Issues in the Integration of Research and Operational Satellite Systems for Climate Research Part I. Science and Design (2000) / Chapter Skim
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Integrating Research and Operational Missions in Support of Climate Research
Integrating Research and Operational Missions in Support of Climate Research
Pages 7-16
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From page 7... ...
requires a variety of data types comprising consistent observations over many years. Thus, the requirements for process studies and monitoring tend to merge as the time scale of the phenomena of interest increases.
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LONG-TERM MEASUREMENTS The characteristic scales of climate variability demand long time series in order to determine the critical processes as well as to separate natural variability from anthropogenic influences. Unlike weather forecasting, the interval between stimulus and response can be several years to centuries.
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Second, operational agencies sometimes have constrained budget flexibility, and with good reason they are reluctant to assume a continuing mandate for data collection without sufficient resources. The more that long-term time series are entitlements in an agency budget, the less flexibility an agency may have to pursue new activities.
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The Earth science community will propose science-driven mission concepts. NASA officials expressed their intention to base mission design more directly on science questions than may have been the case previously.
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In fact, NASA has stated that it will not develop any sensors for the operational agencies unless there is a clear commitment to continued flight of such a sensor after its initial demonstration. NOAA'S APPROACH TO LONG-TERM OBSERVATIONS The 1994 Presidential Decision Directive directing the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce to develop a converged Defense Meteorological Satellite Program/Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites program)
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Pressure (surface and profile) Suspended matter Total water content Cloud base height Cloud cover and layers Cloud effective particle size Cloud ice water path Cloud liquid water Cloud optical depth and transmittance Cloud top height Cloud top pressure Cloud top temperature Surface albedo Downward longwave radiation at the surface Insolation Net shortwave radiation at the top of the atmosphere Solar radiance Total longwave radiation at the top of the atmosphere Land surface temperature Normalized difference vegetation index Snow cover and depth Vegetation and surface type Currents Freshwater ice motion Ice surface temperature Littoral sediment transport Net heat flux Ocean color and chlorophyll Ocean wave characteristics Sea ice age and motion Sea surface height and topography Surface wind stress Turbidity continued
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These variables include cloud effective particle size, cloud-top pressure, cloud-ice-water path, cloud optical depth, cloud-top height, cloud-top temperature, total column ozone and ozone profile, aerosol particle size, aerosol optical thickness, albedo, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)
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However, recent NRC panels have faulted the USGCRP andlor agencies participating in the USGCRP regarding a variety of issues related to development of the required long-term observing and data management systems.3 A recurrent theme in these reports is the enormous technical and programmatic difficulties in assembling a climate observing system based on research and operational assets. NASA, which has a particularly important role in the USGCRP, has announced its intention to devote greater resources to the study of "climate forcing, climate response, and the processes connecting the two."4 However, NASA also acknowledges the necessity of exploring new arrangements with its USGCRP partners to develop a credible observing system suitable for climate research.
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1997. Climate Measurement Requirements for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS)
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Ghassem Asrar, NASA's Associate Administrator for Earth Science, April 8. National Research Council (NRC)
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