About

Earthzine - An IEEE Contribution to the Global Earth Observing System of Systems

Earthzine is an on-line resource for news, articles, information and educational materials about Earth Science, Earth observations and users of Earth information. Earthzine is a contribution of the IEEE Committee on Earth Observation (ICEO) in support of the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS).

The ICEO is a relatively new committee of the IEEE Technical Activities Board established to support the Group on Earth Observations and its mission. GEO is an international organization with 71 member nations and the European Union established to foster the international collaboration for Earth observations and utilization of Earth information. Visit www.earthobservations.org to learn more about GEO.   The IEEE is one of more than forty organizations contributing to GEO’s 10-year implementation plan to establish a Global Earth Observation System of Systems. The vision for GEOSS is a future wherein decisions and actions are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations and information for the benefit of humankind. To that end, GEOSS represents a major advancement in monitoring our planet for societal benefits and sustainable development. Nine societal benefit areas are identified within the 10-year plan:  

• disaster reduction
• human health improvement
• energy resource management
• water resource management
• understanding and adapting to climate variability and change
• improved weather forecasting
• management and protection of ecosystems
• sustainable agriculture
• understanding and conserving biodiversity.

To achieve its technical objectives GEOSS requires the collaboration of engineers and scientists from around the world. Members of the GRS-S are leaders in improving the understanding of Earth and developing electro- and information technologies. The work of the GRS-S members contribute to the monitoring of Earth’s weather, climate, oceans, atmosphere, water, land, geodynamics, natural resources, ecosystems, and natural and human-induced hazards. By bridging the activities of the GRS-S with its sister organizations, the ICEO brings together diverse technical resources for enhancing human health, safety and welfare, alleviating human suffering and poverty, protecting the global environment, reducing disaster losses, and achieving sustainable development. The ICEO draws on the IEEE’s tremendous depth of expertise that exists within its societies and councils to foster development of standards and technology for improved availability and utilization of Earth information through working groups and workshops. Currently, the following IEEE Societies and Councils are represented on the ICEO: Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Communications, Computer, Geosciences and Remote Sensing, Oceanic Engineering, Power Engineering, Signal Processing, Social Implications of Technology, Sensors Council, and Systems Council, in addition to the IEEE Standards Association. To learn more about the activities of ICEO, visit its website, http://www.ieee-earth.org/.

Outreach is vitally important in realizing the maximum benefit of GEOSS. Recognizing the critical need for outreach in achieving its goals, the ICEO is spearheading the development of Earthzine as a venue to promote community among Earth’s observers and to create greater awareness of Earth observations among the general population. There is growing interest and concern in the world’s population for the human impact on Earth’s environment. There is also a great deal of misunderstanding of the state of Earth’s environment and projections for changes in Earth. Outreach by the Earth observing community is needed to promote and increase the general awareness of the benefits of Earth observation. Outreach is especially needed for developing countries and to indigenous peoples that face severe impact of environmental changes and don’t have the knowledge base or infrastructure to participate, prepare and respond to projected changes. Although there exists substantial expertise in any given Earth science discipline, the understanding of intricacy with which various Earth systems are connected lags specific disciplinary development. Today the Earth observing community is highly fragmented among its many regional and disciplinary components. Cross-disciplinary community among Earth observers and Earth data users is needed to foster greater awareness and understanding of the linkages between Earth’s vital systems.

Earthzine is a resource for the international Earth-observing community and an arm for vitally-needed public outreach by providing information on the science and technology underlying Earth observations, and utilizing Earth information. Earthzine is updated regularly with news from around the world about the Earth, Earth observations, environmental policy, and new and emerging environmentally-friendly and earth-observing technologies. On Earthzine you will find materials that are inspirational to new and future Earth observers and that promote greater awareness of the Earth through its observation. Using the latest web technologies, Earthzine fosters interaction of an on-line community of Earth observers. We envision Earthzine serving as a repository of professional and amateur observations from around the world. Overlaying these resources will be quarterly publications of articles centered on themes relevant to the nine societal benefit areas identified by GEOSS.

Would you like to be part of the Earth-observing community? There are many ways in which you may participate. Sign on and share your comments about what you observe. If you would like to make a more sustained contribution, volunteer to be an editor, write an article, and recruit others to participate. To learn more about ways in which you may contribute drop us a line.

Paul Racette
Editor-in-Chief
editor@earthzine.org