EOS Validation Program

Dear Team Leader or Principal Investigator:

Science Data Validation Plans are due this year from the EOS Instrument Teams with instruments on PM-1 and SeaWinds on ADEOS II. As was done during development of the AM-1 validation plans over the past year, the EOS Project Science Office (PSO) is providing guidance and activities to promote consistency and coordination between the teams. The goal is to increase the quality and overall scientific productivity of the EOS Validation Program. The validation plans will be peer reviewed, probably early in 1998.

The purpose of this letter is to:

As you know, EOS instrument teams are expected to fund their required validation activities primarily through their approved budgets. It is anticipated that some limited supplemental funding will be available for flight hours on NASA aircraft and for development of selected airborne "simulator" versions of EOS instruments. If sufficient other unfunded needs are identified, the Project Science Office will initiate a NASA Research Announcement (NRA) for these and other selected key elements in support of EOS validation activities for the PM-1 time frame. As with the present AM-1 Validation NRA, the purpose will not be to augment team budgets but rather to bring additional intellectual and data resources to bear on the task of validating EOS data products.

The Project Science Office is challenged to derive the greatest scientific benefit using its available resources. Coordination of activities within EOS, including active partnerships between instrument teams, nterdisciplinary science (IDS) investigations, and other non-EOS programs (MTPE or non-NASA) will definitely enhance the likelihood that additional resources can be brought to bear. Close integration of validation activities with the science application of the data is highly desired. Identified elements that have significant benefit for multiple instruments, data products and investigations are most attractive as they offer the potential of significantly enhanced scientific output at reduced overall cost. Availability of supplemental funding will be limited and will be allocated based on an assessment of criticality and project-wide benefit.

In May 1996, a very comprehensive EOS Validation Workshop was conducted including participation by the AM-1 and EOS/TRMM instrument teams, the SAGE-III team, the Ocean Color community (SIMBIOS Project) and the EOS Data Assimilation Project. Many of the EOS IDS teams also participated in that workshop and a wide scope of topics was covered, including Land, Atmosphere, Ocean, Physical Climate and Hydrology, Modeling, and Biogeochemical Cycles. For the PM-1 and SeaWinds missions, a much smaller, focused workshop is envisioned and is planned for September 1997. The topics for the PM-1 Workshop will be focused on collaborative comparisons and uncertainty studies using data products from the microwave, IR sounding, and scatterometer instruments. Your team is strongly encouraged to participate actively in this workshop. The GSFC Data Assimilation Office EOS investigation will participate and the EOS IDS investigations and selected non-EOS entities, as appropriate, will also be invited. The intent is to provide meaningful inputs to the individual science data validation planning efforts so that a substantially more integrated, cost effective, and scientifically beneficial EOS-wide validation program emerges.

We also request a summary of your Science Data Validation Plan, described in the last paragraphs of the Validation Plan Guidance, with special attention to defining requirements, needs, and possible collaborations. This will be very important in preparing for the PM-1 Validation Workshop and for developing appropriate collaborations and joint efforts. This summary of essential information is needed for the efficient integration of your plan into an EOS-wide Science Data Validation Plan. The Validation Plan Summary Charts will also serve as the mechanism for providing current information, updated quarterly, as your validation plans evolve from the time of the initial plan until launch.

Our experience with the AM-1 teams over the past year indicates that it is essential that each team have a single designated point of contact for validation issues. All team validation documents should funnel through this person. This ensures some level of internal review and greatly reduces the general tendency toward maximum entropy. A single point of contact fosters efficient interaction between the Project Science Office and the team on validation-related issues. Please designate such an individual and let us know who it is.

We encourage each of you to invest a significant effort in the development of the best possible validation plans for EOS. The ultimate success of EOS is highly dependent upon the quality of our data products, both real and perceived. Validation is a critical step in establishing the factual basis for demonstrating data quality. We must convince first ourselves and then the world that EOS data products are of the highest quality and appropriate for understanding and monitoring the Earth system.

Sincerely,

David O'C. Starr
EOS Validation Scientist
Laboratory for Atmospheric Sciences

Michael D. King
EOS Senior Project Scientist
Earth Sciences Directorate

Jon Ranson
Terra Project Scientist
Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics