Designing an Observing System to Study the Surface Biology and Geology of the Earth in the 2020s

Stavros, E. Natasha; Chrone, Jon; Cawse‐Nicholson, Kerry; Freeman, A.; Glenn, Nancy F.; Guild, Liane S.; Kokaly, Raymond F.; Lee, Christine; Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Pavlick, Ryan; Poulter, Benjamin; Uz, Stephanie Schollaert; Serbin, Shawn P.; Thompson, David R.; Townsend, Philip A.; Turpie, Kevin R.; Yuen, Karen; Thome, Kurtis J.; Wang, Weile; Zareh, Shannon Kian; Nastal, Jamie; Bearden, David; Miller, Charles E.; Schimel, David

doi:10.1002/essoar.10509039.1

Cited by 3 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…The most frequently compromised instrument parameter was temporal resolution, where the ABAA ABBA solution achieved an acceptable, but not ideal level. In other cases, performance exceeded the acceptable level for some applications by meeting the most demanding need, with cost and trade implications (SATM in Stavros et al., 2022). The ABAA ABBA “satisfier” measurement target identified for the Study met 70% of needs when looking across geophysical parameters needed to meet objectives; that is 31 of the needed 45 observables (including duplicates and base observables) were satisfied by ABAA ABBA.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We evaluated the Decadal Survey‐suggested performance levels (Table 1) and derived a core list of the geophysical parameters that could be delivered by an SBG observing system (SATM in Stavros et al., 2022). These include snow and ice coverage fraction (cryosphere); snow spectral albedo from visible to thermal (cryosphere); snow surface temperature (cryosphere); VSWIR spectral surface reflectance; ET rates of vegetation; land and water surface temperature; biogeochemical traits of aquatic biomass, including ocean color pigmentation and productivity (coastal); phytoplankton functional type (coastal); benthic composition (coastal); chemical properties of canopies; soil properties; terrestrial and aquatic vegetation functional traits, types, composition; terrestrial and aquatic vegetation species (where possible); nonphotosynthetic vegetation; high‐temporal feature delineation (active volcanoes and fires); fractional coverage and silicate composition of lava flows, lahars, ash deposits (active volcanoes); gas and particle concentrations (active volcanoes); and surface composition of rock, and soils.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Applications were defined to include research enabled by the measurement targets (e.g., “Important” decadal survey objectives) and decision‐support uses. This resulted in the Science and Applications Traceability Matrix (SATM; Stavros et al., 2022) with driving science (Most and Very Important) objectives to the geophysical parameters needed, the science measurement targets, and the applications enabled. These measurement targets then informed the mission architecture study to converge from hundreds of potential architectures down to three suggested architectures.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All data pertinent to this manuscript are available in Stavros et al. (2022). Data for subsequent manuscripts in this special issue are responsible for their own data.…”

Section: Data Availability Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Designing an Observing System to Study the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) of the Earth in the 2020s

et al. 2023

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Observations of planet Earth from space are a critical resource for science and society. Satellite measurements represent very large investments and United States (US) agencies organize their effort to maximize the return on that investment. The US National Research Council conducts a survey of Earth science and applications to prioritize observations for the coming decade. The most recent survey prioritized a visible to shortwave infrared imaging spectrometer and a multispectral thermal infrared imager to meet a range of needs for studying Surface Biology and Geology (SBG). SBG will be the premier integrated observatory for observing the emerging impacts of climate change by characterizing the diversity of plant life and resolving chemical and physiological signatures. It will address wildfire risk, behavior, and recovery as well as responses to hazards such as oil spills, toxic minerals in minelands, harmful algal blooms, landslides, and other geological hazards. The SBG team analyzed needed instrument characteristics (spatial, temporal, and spectral resolutions, measurement uncertainty) and assessed the cost, mass, power, volume, and risk of different architectures. We present an overview of the Research and Applications trade‐study analysis of algorithms, calibration and validation needs, and societal applications with specifics of substudies detailed in other articles in this special collection. We provide a value framework to converge from hundreds down to three candidate architectures recommended for development. The analysis identified valuable opportunities for international collaboration to increase the revisit frequency, adding value for all partners, leading to a clear measurement strategy for an observing system architecture.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All data pertinent to this manuscript are available in Stavros et al. (2022). Data for subsequent manuscripts in this special issue are responsible for their own data.…”

Section: Data Availability Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Designing an Observing System to Study the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) of the Earth in the 2020s

et al. 2023

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“…To address the global scope of the science, SBG must provide global coverage of land, island, and coastal and inland waters. These objectives and observations were described in the Science and Applications Traceability Matrix (SATM) described by Stavros et al (2022) and summarized in Table 1.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calibration and Validation for the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Mission Concept: Challenges of a Multi-Sensor System for Imaging Spectroscopy and Thermal Imagery

