Solar Storms Affirmative – 4 Week Lab [1/3]
Satellite Instruments/Data Collection Failing
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- Satellite derived information is failing now – plan key to revitalization
Satellite Instruments/Data Collection FailingEarth-monitoring satellites are not making measurements correctly—orbital drift and degrade of calibration devices Ohring 6 (George, editor for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “Achieving Satellite Instrument Calibration for Climate Change (ASIC3),” May 2006, http://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/star/documents/ASIC3-071218-webversfinal.pdf) For the most part, satellite observations of climate are not presently sufficiently accurate to establish a climate record that is indisputable and hence capable of determining whether and at what rate the climate is changing. Furthermore, they are insufficient for establishing a baseline for testing long- term trend predictions of climate models. Satellite observations do provide a clear picture of the relatively large signals associated with interannual climate variations such as El Niño– Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and they have also been used to diagnose gross inadequacies of climate models, such as their cloud generation schemes. However, satellite contributions to measuring long- term change have been limited and, at times, controversial, as in the case of differing atmospheric temperature trends derived from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) microwave radiometers. Measuring long- term global climate change from space must be addressed from the fundamental physics of metrology, as practiced at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The climate signals we are trying to detect are small, for example, temperature trends of only a few tenths of a degree Celsius per decade or ozone changes as little as 1% per decade. Current satellite systems are not up to the task. Sensors and onboard calibration sources degrade in orbit, long- term data sets must be stitched together from a series of overlapping satellite observations, orbital drift introduces artifacts into long- term time series, and insufficient attention is paid to meeting the high- accuracy, high- stability instrument requirements for monitoring global climate change. The ASIC3 workshop brought together experts in satellite instrument calibration, metrology scientists from the U.S. and U.K. national standards institutes, remote sensing specialists, and climate data analysts. Topics included a review of the requirements for measuring global climate change, calibration status for current instruments, and concepts and methodologies for achieving calibration of global climate change measurements. Two overarching recommendations were developed during the workshop. The first calls for a set of satellite benchmark missions to create irrefutable records and calibrate other satellite sensors. This is a new paradigm for achieving satellite instrument calibration for measuring long- term global climate change. The basic concept is to place in space a series of highly accurate benchmark instruments to measure with high spectral resolution the energy reflected and emitted by the Earth. These instruments would not only provide reliable long- term records in their own right, but would also serve as a reference standard in space to calibrate other environmental satellite sensors. The second recommendation calls for the establishment of a U.S. National Center for Calibration (NCC) that could be organized by NOAA, NASA, and NIST. The NCC would bring together NOAA’s expertise in operational missions and calibration/intercalibration of operational instruments, NIST’s leadership in measurement science and standards, and NASA’s capabilities in research missions and advanced calibration techniques. A NOAA- NIST program to improve satellite instrument calibration, scheduled to begin in fiscal year 2009, will be an initial step toward formation of a national center. Implementing the recommendations of the ASIC3 workshop would allow early, irrefutable detection of climate change; verification of climate model predictions; and the achievement of the societal benefit goals of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Satellite derived information is failing now – plan key to revitalization Lyn Wigbels, G. Ryan Faith, and Vincent Sabathier ‘8 [CSIS “EARTH OBSERVATIONS AND GLOBAL CHANGE” 7/14/08 Vincent G. Sabathier is a senior fellow and director of the Human Space Exploration Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C, a senior associate with the CSIS Technology and Public Policy Program, from 2004-2009 he was senior fellow and director for space initiatives at CSIS. He is also senior adviser to the SAFRAN group and consults internationally on aerospace and telecommunications. Ryan Faith is program manager for the Human Space Exploration Initiative at CSIS. Lyn Wigbels is a former assistant director for international programs at the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program, BJM] The stresses on the Earth’s systems are growing more severe at an ever-increasing pace, adding to the already significant economic variability arising from current challenges such as weather forecasting and resource management. The effects of these added pressures are already being felt and will have major implications for national security, the economy, natural resource management, and the security of water, food, and energy for decades to come. Today, U.S. public- (civil and national security) and private-sector users who want to understand global change or identify ways to predict, prevent, and mitigate its impacts are all intrinsically reliant on civil Earth observation systems (used in modeling, computation, and decision support tools) and data (collected from sensors on satellites, unpiloted aircraft, buoys, and other platforms). Earth observation products— including satellite weather information—provide, at a minimum, an additional $30 billion to the U.S. economy annually. In the future, Earth observation capabilities will be even more critical for governments and industry to monitor, understand, and adapt more quickly to global change and track and respond to consequences of past, present, and future policy choices. The national security community is increasingly concerned about the impacts of global change leading to instabilities and conflicts within, between, and among nations. This applies to stable as well as volatile regions. The national security community is increasingly working with the Earth observation community to better understand these challenges. Science communities have already determined a set of key observables that must be measured in order to effectively monitor the Earth system. The United States has a demonstrated Earth monitoring research capability and operates a highly effective national weather prediction system that has saved countless numbers of lives and billions of dollars. This aggressive research and development program has produced a number of proven sensors and ways of measuring essential variables, providing precise data that have yielded new scientific understanding and shortterm forecasting improvements. However, due to structural and budgetary factors, these gains in obtaining new research data have not yet institutionalized plans for the continuous, complete, and comprehensive operational data sets needed to sustain monitoring and understanding of the longer-term—and perhaps much more important—climate changes that lie at the core of many current policy debates. The U.S. government has not yet established a commitment to comprehensive, long-term data acquisition for all essential variables. Data continuity will be critical for a full understanding of why, how, and how fast the Earth is changing. Similarly, there is not sufficient Earth observation capacity to operationally support many forms of Earth science and resource management. Furthermore, plans for a future comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable U.S. Earth observation system to gather data for weather, climate, Earth science, and resource management continuously over longer time scales have not yet been established. 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