National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D

The ''Earth Science Decadal Survey'' (in full: ''U.S. National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space'') is a publication of the

United States National Research Council The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (also known as NASEM or the National Academies) are the collective scientific national academy of the United States. The name is used interchangeably in two senses: (1) as an umbrel ...

that identifies key research priorities in the field of Earth Sciences with a focus on remote sensing. It is written and released at the request of three United States government agencies: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The survey is produced by the Committee on the Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space (ESAS) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Space Studies Board, Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences. Agencies like NASA use the recommendations from the

decadal survey A decadal survey is a 10-year plan outlining scientific missions and goals created by the United States National Academies. It is a summary of input from scientists in the United States and beyond. Examples include: * Astronomy and Astrophysics ...

to prioritize funding for specific types of scientific research projects. As of 2021, two decadal surveys have been released. The first, for the decade 2007–2017, “Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond” was published in 2007. The second, for the decade 2017 to 2027, “Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observations from Space” was published in 2018.

History

Before the decadal surveys

The National Academy of Sciences began creating technical panels and overseeing Earth observation satellites in the late 1950s after the launch of Explorer-I and the Vanguard satellites. In the intervening years prior to the official decadal surveys, the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council produced many reports outlining Earth observation goals. Examples include: the 1991 “Assessment of Satellite Earth Observation Programs”, the 2004 “Utilization of Operational Environmental Satellite Data: Ensuring Readiness for 2010 and Beyond” and the 2005 “Earth Science and Applications from Space: Urgent Needs and Opportunities to Serve the Nation” and “Extending the Effective Lifetimes of Earth Observing Research Missions.”

2007-2017, Earth Science and Applications from Space

''“Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond“'' called for Earth observations falling into seven categories: applications and societal benefits, land-use change,

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmos ...

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, water resources, human health, and solid-Earth hazards. A related NASA planning document was released in 2010 nicknamed the “Climate Initiative” (full name: Responding to the Challenge of Climate and Environmental Change: NASA's Plan for Climate-Centric Architecture for Earth Observations and Applications). Recommended missions from the 2007 survey included many satellites that became operational in some format. For example, the survey recommended a continuation of NPOESS (dissolved), which is now called

JPSS The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is the latest generation of U.S. polar-orbiting, non-geosynchronous, environmental satellites. JPSS will provide the global environmental data used in numerical weather prediction models for forecasts, and ...

, including instruments like

VIIRS The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is a sensor designed and manufactured by the Raytheon Company on board the polar-orbiting Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP), NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 weather satellites. VI ...

on the two satellites Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 which launched in 2011 and 2017. Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) launched in 2015. The Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat-2) launched in 2018. The

Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) was a joint mission of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Twin satellites took detailed measurements of Earth's gravity field anomalies from its launch in March 2002 to the end of its ...

-II, later named Follow-On (GRACE-FO) launched in 2018 to continue the data collection from GRACE-1 and -2. Other missions recommended by the 2007 survey are still in a planning stage as of 2021. For example, 3D-Winds is planned for 2023 to 2026. Aerosol Cloud Ecosystems (ACE) was the precursor to the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud and ocean Ecosystems (PACE) mission which is planned to launch in 2023 or 2024. Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) is planned to launch in 2022. Other missions from the 2007 list have had other outcomes as of 2021. The Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) – satellite mission was cancelled as a satellite mission, but has been used as an airborne sensor. The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission has no set launch date as of 2021. Deformation, Ecosystem Structure, and Dynamics of Ice (DESDynI) had its funding cut in 2011. The GeoCAPE mission, while not implemented, was the precursor for future missions TEMPO, GeoCARB, and GLIMR. The LIDAR Surface Topography (LIST) mission was simulated but never built. The Global Atmospheric Composition Mission (GACM), Precipitation and All-weather Temperature and Humidity (PATH), Snow and Cold Land Processes (SCLP), and Extended Ocean Vector Winds Mission (XOVWM) were not implemented as laid out in the 2007 survey.

2017-2027, Thriving on Our Changing Planet

In ''“Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space,”'' the Earth observation topics that ranked as the most important in the 2017 survey were: aerosol properties, atmospheric winds, greenhouse gases, surface biology and geology,

terrestrial ecosystem Terrestrial ecosystems are ecosystems which are found on land. Examples include tundra, taiga, temperate deciduous forest, tropical rain forest, grassland, deserts. Terrestrial ecosystems differ from aquatic ecosystems by the predominant pres ...

structure,

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

ecosystem structure, aquatic-coastal biogeochemistry, soil moisture, ocean surface

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...

s and

currents Currents, Current or The Current may refer to: Science and technology * Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas ** Air current, a flow of air ** Ocean current, a current in the ocean *** Rip current, a kind of water current ** Current (stre ...

, vegetation-snow-surface energy balance, and surface

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...

and

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characte ...

. The 2017 survey recommended that United States agencies NASA, NOAA and USGS work on a coordinated approach to earth observations in the next decade. For aerosol and cloud science, priorities listed include a polarimetric imager for aerosol observations in Earth's atmosphere toward better

weather forecasts Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th centu ...

and concurrent deployment of both a polarimeter and Lidar instrument from an airplane (airborne measurements). The survey recommended intentional, early development of applications for satellite data to answer societally-relevant research questions before new satellite missions are formalized and well before launch. The 2017 survey explained that out of the missions laid out in the 2007 survey, some were successfully launched (“implemented”), some were recommended but required further planning (“partially implemented” or a “designated program element”), and some were given an undetermined status (called “incubation,” “unallocated,” or “recommended as a candidate for Earth System Explorer” missions in the future). Designated program elements, future missions that were prioritized, include:

PACE Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US * Pace Airlines, an American charter airline *Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

, Surface Biology and Geology, a successor to GRACE-FO, and a successor to

NISAR The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is a joint project between NASA and ISRO to co-develop and launch a dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar on an Earth observation satellite. The satellite will be the first radar imagin ...

. Surface Biology and Geology was one of the designated program elements. The goal is to improve measurements of the characteristics of Earth's surface for

natural resources management Natural resource management (NRM) is the management of natural resources such as Land (economics), land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generati ...

food security Food security speaks to the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World ...

, and

water security Water security is the focused goal of water policy and water management. A society with a high level of water security makes the most of water's benefits for humans and ecosystems and limits the risk of destructive impacts associated with water. T ...

, along with many other applications. This mission is still in the early planning stages as of 2021 but will likely have 10s of meters spatial resolution, 16-day revisit time, and a combination of

hyperspectral Hyperspectral imaging collects and processes information from across the electromagnetic spectrum. The goal of hyperspectral imaging is to obtain the spectrum for each pixel in the image of a scene, with the purpose of finding objects, identifyi ...

and

multispectral Multispectral imaging captures image data within specific wavelength ranges across the electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelengths may be separated by filters or detected with the use of instruments that are sensitive to particular wavelengths, ...

coverage.

References

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External links