, Argentina, and other countries.

Numerous organizations are engaged in both research and advocacy for a robust international Earth observation program, including the United Nations Environment Programme, which has been promoting Earth observations since the 1970s.

One of the leaders in the field of international Earth observations is a relative newcomer to the field, GEO—the Group on Earth Observations. Formed in 2005 at the third Earth Observations Summit in Brussels, GEO is a voluntary association of governments, nongovernmental organizations, and international organizations. GEO's purpose is to coordinate the many current Earth observation programs from both space and the ground, facilitate the distribution of data to researchers and officials around the world who can make best use of them, and add new observation programs in areas not adequately covered by existing ones. The organization's ultimate goal is to create a Global Earth Observation System of Systems, which would coordinate and manage all the interlocking observational systems that monitor Earth's complex environment.

Unlike U.N. organizations, which require the assent of nearly 200 governments for their decisions, GEO provides a forum in which any two participants can join forces and launch a new project. This unorthodox structure allows GEO to react quickly to emerging needs and launch new initiatives with relatively little delay.

In its three years of existence, GEO has helped launch several projects aimed at coordinating Earth observations from space, drastically improving the availability of data for Earth regions not accessible with current observation programs and closely monitoring the world's water supplies from both the Earth and space.

Amir Alexander is a writer-editor for The Planetary Society.