Turpie¹,

Casey²,

Crawford³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The primary objective of the NASA Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) mission is to measure biological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical features of the Earth's surface, realizing the conceptual component of the envisioned NASA Earth System Observatory (ESO). SBG is planned to launch as a two-platform mission in the late 2020s, the first of the ESO satellites. Targeted science and applications objectives based on observations of the Earth's surface biology and geology helped to define the mission architecture and instrument capabilities for the SBG mission concept. These objectives further drove the need for enabling change detection and trending of surface biological and geological features. These needs implied fundamental Journal of Geophysical Research -Biogeosciences calibration goals to achieve the necessary science data quality characteristics. To meet those goals, calibration and validation pre-launch and on-orbit methods formed a basis of the calibration and validation concept, including the combined use of on-board references, vicarious techniques, and routine lunar imaging. International collaboration with space agencies in other countries, an important feature of the recommended SBG mission architecture, uncovered and emphasized the need for inter-calibration techniques that underscored the importance of collaborative instrument characterization data sharing and the use of common calibration references that are International System of Units (SI) traceable in pre-launch and post-launch on orbit calibration mission phases. International collaboration through the use of terrestrial and aquatic networks on six continents for vicarious calibration and validation activities will produce unprecedented data quality. Table 2 Example reference data sets and models, each supporting geometric calibration (Geo Cal), radiometric calibration (Rad Cal), surface reflectance (Reflectance) or the generation of certain science data products (Science Data), with some supporting more than one. Reference Data Set or Model Purpose Star catalog and planetary ephemeris data Geo Cal Leap second and polar wander that includes (UT1-UTC) Geo Cal Ground Control Point (GCP) database or Global Reference Image (GRI) Geo Cal Time-dependent calibration adjustments Rad Cal Lunar irradiance model (e.g., ROLO, GIRO or LIME)* Rad Cal Solar irradiance spectrum* Rad Cal, Reflectance Instrument char. data (e.g., radiometric, spectral and polarization responses) Rad Cal, Reflectance Vicarious calibration adjustments Reflectance Spectral transmission of absorbing gases (e.g., H2O, O3, NO2). Reflectance Meteorological data (e.g., wind, relative humidity, pressure and temperature) Reflectance Aerosol models Reflectance BRDF models of vicarious calibration sites Reflectance Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Earth Gravitational Model (e.g., EGM96) Geo Cal Inland water body masks or land/water masks Reflectance Land/sea masks Reflectance Bathymetry Reflectance, Science Data Global shoreline vector data set Science Data Sea surface temperature clima...

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Calibration and Validation for the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Mission Concept: Recommendations for a Multi‐Sensor System for Imaging Spectroscopy and Thermal Imagery

Turpie,

Casey,

Crawford

et al. 2023

JGR Biogeosciences

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The primary objective of the NASA Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) mission is to measure biological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical features of the Earth’s surface, realizing a key conceptual component of the envisioned NASA Earth System Observatory (ESO). SBG is planned to launch as a two‐platform mission in the late 2020s, the first of the ESO satellites. Targeted science and applications objectives based on observations of the Earth’s surface biology and geology helped to define the mission architecture and instrument capabilities for the SBG mission concept. These objectives further drove the need for enabling change detection and trending of surface biological and geological features. These needs implied fundamental calibration goals to achieve the necessary science data quality characteristics. To meet those goals, calibration and validation pre‐launch and on‐orbit methods formed a basis of the calibration and validation concept, including the combined use of on‐board references, vicarious techniques, and routine lunar imaging. International collaboration with space agencies in other countries, an important feature of the recommended SBG mission architecture, uncovered and emphasized the need for inter‐calibration techniques that underscored the importance of collaborative instrument characterization data sharing and the use of common calibration references that are International System of Units (SI) traceable in pre‐launch and post‐launch on orbit calibration mission phases. International collaboration through the use of terrestrial and aquatic networks on six continents for vicarious calibration and validation activities will further assure necessary science data quality while in orbit.

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Designing an Observing System to Study the Surface Biology and Geology of the Earth in the 2020s

Cited by 3 publications

References 54 publications

Designing an Observing System to Study the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) of the Earth in the 2020s

Designing an Observing System to Study the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) of the Earth in the 2020s

Calibration and Validation for the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Mission Concept: Challenges of a Multi-Sensor System for Imaging Spectroscopy and Thermal Imagery

Calibration and Validation for the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Mission Concept: Recommendations for a Multi‐Sensor System for Imaging Spectroscopy and Thermal Imagery

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