All EOS AM-1, LIS, and SeaWinds teams developed Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents (ATBDs) in August. The ATBDs were recently reviewed by peer review panels in November and December 1996. These documents, developed for each data product, consist of a detailed physical and mathematical description of the algorithm, variance or uncertainty estimates, and practical considerations, such as calibration and validation, exception handling, quality control, and diagnostics. Once these teams receive their panel reports they will revise their ATBDs according to recommendations of the panels, together with written reviews received from anonymous reviewers to whom the documents were sent prior to the panel meeting. These revised ATBDs will then be posted on the World Wide Web, replacing the 1994 documents that currently reside there.
The first round of ATBD reviews will be conducted March 11-13 for ACRIM, AIRS/AMSU/HSB, AMSR, Data Assimilation, and SAGE III. These teams delivered their ATBDs to the Project Science Office in November. This process is extraordinarily valuable to the science teams and engages the larger scientific community, both nationally and internationally, in the process of providing feedback on approaches to routine data reduction from EOS sensors.
An Investigators Working Group (IWG) meeting is now scheduled for February 25-27 in San Diego, California. As in the past couple of years, the primary focus of this meeting is to: (i) learn of recent progress and exciting accomplishments obtained thus far by various EOS investigations, including seasonal and interannual climate-related events, global productivity and the carbon cycle, and chemistry-aerosol-climate processes, (ii) assess progress and expectations for EOSDIS in the next couple of years, and (iii) to discuss plans for validation of EOS instruments and data products in the first few years after launch. In addition, there will be a half-day session devoted to posters and booths prepared by instrument teams and Interdisciplinary Science (IDS) teams. This is especially important at this time, since the NASA Research Announcement issued in September 1995 resulted in 128 new EOS investigators (bringing the IWG membership, consisting of all principal and co-investigators, to 656). There are now 54 IDS investigations and 19 instrument science teams.
The NASA Research Announcement (NRA) for supplementary activities to support the validation of measurements by EOS satellite sensors in the AM-1
time frame is scheduled to be released sometime in February 1997. This NRA will also solicit proposals for investigations as part of NASA's Global Data Integration and Validation Program, an MTPE Research and Analysis Program. The tentative schedule includes submission of proposals by mid-April and selection of investigations in July.
Finally, I am happy to report that Dr. P. K. Bhartia has been selected as EOS Chemistry Project Scientist, replacing Dr. Jim Gleason, who has served effectively as Chemistry Project Scientist for the last 2 years (plus an additional 2 years as Deputy). Dr. Bhartia is a nationally recognized scientist with expertise in satellite instrumentation and data analysis. He has extensive knowledge of issues of atmospheric chemistry, he is the TOMS Earth Probe Project Scientist, and he is Head of the Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch in the Laboratory for Atmospheres. Jim has decided to step down as Chemistry Project Scientist so as to focus once again on full-time scientific research.