File:Global Stocktake, the first GST.jpg

Time for Planet Citizen Action and a "CEOS", a Committee on Earth Observation Satellites

GreenPolicy360 welcomes the arrival of a global science mission, a "Global Stocktake", a collection of earth science data to be made available to the community of nations, to planet citizen activists and scientists, educational institutions, non-profits, NGOs, young and old to become tools for legal enforcement of national climate plans & pledges

See GreenPolicy 2021 initiative for "Enforcing National Climate Plans"

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_Plans_Enforcement_-_Resources

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Methods_to_enforce_climate_pledges-NDCs_-_Dec_2021.png

Looking Forward to Next Year's First "Global Stocktake" (GST) Meeting

Earth Observation Science, Earth Observations Satellites, Earth Observations Systems

• https://ceos.org/gst/

November 2022

GreenPolicy360: Resulting from 50+ years of Visionary Environmental Protection, Earth Science Research

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Science_Research_from_Space

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Look_at_how_thin_our_atmosphere_is

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Science_Vital_Signs

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Right_Now

GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: The International Climate Conferences, now the 27th 'Meeting of the Parties", COP27 speaks of the first UNFCCC systematic Earth Observation "Inventory". I can see back to the beginning of an Earth Observation "Inventory". I remember meeting, then years of learning, sharing and work alongside a congressman who set in motion and for decades shepherded U.S. earth science research programs. George E. Brown was a special person who brought a physics and engineering background to Congress. George saw what others didn't really understand and when he showed me the original Mission Statement of NASA, I began to understand. Here is the key phrase again -- “To understand and protect our home planet..."

Picture yourself like me, a young student in East Los Angeles meeting with a newly elected representative and talking the "big picture". George, who became my friend and over the years a colleague, garnered a reputation in the 1970s/80s/90s as the "Big Science" guy in Congress. George was low key in his approach, but truly saw and went for what I consider "generational science".

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Day_Memories_on_the_50th_Anniversary

In the Science, Space & Technology committee hearing room these days, there's a big painting of George. George deserves to be watching over the earth science work of these essential missions of NASA/NOAA/USGS, Landsat and EOS and on and on.

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr

Since his passing in 1999, the earth imaging, data collecting, measuring and monitoring work continues and I've done what I can to carry the work forward as I did with George and will continue to do for however many years I have left on our living planet.

We all, as planet citizens in our own ways, have work to do ... the new international databank of earth observations, the Global Stocktake (GST) reminds me of how the data collecting, digital imaging, study and science, the baselines, trendlines, observing of changes over time started with George's 'baby', the Landsat mission and digital data collection instrumentation (thank you Virginia Tower Norwood for your Multispectral invention). The multiple satellite missions that followed, the first Congress Climate Act in 1978, then Earth Observation Science mission and programs, an EOS System that followed, all deserve to be studied by every high school science class in the country, and the world.

The inspiration for the next generation was purposefully put on a path to do what was needed as we saw it in the 1960s and 70s, and going forward.

To create the tools and missions, the data collection, the science to study Earth's systems -- dynamic, changing, living systems -- and enable today's generation and future generations to 'measure, monitor and manage' with responsibility to preserve and protect our home planet. As the saying goes -- Earth is in our hands. Yes, as Planet Citizens, we are stewards and protectors of life on the planet.

Systematic Observations of the Earth

Preparing for Next Year's First GST / Global Stocktake Meeting

Systematic observations of the Earth’s atmosphere and surface from ground-based, airborne and space-based sensors can support both the Mitigation and Adaptation goals of the 2015 Global Climate Conference - Paris Agreement.

Direct measurements of atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations can be analysed to track GHG trends in their net emissions and removals on spatial scales spanning large urban areas, to nations, to the globe. They also support the development of top-down atmospheric inventories of GHG emissions and removals that can be used to assess the completeness and accuracy of the bottom-up methods used to compile biennial inventory reports.

High spatial resolution observations of land cover type, above-ground biomass and disturbances such as fires, severe weather and climate change can provide direct support for the development of bottom-up emissions inventories for agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU).

These data also provide capacity to respond to change rather than simply observing what has happened in the past. They allow us to identify opportunities for improving resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change and fostering low GHG emissions development.

Recognising these opportunities, CEOS space agencies have embarked on a broad range of activities to support the GST. To demonstrate the utility of systematic Earth observations, a series of pilot products are being developed to support inventory development verification efforts for the 2023 GST:

• The Joint CEOS/CGMS Working Group on Climate (WGClimate) is developing spatially-resolved global atmospheric budgets of CO2 and CH4, and their changes over time.

• The CEOS Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) Task team has embarked on an effort to identify and harmonise the best available above-ground biomass, forest, land cover, mangrove and agricultural crop products to support bottom-up inventories for the AFOLU sector.

These two efforts are being closely coordinated to develop Earth Observations products that are best suited to complement the Mitigation and Adaptation efforts being carried out by the Parties to the Paris Agreement.

The primary objective of these pilot products is to begin a conversation among the scientific community, national inventory agencies, the UNFCCC and other relevant stakeholders to establish best practices for the joint use of conventional inventories and systematic Earth observations - to produce more complete and accurate estimates of GHG emissions and removals, and to identify opportunities for improving resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change and fostering low GHG emissions development.

The resources on this page provide a single point of access to all the datasets and guidance resulting from these many activities, as a convenient reference for Parties, and for scientific and other users to access, understand and apply the data. Descriptions are provided for each dataset, along with links to the data itself, available user manuals or guidance documentation, and point of contact information is given in each case.

Please follow the links above for further details and access to the datasets of interest.

