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Ensuring the Climate Record from the NPP and NPOESS Meteorological Satellites Committee on Earth Studies Space Studies Board Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences National Research Council NOTICE MEMBERSHIP and ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF REVIEWERS FOREWORD EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. INTRODUCTION 2. DATA SYSTEMS PLANS Introduction NPOESS and NPP Plans NESDIS Data Processing Plans for NPOESS NASA Data Plans Summary Reference 3. ESSENTIAL SERVICES FOR CLIMATE DATA Guiding Principles Components of a Climate Data System Concluding Observation 4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusions Recommendations
APPENDIXES A. Statement of Task B. Workshop Agenda and Participants C. Acronyms and Abbreviations D. The Role of Science Teams E. The Basis for a National Climate Data Archive National Academy Press, 2000
Ensuring the Climate Record from the NPP and NPOESS Meteorological Satellites NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. Support for this project was provided by National Aeronautics and Space Administration contract NASW- 96013, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration contracts 50-DGNE-5-00210 and 50 DKNA-6-90040. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsor. International Standard Book Number 0-309-06994-7 Copies of this report are available free of charge from: Space Studies Board National Research Council 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20418 Copyright 2000 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors
engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.
Ensuring the Climate Record from the NPP and NPOESS Meteorological Satellites Membership and Acknowledgment of Reviewers COMMITTEE ON EARTH STUDIES MARK R. ABBOTT, Oregon State University, Chair JOHN R. CHRISTY, University of Alabama, Huntsville CATHERINE GAUTIER, University of California, Santa Barbara CHRISTOPHER O. JUSTICE, University of Virginia RALPH F. MILLIFF, National Center for Atmospheric Research SCOTT PACE, RAND DALLAS L. PECK, U.S. Geological Survey (retired) MICHAEL J. PRATHER, University of California, Irvine R. KEITH RANEY, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory DAVID T. SANDWELL, Scripps Institution of Oceanography LAWRENCE C. SCHOLZ, West Orange, New Jersey CARL F. SCHUELER, Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing GRAEME L. STEPHENS, Colorado State University FAWWAZ T. ULABY, University of Michigan SUSAN L. USTIN, University of California, Davis FRANK J. WENTZ, Remote Sensing Systems EDWARD F. ZALEWSKI, University of Arizona ARTHUR A. CHARO, Senior Program Officer THERESA M. FISHER, Senior Project Assistant SPACE STUDIES BOARD JOHN H. McELROY, University of Texas at Arlington (retired), Chair MARK R. ABBOTT, Oregon State University FRAN BAGENAL, University of Colorado JAMES P. BAGIAN, Veterans Health Administration's National Center for Patient Safety JAMES L. BURCH, Southwest Research Institute ROBERT E. CLELAND, University of Washington STEVEN H. FLAJSER, Loral Space and Communications Ltd.
BILL GREEN, Former Member, U.S. House of Representatives JOHN H. HOPPS, JR., Rozewell, Georgia CHRIS J. JOHANNSEN, Purdue University RICHARD G. KRON, University of Chicago CONWAY LEOVY, University of Washington JONATHAN I. LUNINE, University of Arizona BRUCE D. MARCUS, TRW (retired) RICHARD A. McCRAY, University of Colorado GARY J. OLSEN, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign GEORGE A. PAULIKAS, The Aerospace Corporation JOYCE E. PENNER, University of Michigan EUGENE B. SKOLNIKOFF, Massachusetts Institute of Technology MITCHELL SOGIN, Marine Biological Laboratory NORMAN E. THAGARD, Florida State University ALAN M. TITLE, Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center MEGAN C. URRY, Space Telescope Science Institute PETER W. VOORHEES, Northwestern University JOHN A. WOOD, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics JOSEPH K. ALEXANDER, Director COMMISSION ON PHYSICAL SCIENCES, MATHEMATICS, AND APPLICATIONS PETER M. BANKS, ERIM International, Inc. (retired), Co-chair WILLIAM H. PRESS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Co-chair WILLIAM F. BALLHAUS, JR., Lockheed Martin Corporation SHIRLEY CHIANG, University of California at Davis MARSHALL H. COHEN, California Institute of Technology RONALD G. DOUGLAS, Texas A&M University SAMUEL H. FULLER, Analog Devices, Inc. MICHAEL F. GOODCHILD, University of California at Santa Barbara MARTHA P. HAYNES, Cornell University WESLEY T. HUNTRESS, JR., Carnegie Institution CAROL M. JANTZEN, Westinghouse Savannah River Company PAUL G. KAMINSKI, Technovation, Inc. KENNETH H. KELLER, University of Minnesota JOHN R. KREICK, Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Company (retired) MARSHA I. LESTER, University of Pennsylvania W. CARL LINEBERGER, University of Colorado DUSA M. McDUFF, State University of New York at Stony Brook JANET L. NORWOOD, Former Commissioner, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics M. ELISABETH PATÃ-CORNELL, Stanford University
NICHOLAS P. SAMIOS, Brookhaven National Laboratory ROBERT J. SPINRAD, Xerox PARC (retired) JAMES F. HINCHMAN, Acting Executive Director ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF REVIEWERS This report has been reviewed by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council's (NRC's) Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist authors and the NRC in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The contents of the review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. The committee wishes to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report: Jeff Dozier, University of California at Santa Barbara, David M. Glover, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Moshe Pniel, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Eugene M. Rasmusson, University of Maryland, and John Townshend, University of Maryland. Although the individuals listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, responsibility for the final content of this report rests solely with the authoring committee and the NRC.
Ensuring the Climate Record from the NPP and NPOESS Meteorological Satellites Foreword Satellites planned for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) will serve civilian and defense needs for timely environmental data. These data notably support weather forecasting and "nowcasting," but, if appropriately calibrated and archived, they could support the examination of global change as well. The Department of Defense and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are the principal agencies responsible for NPOESS, but the National Aeronautics and Space Administration provides the technology for new generations of sensors and is the developer and operator of research satellites addressing global environmental change. The processing and archiving of data from NPOESS and its precursor mission, the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP), and the merger of these data with research satellite data for long-term preservation and access are the focus of this report. Assessing andâultimatelyâforecasting global environmental change is a difficult scientific problem with important consequences for public policy. The resolution of both the scientific and public policy questions requires long-term data sets that are carefully defined and well calibrated. The only efficient and cost-effective means to obtain a major part of the satellite data segment of the long-term record will be to employ the data available from NPP and NPOESS. Ensuring the suitability of these data for analyses of global change will, however, require early consideration by both instrument developers and data archivists. The key recommendations of this brief study concern the creation of a long-term archive that will enable preservation of the climate record from NPP and NPOESS. Long-term archives must not, however, be dusty repositories of data; they should instead be active centers for data study and utilization, with intensive involvement by the research community. The stored data need to be robust and capable of improvement as scientific understanding progresses and computer technology evolves. The data must also be readily accessible to the research community and affordable for them. The challenges associated with the creation of such an active data archive can be met only through collaboration between the operational and research communities. The nature of the required collaboration is discussed in the report that follows. John H. McElroy, Chair Space Studies Board
