The first meeting of the new Landsat Science Team was held October 15-17, 1996, in Greenbelt, Maryland. Membership of the Team, chaired by Team Leader, Sam Goward (Department of Geography, University of Maryland), was announced last summer by NASA Headquarters following a full and open competition based on proposals submitted in response to NASA Research Announcement NRA-95-MTPE-03. Team membership is summarized at the end of this report.
NASA, as part of Landsat Program Management (with NOAA and USGS), is managing the development and launch of Landsat 7 through the EOS Program. The ETM+, the only instrument on Landsat 7, is now an integral part of EOS. Because the Landsat Program was authorized by a specific act of Congress (PL102-555) and the stated, primary purpose of the program, maintenance of Landsat data continuity, differs from the goals of the other EOS instruments, the responsibilities of the Landsat Science Team members are complementary to those of other EOS scientists.
In welcoming remarks, Ghassam Asrar, the EOS Program Scientist, told the new Landsat Science Team members that their responsibility is to help clarify the role of Landsat science vis-a-vis the NASA science program. He added that the group should consider and comment on such key issues as access to data, performance of new systems (space and ground), the interaction of spatial, spectral, and temporal measurements, and the synergism of ETM+ measurements with those of other EOS instruments. He noted that NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE) recently had been delegated responsibility for the Lewis and Clark instruments, and that the Landsat Science Team should consider evaluation of the data from those instruments in light of potential future requirements for hyperspectral measurements.
Tony Janetos, the Landsat Program Scientist, concurred with Asrar's assessment that ETM+ data were crucial for validation of the measurements from other EOS instruments. He added that ETM+ was unique in the EOS program because the data were of known utility to a broad range of users outside the science community. The challenge to the science team was to help plan the evolution of ETM+ technology through identification of requirements for follow-on sensors that would address the needs of science and other Landsat-type data users.
These remarks echoed the charge given the Team by Goward in his welcoming statement as the Landsat Science Team Leader. Goward stressed the 24-year heritage of Landsat and the responsibility of the science community to all Landsat data users. He added that the team should consider focusing on two key topics--the capabilities of the next-generation Landsat, and the evolution of Earth observation from space with respect to the community at large.
These issues were presented in the context of the charter for the Team. A draft of the charter was distributed to the group members for review and written comment. The draft charter identifies the responsibilities for the Landsat Science Team as: 1) to conduct and publish the research described in the proposals submitted by the members, research that incorporates Landsat data into the EOS scientific mission; and 2) to "...offer informed advice and recommendations to the U.S. Government agencies responsible for operating the Landsat 7 system and for defining, developing, and operating follow-on Landsat systems."
On the final day of the meeting, the Science Team accepted Goward's recommendation to write a Landsat science program plan providing a concise, directed statement of the importance of Landsat-type data to the science community and continuation of the Landsat Program following Landsat 7. All members of the Science Team were asked to submit a brief (1-2 paragraph) science justification for Landsat. Specific topics for the report were discussed, and group members were assigned to write on each. The plan will include an evaluation of the potential for interoper- ability of Landsat with other systems currently in orbit or planned for launch within the next five years, that provide, or will provide, Landsat-type data., e.g., SPOT and the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS). Other topics addressed in the science plan will be instrument and platform characteristics, operational configuration, user access to data, exploitation of the historical archive of data and imagery, development of applications and other societal links to Landsat-type data, future instrument design options and the role of Landsat-type data in education.
A schedule for input to the science plan from the team members was established that will lead to completion of the draft plan by April, 1997. The quick action was deemed necessary to have an effect on a congressionally mandated report on recommendations for a Landsat 7 follow-on that will be prepared by Landsat Program Management and submitted to Congress by October, 1997.
Team members were solicited for comments on an acquisition plan for Landsat 7 data presented by Goward. In their comments, the team members were asked to consider the limitations of the system, the overall goal of the Landsat 7 mission, and requirements of non-science users. Comments were requested as soon as possible because the mission data acquisition strategy for Landsat 7 at the U.S. ground station(s) is currently under development. The team also selected members, identified below in the Team membership list, to collaborate with the EOS instrument teams and with the DAAC at the EROS Data Center (EDC). A sub-team was formed to review the linkage between ground and instrument calibration.
During the course of the meeting, the Science Team heard reports on the status of Landsat 7 (on schedule for a mid-May, 1998 launch) and the Landsat Program. Materials on all elements of the Landsat 7 project (spacecraft, instrument, and ground system) were presented. Darrel Williams, Landsat Project Scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center, also summarized the "successes" and "failures" of the Landsat Project Science Office relative to implementing the directives coming out of the ad hoc Landsat Science Working Group meetings that were held in 1992 through early 1994. Jim Ellickson of the NOAA/NESDIS Landsat Commercialization Division then presented a summary of the status of Landsat 4 and 5. Ed Sheffner of Ames Research Center, who has been supporting NASA in regard to the Landsat Advisory Process, presented a paper which gave a brief history of the Landsat program and described legislation affecting Landsat and the U.S. land remote sensing program that was introduced in Congress last year. Each Team member also presented a short summary of the research proposed in response to the NRA.
Three action items for all Team members emerged from the meeting--comments on the draft charter; recommendations on the draft acquisition plan for Landsat 7; and contributions to the Landsat science plan. The next meeting of the Landsat Science Team is scheduled for April 15-17, 1997, at the Lockheed-Martin facility in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The agenda will include a technical briefing on Landsat 7, a review of the draft science plan, a discussion on "Landsat 8," and other topics to be determined.
More information on the Landsat Science Team is available through the Landsat Program homepage: http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/sge/landsat/landsat.html. Mail may be directed to Science Team Leader: Sam Goward at sg21@umail.umd.edu; a "cc:" copy to Darrel Williams, Landsat Project Scientist, would also be appreciated at Darrel.Williams@gsfc.nasa.gov.
Landsat Science Team members:
| Robert Bindschadler Robert Cahalan** Kendall Carder *** Frank Muller-Karger Luke Flynn Alex Goetz*** Samuel Goward Susan Moran Frank Palluconi* John Price** John Schott David Skole Kurtis Thome* James Vogelmann Curtis Woodcock** |
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center University of South Florida University of South Florida University of Hawaii University of Colorado University of Maryland U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Jet Propulsion Laboratory U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (retired) Rochester Institute of Technology University of New Hampshire University of Arizona USGS EROS Data Center Boston University |
EOS instrument collaborations:
*ASTER **MODIS ***MISR