ISO 19124 A new series of ISO standards to facilitate interoperable use and reuse of remote sensing data and derived products

In recent years, there has been a significant growth in applications of remote sensing data and their derived products in various scientific studies and socio-economic activities. Such applications typically integrate remotely sensed data from different countries and different sensors. The quality of those data and products are essential for the success of such applications. Calibration and validation (Cal/Val) are the fundamental processes to assess and improve the data quality and ensure the Earth observation (EO) data and derived products from different sources comparable and interoperable. The Cal/Val process acts on sensors, EO data collected by the sensors, and high-level products derived from the EO data. Realizing the importance of calibration and validation in the remote sensing applications, ISO TC 211 developed the ISO 19159 series of technical specifications to cover the pre-launch calibration of sensor hardware and validation of the calibration results. But the standards for after-launch Cal/Val of EO data and their derived products have not been developed yet. Therefore, ISO TC 211 has started to develop a new series of standards, ISO 19124, to standardize the post-launch Cal/Val of remotely sensed EO data and their derived products. In this series of standards, the term calibration refers to the process to correct the data geometrically, radiometrically, and spectrally and the term validation refers to the process to evaluate the quality and accuracy of the data and derived products. ISO 19124 intends to be a multi-part standard to cover different type of sensors and derived products. ISO 19124-1, which is currently in development, addresses the overall framework and Cal/Val processes common to EO data and derived products from different types of sensors. The subsequent parts of the standard will address the Cal/Val of EO data and derived products from specific types of remote sensors, including optical, hyperspectral, Lidar, SAR/InSAR, and passive microwave sensors, as well as thematic data products and Cal/Val sites. This presentation will discuss overall organization of ISO 19124, the contents of ISO 19124-1, and the plan for subsequent parts of standards, and solicit the community comments and suggestions on and participations in the development of ISO 19124.