Our Earth is unique among the planets with an abundance of water and highly diversified life. Its land, atmosphere, oceans, and all forms of life interact in many complex ways to form a complex Earth system. NASA provides a unique vantage point from space that is the only way to effectively study global scale phenomena and to understand local, regional and global-scale changes in their larger context. The mission of NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) is to develop a scientific understanding of the Earth system and its response to natural and human-induced changes to enable improved prediction of climate, weather, and natural hazards for present and future generations. ESE has three major goals:

1. Science: Observe, understand and model the Earth system to learn how it is changing, and the consequences for life on Earth.
2. Applications: Expand and accelerate the realization of economic and societal benefits from Earth science, information, and technology.
3. Technology: Develop and adopt advanced technologies to enable mission success and serve national priorities.

ESE Research Strategy
ESE has mapped out its research priorities through 2010. The research strategy is designed to answer a fundamental question of societal importance:

How is the Earth changing and what are the consequences for life on Earth?

In and of itself, this question is very difficult to answer, so NASA’s ESE has come up with five more specific questions designed to look at different aspects of the broader question:

• Variability: How is the global Earth system changing?
• Forcing: What are the primary forcings of the Earth system?
• Response: How does the Earth system respond to natural and human-induced changes?
• Consequence: What are the consequences of change in the Earth system for human civilization?
• Prediction: How well can we predict future changes to the Earth system?

Undergirding each of these are even more specific questions (totaling 23) that drive requirements for new research tasks and new remote sensing and in-situ observations to be satisfied by satellites, suborbital and surface-based observing systems.

Earth Science Enterprise
Introduction
Missions
Data and Information System
Partnerships

ESE Applications Strategy
Given the enormous practical utility of Earth remote sensing, ESE’s Applications Program works to help Federal, State, local and tribal governments and private sector decision-makers adopt remotely sensed observations and Earth system models in their own decision support systems. The largest on-going example is the use of meteorological satellites in weather forecasting. Not far behind is the use of remote sensing to observe land cover and land use change. ESE provides the technology and scientific understanding to demonstrate these applications, which are then routinely performed by service provider organizations in government and industry.

next: Missions