Category:Earth Observations

Updates: June 2015

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Aquifers

"Time to depletion" -- "Significant segments of Earth's population are consuming groundwater quickly without knowing when it might run out..."

"Available physical and chemical measurements are simply insufficient," said UCI professor and principal investigator Jay Famiglietti, who is also the senior water scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Given how quickly we are consuming the world's groundwater reserves, we need a coordinated global effort to determine how much is left."

The studies are the first to comprehensively characterize global groundwater losses with data from space, using readings generated by NASA's twin GRACE satellites.

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Earth Observations Science Committees/Groups/Missions Grow in Importance

Groundwater Basins in Distress

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83799955/ -- http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11466534

http://mashable.com/2015/06/16/groundwater-aquifers-depleted/ -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/16/new-nasa-studies-show-how-the-world-is-running-out-of-water/

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Environmental Security: Earth Science Programs Cut

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Presidents_budget_see_earth_science.jpg

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:House_budget_see_earth_science.jpg

Re: funding cuts to NASA's critical Earth science and space technology programs

On May 1, 2015, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Dr. John P. Holdren issued the following statement on proposed funding cuts to NASA's critical Earth science and space technology programs:

"If enacted, the NASA authorization bill headed to the House floor later this month would do serious damage to the Nation’s space program, as well as to Earth-observation and Earth-science programs essential for predicting, preparing for, and minimizing the damage from disasters both natural and human-induced.

The House bill would also gut the NASA “mission to planet Earth”—the satellite observations and related research that provide key measurements and insights relevant to forecasting and tracking hurricanes, fighting wildfires, observing the state of the world’s farms and forests, mapping the extent of droughts, measuring the stocks of groundwater, and monitoring the likelihood of landslides. The draconian cuts in the House bill would also delay advances in our ability to research and prepare for volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis and blind us to changes in the Earth’s oceans and ice sheets that can be discerned only from space."

New Definitions of National Security

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http://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/You_can_manage_only_what_you_can_measure_Dr_David_Crisp%2C_OCO-2%2C_June_2014_m.jpg

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Right_Now

Earth Right Now

https://twitter.com/hashtag/EarthRightNow?src=hash

http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/index.html

http://www.nasa.gov/smap/

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GPM/main/index.html

http://www.nasa.gov/rapidscat/

http://www.nasa.gov/cats/

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/oco2/index.html - https://twitter.com/iamoco2

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December 2014

Historic Orbiting Carbon Observatory Satellite Sends Back Most Detailed CO2 View Ever / Dec 18, 2014

Initial OCO-2 data available in March for scientists and public to download and explore

Phys.org - Discovery - Weather - Nature

Sample Data -- OCO-2 Data Portal

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November

Counting carbon over Southern California - OCO-2 at work

October

Mission status report

September

OCO Orbit

Megacities

August

August 13th/Climate Central news report of first data

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist who develops software algorithms for OCO to retrieve information about carbon dioxide in our atmosphere

July 2 2014

Watching the Planet Breathe

NASA Launches New Carbon-Sensing Mission to Monitor Earth’s 'Breathing'

"Climate change is the challenge of our generation," says NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

Follow the OCO-2 Mission

Follow the tweets of the OCO-2 bird

Follow the NASA climate blog

http://climate.nasa.gov/blog/1105/ -- http://climate.nasa.gov/blog/

Earth Right Now

Climate.NASA

OCO Mission teams

"Game changing" science Unraveling mysteries

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Climate Change, Global Warming

Observing Global Warming with #OCO-2

Historic launch #PlanetCitizen mission to study #EarthsAtmosphere

"First Light!" [1] [2] OCO-2 announces 'We have data!'

OCO-2 tweets - https://twitter.com/IamOCO2

What monitoring a potential existential crisis looks like...spectra from #OCO-2 #Earth360

Earth observing satellites, Orbiting Carbon Observatory the "Afternoon Constellation", the "A-Train" joined by ‪#‎OCO-2 newly launched and historic in its mission to study global warming

"Watching the Earth Breathe from Space" [3] [4] [5] [6]

About the Earth Observatory Mission

Where the Trees Are - US

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With the launch of OCO-2, a "game changer", the data of #Earth360 will grow in unprecedented ways

#Earthdata enables informed decisions and policy

"You can manage only what you can measure"

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Eyes on the Earth [7] [8] [9] [10]

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eGY -- electronic Geophysical Year / http://www.egy.org/ -- An Earth and Space Science Information Commons Initiative: International Co-operation for Open Access to Data

GEO -- Group on Earth Observations / http://www.earthobservations.org/index.php -- Established in 2005, GEO is a voluntary partnership of governments and organizations that envisions “a future wherein decisions and actions for the benefit of humankind are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations and information.”

