Advancing a framework for fostering innovative use of ICESat-2 data to inform actionable decisions of value to society

The Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) Early Adopter Program is an initiative of the ICESat-2 Applications Team that encourages and facilitates a transparent understanding of the utility of ICESat-2 data products within different decision-making contexts. Latency, spatial and temporal resolutions are key data characteristics uniquely inherent to individual decision processes and operations; the ICESat-2 Early Adopter program facilitates the necessary feedback loops between the mission and user communities to clarify these characteristics for particular applications and to help redefine the paths for how the mission products can become actively relevant. Through a bi-annual approval process, the program selects groups and individuals who have a direct or clearly defined need for particular ICESat-2 data products; have an existing application or decision-making activity; and who are planning to apply their own resources (i.e., funding, personnel, facilities, etc.) to demonstrate the utility of ICESat-2 data for their specific application. The Early Adopters (EAs) may either be organizations who will use the data in decision making (end-users), or scientists or technical people in a science-based organization who will conduct the prelaunch research for an end-user and then work with the decision-making organization to ensure routine use of the new product. Currently hosting a total of 16 EAs, ICESat-2 is the second NASA mission to implement the Early Adopter program. In this session, we summarize the Early Adopter research and highlight the various applications the EAs are leading for potential end-uses of the ICESat-2 data. We also include a discussion on the various stakeholder requirements for the data and illustrate the EA program as a component of a much broader Applications framework.