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Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2013. Landsat and Beyond: Sustaining and Enhancing the Nation's Land Imaging Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18420.
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A

Statement of Task

An ad hoc committee will conduct a study to assess the needs and opportunities to develop a space-based operational land imaging capability. In particular, the committee will examine the elements of a sustained space-based Land Imaging Program with a focus on the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey role in such a program. The committee will:

1. Identify and/or validate primary organizations and segments of society and their fundamental historical, present-day, near-future, and long-term data, information, and service requirements that need to be supported by a sustained Land Imaging Program.

2. Identify and recommend characteristics and critical program support areas expected of a sustained Land Imaging Program including, but not limited to, the continuous operation and refinement of U.S. government-owned, spaceborne land-imaging capabilities (e.g., passive, as in optical land imaging; active, as in LiDAR or SAR measurements).

3. Suggest critical baseline products and services derived from sustained land imaging capabilities, including higher-level information products such as Climate Data Records and terrestrial Essential Climate Variables.

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.

In conducting the study, the ad hoc committee will generate recommendations based on the committee’s own data gathering as well as input from the U.S. Earth science and applications community.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix A: Statement of Task." National Research Council. 2013. Landsat and Beyond: Sustaining and Enhancing the Nation's Land Imaging Program. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18420.
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In 1972 NASA launched the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ETRS), now known as Landsat 1, and on February 11, 2013 launched Landsat 8. Currently the United States has collected 40 continuous years of satellite records of land remote sensing data from satellites similar to these. Even though this data is valuable to improving many different aspects of the country such as agriculture, homeland security, and disaster mitigation; the availability of this data for planning our nation's future is at risk.

Thus, the Department of the Interior's (DOI's) U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) requested that the National Research Council's (NRC's) Committee on Implementation of a Sustained Land Imaging Program review the needs and opportunities necessary for the development of a national space-based operational land imaging capability. The committee was specifically tasked with several objectives including identifying stakeholders and their data needs and providing recommendations to facilitate the transition from NASA's research-based series of satellites to a sustained USGS land imaging program.

Landsat and Beyond: Sustaining and Enhancing the Nation's Land Imaging Program is the result of the committee's investigation. This investigation included meetings with stakeholders such as the DOI, NASA, NOAA, and commercial data providers. The report includes the committee's recommendations, information about different aspects of the program, and a section dedicated to future opportunities.

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