CEOS -- Committee On Earth Observation Satellites / http://ceos.org/ -- 2015 - CEOS was established in September, 1984 in response to a recommendation from a Panel of Experts on Remote Sensing from Space and set up under the aegis of the G7 Economic Summit of Industrial Nations Working Group on Growth, Technology, and Employment.

This Panel recognized the multidisciplinary nature of space-based Earth observations and the value of coordinating international Earth observation efforts to benefit society. Accordingly, the original function of CEOS was to coordinate and harmonize Earth observations to make it easier for the user community to access and use data. CEOS initially focused on interoperability, common data formats, the inter-calibration of instruments, and common validation and inter-comparison of products. However, over time, the circumstances surrounding the collection and use of space-based Earth observations have changed.

The number of Earth-observing satellites has vastly increased.

Onboard instruments are more complex and are capable of collecting new types of data in ever-growing volumes.

The user community has expanded and become more diverse as different data types become available and new applications for Earth observations are developed.

Users have become more organized, forming several international bodies that coordinate and levy Earth observation requirements.

CEOS WGISS -- Committee On Earth Observation Satellites / http://ceos.org/ourwork/workinggroups/wgiss/ -- Working Group on Information Systems and Services - WGISS stimulates, coordinates, monitors, and promotes collaboration on the development of the systems and services that manage and supply satellite Earth observation (EO) data and information.

CEOS IDN -- Committee On Earth Observation Satellites / http://idn.ceos.org/ -- International Directory Network (IDN) / http://idn.ceos.org/portals/Home.do?Portal=idn_ceos&MetadataType=0 -- The CEOS International Directory Network (IDN) is a Gateway to the world of Earth Science data and services. The CEOS IDN is an international effort developed to assist researchers in locating information on available datasets and services. The directory is sponsored as a service to the Earth science community.

GCMD -- Global Change Master Directory / http://gcmd.nasa.gov/

DIF -- DIF Writer's Guide / http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/add/difguide/index.html -- Directory Interchange Forma... The DIF does not compete with other metadata standards. It is simply the "container" for the metadata elements that are maintained in the IDN database, where validation for mandatory fields, keywords, personnel, etc. takes place. The DIF is used to create directory entries which describe a group of data. A DIF consists of a collection of fields which detail specific information about the data. Eight fields are required in the DIF; the others expand upon and clarify the information. Some of the fields are text fields, others require the use of controlled keywords...Directory Interchange Format (DIF) Writer's Guide, 2015. Global Change Master Directory. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. http://gcmd.nasa.gov/add/difguide/ - http://gcmd.nasa.gov/ -- Global Change Master Directory

GGOS -- GGOS at the GFZ Potsdam / http://www.ggos.org/ -- GGOS is the Observing System of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG). GGOS works with the IAG components to provide the geodetic infrastructure necessary for monitoring the Earth system and for global change research. It provides observations of the three fundamental geodetic observables and their variations, that is, the Earth's shape, the Earth's gravity field and the Earth's rotational motion. GGOS integrates different geodetic techniques, different models, different approaches in order to ensure a long-term, precise monitoring of the geodetic observables in agreement with the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS)

IVOA -- International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) / http://www.ivoa.net/ -- The Virtual Observatory (VO) is the vision that astronomical datasets and other resources should work as a seamless whole. Many projects and data centres worldwide are working towards this goal. The International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) is an organisation that debates and agrees the technical standards that are needed to make the VO possible.

DLR -- Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt / http://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10002/

JPL -- Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology / http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

PO.DAAC -- Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center PO.DAAC / http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/

INDIGO -- Inter-service Data Integration for Geodetic Operations / http://indigo.nasa.gov/

UTCSR -- University of Texas at Austin - Center for Space Research / http://www.csr.utexas.edu/ - GRACE mission status / http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/operations/mission_status/ - http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/grace/ - http://isdc.gfz-potsdam.de/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=1&pid=35

DGFI -- Deutsches Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut / http://www.dgfi.tum.de/en/

IAG -- IAG Services - International Association of Geodesy / http://www.iag-aig.org/index.php?tpl=text&id_c=1&id_t=102

ICGEM -- International Centre for Global Earth Models / http://icgem.gfz-potsdam.de/ICGEM/ICGEM.html

PV 2007 -- PV 2007: Proceedings and Results / http://pv2007.dlr.de/main/results_en.htm

Paper: The ISDC concept for long-term sustainability of geoscience data and information / http://pv2007.dlr.de/Papers/Ritschel_ISDC.pdf

IUGG 2007 -- Proceedings of IUGG XXIV General Assembly / UNION SYMPOSIA Proceedings - Earth: Our Changing Planet / http://www.iugg2007perugia.it/webbook/download.htm

VOiG -- Virtual Observatories in Geosciences (VOIG) Conference 2007 / http://www.egy.org/VOiG/Home.html

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