Landsat and Beyond Sustaining and Enhancing the Nation's Land Imaging Program (2013) / Chapter Skim
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1 Imperative for a Sustained and Enhanced Land Imaging Program
1 Imperative for a Sustained and Enhanced Land Imaging Program
Pages 6-19
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From page 6... ...
To address this need, satellite-based land imaging provides synoptic, repetitive data on the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the land surface, which includes the rock and soil and the vegetation covering it, along with snow, ice, and inland waters. Benefits of Land Imaging FOR THE NATION From 1972 to the present, moderate-resolution images from the Landsat series of satellites (Figure 1.1)
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From page 7... ...
• Monitoring climate change impacts -- Landsat data facilitate the monitoring of the distribution and rates of impacts of climate change on remote regions, including glaciers, rainforests, and permafrost, and coral reefs -- often early harbingers of climate and temperature change.6 The U.S. Climate Change Science Program, representing 15 federal agencies, has identified Landsat as a critical observatory for climate and environmental change research due to the unbroken length of the Landsat record and its importance to identifying the root causes and impacts 4 R.W.
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SOURCE: U.S. Geological Survey LandsatLook Viewer, available at http://landsatlook.usgs.gov.
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The Landsat data are integrated with aerial photography and field data to identify those coastal regions most crucial for protecting vulnerable populations and infrastructure. • Wildfire risk management -- USFS and USGS utilize Landsat data to assess fire susceptibility, to estimate the percentage of vegetation and trees killed by fire, and to identify improvements in management strategies to reduce future fire risk.9 The science accomplishments from Landsat data are equally important and include the following: • Landsat provided the basis for the quantitative estimation of deforestation and ended a decades-long debate over its magnitude,10 thus providing a critical constraint on the global carbon cycle.
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From page 10... ...
. Time series of such mosaics are used to map land cover change and associated changes in terrestrial carbon stocks.
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From page 11... ...
National Space Policy of the United States of America 2006, 2007 White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Report, A Plan for a U.S. National Land Imaging Program, and 2007 National Research Council report Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.
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SOURCE: Courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey, processing by Jeff Dozier, University of California, Santa Barbara.
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From page 13... ...
The imaging capabilities expanded to the Thematic Mapper (TM) on Landsat 4 in 1982 and Landsat 5 in 1984, with six spectral bands at 30-m resolution and a thermal band at coarser (120-m)
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3 Landsat Data Continuity Mission, "Continuously Exploring Your World," 2012. 4 USGS Landsat Missions, available at http://landsat.usgs.gov/index.php.
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. SOURCE: NASA Landsat Data Continuity Mission, available at http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/ldcm.html, accessed May 15, 2013.
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As Landsat 7 approached launch in 1999, in accordance with the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992 and responding to increased pressure from Congress, NASA started considering the possibility of implementing the next Landsat as a data purchase. The concept was known as the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM)
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From page 17... ...
The results of this RFI have not been released to the public, but in the FY 2014 budget request, the intent to begin a sustained land imaging program in the USGS has been reversed, and budgetary responsibility for operating, building, and launching future Landsat satellites is once again to be assigned to NASA. In 2014, USGS will work with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to analyze user requirements and develop a successor mission to Landsat 8, formerly known as the Landsat Data Continuity Mission.
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, their management, and considerations of data availability. Task 4 -- Considering the requirements for an operational land imaging capability, provide recommendations to facilitate the transition of single-mission NASA research-based land imaging technology or missions to sustained USGS land imaging program technology or missions, including the relationships between USGS, NASA, and NOAA in developing, maintaining, and effectively utilizing land imaging capabilities.
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government should establish a Sustained and Enhanced Land Imaging Program with persistent funding to respond to current and future national needs. Such a program would • Develop a plan for a comprehensive, integrated program that capitalizes on the strengths of USGS and NASA, maintains current capability and the existing archive, and enhances the program as technology enables new imaging capabilities and data products; • Ensure acquisition of land imaging data continuously from orbital platforms and, periodically, from airborne platforms, to respond to the needs of producers and consumers of derived data products along with users who analyze imagery; • Establish partnerships with commercial firms and international land imaging programs to leverage enhanced capabilities; • Coordinate land imaging data buys across the U.S.
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