Towards a U.S. Framework for Sustained Satellite Observations of Earth’s Climate and for Supporting Societal Resilience

There is growing urgency for improved public and commercial services to support a resilient, secure, and thriving society, particularly in the face of mounting decision-support needs concerning environmental stewardship and hazard response as well as for climate change adaptation and mitigation actions. For all these needs, space-based Earth observations represent an essential component of the infrastructure needed to support the delivery of critical science and decision-support information with local, national, and global utility. Fortunately, these growing demands for information are occurring in concert with increasing opportunities and lower barriers for developing and sustaining such services via more feasible access to space and recent improvements in technology and infrastructure that can support the sustained production and dissemination of the needed environmental, climate and related security information. However, at present, the U.S. does not have a systematic and overarching plan or framework for identifying, prioritizing, funding, and implementing sustained Earth observations - apart from weather and land imaging - that are vital to meeting our nation's science, policy, and societal support needs. For example, there are additional quantities measurable from satellites that have been shown to have scientific and/or decision-support value that do not have a plan for sustained observations (e.g., precipitation, soil moisture, stream flow, snowpack, carbon emissions, ocean salinity, stratospheric ozone, and surface winds). To aid and accelerate our nation's discussion on the needs, challenges and opportunities associated with developing and sustaining critical space-based Earth observations, the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) sponsored a multi-week, think-tank study to offer ways forward on this topic of satellite “continuity". Based on this study, the KISS study team, composed of 32 scientists, technologists and engineers representing multiple Earth mission-focused agencies, institutes, and university departments, suggests the need to establish a US framework for continuity that accounts for: 1) approaches to identifying and prioritizing observation needed to meet US needs for science and decision support, 2) the rapidly evolving landscape of space-based Earth viewing architecture options and technology improvements; the increasing opportunities and lower cost access to space; and growing availability and potential for commercial, non-governmental organization (NGO) and international contributions, and 3) the technical and programmatic underpinnings for providing data stewardship, including information product development and dissemination with a broad science and decision-support user base in mind, including considerations for traceable and accurate uncertainty quantification, and the integration with ground observations and Earth system modelling and prediction tools.