Documenting Long-term Earth System Evolution With Satellite Observations

Satellite observations play a critical role in documenting earth system evolution, both in terms of characterizing prior and current evolution of the Earth and providing a baseline against which future measurements can be compared. Given that the construction of the necessary long-term data sets requires the use of multiple instruments on multiple platforms, each of which may have their own characteristics, drifts, and degradation, this represents a significant challenge to the scientific community. Over the last 30-or so years, going back to the launch of the Nimbus 7 in 1978, earth scientists learned significant lessons about how to create accurate and stable long-term data records. Sponsoring agencies have tried to capture the lessons and use them as a basis for planning for future systems. This presentation will examine and present future approaches to maximize the quality of the long-term data records produced from earth satellites.