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Planet Citizens

Time for Planet Citizen Action

A Call to Action to Preserve & Protect Life on Earth

It's Your Time and, as GreenPolicy360 speaks of 'Becoming Planet Citizens'

We believe 'Each of us can make a positive difference stepping up & doing our best"

Planet Citizen Vision of Living Earth

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Planet_Citizen_Vision_of_Living_Earth

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The Earth Observing System (EOS)

The mission of the Earth Observing System that became a core element of the ongoing NASA earth science programs was first envisioned in the 1970s. The constellation of satellites that now comprise a connected matrix of ongoing earth imaging programs (see the latest here) came about as the U.S. Congress realized in the years following NASA's establishment that Planet Earth was central to NASA's work. The initial NASA mission statement spoke of this study of Planet Earth as a key goal of NASA programs. A new science, space and technology Congressional Committee was created to envision and oversee these programs and one of the first realizations about the need for earth science came about through the LANDSAT program (see here). A historic moment brought into existence digital mapping, that is, multi-spectral imaging of earth from an orbiting satellite in space, envisioned and designed to collect and 'save' data of earth's living systems. This databank was considered to be essential by committee member George E. Brown who, as a physicist and engineer, began his three-decade + career in Congress. George eventually became known for his "big science" initiatives. What few knew back then at the beginning was how essential this data would become as climate science came into the light (in 1977 and '78 with George's work central to the drafting and passage of the first National Climate Act.)

In the 1980s, the Earth Observing System (EOS) work began in earnest.NASA's Project Science Office years later described its beginning with this statement:

>Results from early missions shed light on critical components of the Earth system while prompting further, more advanced investigations. The NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) program was conceived in the 1980s and began to take shape in the early 1990s. EOS is comprised of a series of coordinated polar-orbiting satellites designed to monitor and understand key components of the climate system and their interactions through long-term global observations. The EOS missions focus on the following climate science areas: radiation, clouds, water vapor, and precipitation; the oceans; greenhouse gases; land-surface hydrology and ecosystem processes; glaciers, sea ice, and ice sheets; ozone and stratospheric chemistry; and natural and anthropogenic aerosols.

NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Reference Handbook

• https://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/mission-category/3

In June 1992, the National Space Policy Council issued National Space Policy Directive and EOS became part of a global change observation system.Continuity of satellite missions gathering data over years established what is known as a longitudinal trendline of observations, the goal set forward in the late 1970s and 80s with LANDSAT, weather satellites and many others in the first generation of environmental science research with space-based remote imaging. This long vision would empower scientists and others to measure and monitor dynamic changes over time, a critical factor in enabling policies to be drafted to manage earth's systems. George Brown was a key factor in these decisions. He saw, as did your GreenPolicy360 siterunner who was following his work through the years, that data and sharing of data would build educational resources, science and new opportunities. Previous military intelligence programs from space, for example, were revisioned/rethought and ideas such as a Global Positioning System GPS with all of navigational potential on earth came into being under President Reagan in the 1980s. Later in the 1990s under Democratic administration the Next Generation Operational Control System acted toward increasing GPS positional accuracy. New mapping and navigation tools, now in most all new cars, were results of these programs that George Brown helped set in motion saw coming into existence before his passing away in 1999.

The Terra satellite, the first of 26 satellites that have orbited or continue to obit as a formal part of the EOS progam was launched on Dec. 18, 1999. Terra (originally known as EOS-1) was designed for a five-year mission life, but continued to orbit for more than another decade. George was alive as the launch of the Terra EOS program happened in December 1999. He knew that his mission, his work, was continuing on as a legacy.

We, at GreenPolicy360, tip our hat to the vision of Planet Citizen George E. Brown, a generational thinker and doer, mover and shaker...

Fifty+ Years On

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Earth_Information_Center_from_NASA.jpg

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Earth_Information_Center_-_2022_Graphic_NASA.png

Update: July 2022

* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Landsat_launched_50_years_ago_today.png

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• http://bit.ly/GreenPolicy360Climate

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Earth in Our Hands

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• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Anthropocene

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Visit the Beginnings of Earth System Science Missions

Planet Citizen George E. Brown: Whole Earth Science

George E. Brown Jr

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr

Measuring, Monitoring, Managing Earth's Dynamic/Changing Systems

Earth Imaging, Earth Science Research from Space, Data for Today & the Future

🌎 “To understand and protect our home planet" (from the original Mission Statement of NASA]

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Science_Research_from_Space

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Look_at_how_thin_our_atmosphere_is

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Right_Now

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Science_Vital_Signs

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Earth_Observations

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Earth_Science

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Earth_System_Science

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Earth360

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:EarthPOV

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Earth_Imaging

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Earth_Day

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The First 'Earth Day', a Story of Beginnings

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Day_Memories_on_the_50th_Anniversary

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September 2022

GreenPolicy360's Campaign to 'Turn National Climate Promises & Pledges into Reality'

Our Climate Plans Enforcement Initiative continues as the next Global Climate Conference approaches, November's Conference of the Parties (COP27)

Drawing from the database of Earth Science resulting from decades of space-based missions designed to provide us with actionable 'Earth-system and Climate-related data'

Measuring and Monitoring to better manage Earth's Living, Dynamic and Changing Systems, Local, National and Global

Methods to Enforce Climate Plan Pledges

GreenPolicy360: Climate Plans Enforcement Initiative

Pressuring Nations to Step Up, Cooperate, and Act Now

Environmental Laws, Regs, Rules... Lawsuits & Legal Actions

Glasgow (2021) & Paris (2015) Summits: Int'l Climate Plan Pledges & Promises (INDCs-NDCs)

"Earth Observing System": Decades of Earth Science/Climate Science Data Accessible for Planet Citizen Action

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Earth_Observing_System_-_fleet_of_satellites.png

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Science_Research_from_Space

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