GEOSS/ICEO News

The Global Mapping Project is developing a Global Map through an international cooperation of National Mapping Organizations (NMOs) of the world. Global Map is composed of basic geospatial datasets covering the whole land area of the globe.

Yoshikazu Fukushima, posted on August 13th, 2010
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18 Reasons for Open Publication of Geoscience Data

In this essay, Lance McKee presents his argument (18 reasons) why Earth location-referenced data should be widely available and shared. This essay is the first of three that explore aspects of this topic.

Lance McKee, posted on August 4th, 2010
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Identifying And Quantifying The Benefits Of GEOSS

The European Commission sponsored project “Global Earth Observation – Benefit Estimation: Now, Next and Emerging” (GEOBENE) has developed methodologies and analytical tools to assess the societal benefit areas (SBAs) of GEO in the domains of: Disasters, Health, Energy, Climate, Water, Weather, Ecosystems, Agriculture and Biodiversity. This article presents several of these overarching methodologies as a contribution to the ongoing effort to improve GEOSS, and looks to the future via the EuroGEOSS Project.

McCallum et al., posted on July 12th, 2010
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Tom Wiener on the IEEE’s World Vision and Work with GEO

IEEE joined the ad hoc Group on Earth Observations in 2004 to help define an entirely new and “virtual” structure, a Global Earth Observation System of Systems. When completed, GEOSS will provide a framework for Earth observation data collected worldwide by thousands of instruments and in-situ methods. This vast cache of information will be catalogued and made accessible through functional interoperability to ensure that everyone in the world can use it—for free or minimal cost. In this Earthzine interview, Dr. Thomas F. Wiener, Chair of the IEEE Committee on Earth Observation, discusses how IEEE’s involvement with GEO has grown.

Maeve Hickok, posted on July 12th, 2010
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EuroSITES Open Ocean Observatory Network: Monitoring Europe’s Open Ocean

The recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, hurricane and tsunami disasters and ocean ‘health’ issues including ocean acidification highlight the importance of ocean observing systems. The authors provide overview current European (EuroSITES) and international (OceanSITES) initiatives and the growing need for high quality, high resolution ocean datasets to feed models and produce products and services to society.

Kate Larkin, posted on June 26th, 2010
Articles, Climate, Earth Observation, Ecosystems, GEOSS/ICEO News, Oceans, Water | No Comments »

The CEOS-Land Surface Imaging Constellation Portal for GEOSS: A resource for land surface imaging system information and data access

Created under the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), the Land Surface Imaging (LSI) Constellation’s mission is to promote the efficient, effective, and comprehensive collection, distribution, and application of space-acquired image data of the global land surface, especially to meet societal needs of the global population, such as those addressed by the nine Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs). Developed with the participation of a variety of international agencies, the CEOS LSI Constellation provides access for the community of users interested in mid-resolution optical land remotely sensed data and information.

Holm et al. , posted on May 3rd, 2010
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GEO needs stronger political and financial support to succeed

Dr. Roy Gibson, first Director General of the European Space Agency and the first Director General of the British National Space Centre, made a strong argument for the need of governments to give priority financial and political support to GEO and GEOSS as speaker at the GEO-IGOS Symposium in Washington DC on 19 November 2009. His adapted speech from that event and a biographical introduction are reprinted here.

Roy Gibson, posted on February 22nd, 2010
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Announcement – Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. announces a Call for Participation (CFP) in Phase 3 of the GEOSS Architecture Implementation Pilot (AIP)

The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC®) announces a Call for Participation (CFP) in Phase 3 of the GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) Architecture Implementation Pilot (AIP) issued by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). The CFP documents are available at: http://earthobservations.org/geoss_call_aip.shtml.

Lance McKee, posted on February 11th, 2010
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AIRNow-International: The Future of the United States Real-time Air Quality Reporting and Forecasting Program with GEOSS participation

The goal of AIRNow-International is to strengthen relationships among governments and international organizations by sharing the technology to transform air quality data into vital information. AIRNow-International is poised to become the centerpiece of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) real-time air quality reporting and forecasting program. The system is a redesign of the AIRNow information technology infrastructure that distributes current air quality information for the United States and Canada. The AIRNow-International software suite is being built to support and embrace the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) concept.

John E. White, posted on January 25th, 2010
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GEO: An Experiment in Governance

How does the Group on Earth Observation, referenced throughout these pages, actually work? In this insightful commentary, Michael Williams, GEO External Relations Manager, describes how this voluntary organization of 80 Member countries and 57 Participating Organizations gets the work of realizing GEOSS done.

Michael Williams, posted on December 14th, 2009
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Orbital Sunrise

The Expedition 24 crew on the International Space Station photographed this image of polar mesospheric clouds illuminated by an orbital sunrise. Polar mesospheric, or noctilucent ("night shining"), clouds usually are seen at twilight, following the setting of the sun below the horizon and darkening of Earth's surface. Occasionally the station's orbital track becomes nearly parallel to Earth's day/night terminator for a time, allowing the clouds to be visible to the crew at times other than the usual twilight because of the station's altitude. This photograph shows polar mesospheric clouds illuminated by the rising, rather than setting, sun at center right. Low clouds on the horizon appear yellow and orange, while higher clouds and aerosols are illuminated a brilliant white. Polar mesospheric clouds appear as light blue ribbons extending across the top of the image. The station was located over the Greek island of Kos in the Aegean Sea (near the southwestern coastline of Turkey) when the image was taken at approximately midnight local time. The orbital complex was tracking northeastward, nearly parallel to the terminator, making it possible to observe an apparent "sunrise" located almost due north. A similar unusual alignment of the ISS orbit track, terminator position and seasonal position of Earth's orbit around the sun allowed for this striking imagery of over the Southern Hemisphere. Image Credit: NASA
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