Editor's Corner
--Michael King, EOS Senior Project Scientist
A Validation Workshop was held at Goddard Space Flight Center on May 8-10 that focused on improving and enhancing the coordination between instrument teams, interdisciplinary science teams, and the NASA Research & Analysis ( R & A) program. This workshop provided the first opportunity to compare and discuss the validation plans of individual science teams, both instrument and interdisciplinary, and to articulate both international and national networks, field programs, and schedules. The plans that will result from this workshop will be reviewed this fall as part of the Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD) reviews, and will help define the NASA Research Announcement (NRA) for an EOS Correlative Measurement Program to be released later this year. This workshop followed an earlier Land Test Site Workshop, and is helping to further define and refine the EOS-wide validation program.
In addition to the validation program that is beginning to take shape, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has begun to develop an extensive calibration capability for use throughout the EOS program (see March/April issue of The Earth Observer). NIST held an openhouse in May to showcase these facilities for a number of scientists and managers at NASA Headquarters and Goddard. Capabilities currently under development included an infrared transfer radiometer and thermal vacuum chamber see pages 31 - 35), visible, and shortwave infrared transfer radiometers based on SeaWiFS heritage, and a bidirectional reflectance laboratory for intercomparing artifacts (diffuser plates and Spectralon(TM) plates) being used and measured by various instrument developers. This should enable the spectral reflectance characteristics of these diffusers to be intercompared when flown in space.
The Office of Mission to Planet Earth has now finalized the selection of proposals originating from the NRA released September 22, 1995, for new investigations and investigators for the Earth Observing System. NASA received 309 proposals in response to this announcement, 77 of which were accepted. Details of the selection can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/mtpe/eosresul.html, as well as pages 45-50 in this issue of The Earth Observer. The final selection results can be summarized as follows:
| Landsat Team Member/Leader | 14 |
| MODIS Team Member | 5 |
| AIRS Team Member | 2 |
| TRMM Team Member | 2 |
| Passive Microwave Team Member | 2 |
| Interdisciplinary Investigation | 31 |
| New Investigator Program | 21 |
Of these results, a subset of the interdisciplinary investigations will be considered EOS IDS investigations, while the remaining investigations will be managed under the NASA R&A program. Recent additions or changes to the EOS program include the provision of the Humidity Sounder from Brazil (HSB) to replace the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) on EOS PM-1, and the agreement between NASA and CNES (French Space Agency) to name the TOPEX/Poseidon Follow-On Mission (EOS Radar Altimeter-1) as Jason-1, after Jason and the Argonauts. Instruments and spacecraft for this mission are currently under development in the U.S. as well as in France. The latest EOS mission profile can be found on the World Wide Web at http://spso.gsfc.nasa.gov/spso_homepage.html.
There will be a Payload Panel meeting in Annapolis, Maryland on July 29-31. The meeting will focus on (i) the relationships between both the Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) program and New Millennium Program (NMP) and EOS, (ii) the status of various implementation studies being planned or conducted (such as the EOS Chemistry-1 study discussed at the last Payload Panel Meeting, see page 15), (iii) plans for the implementation of the second series of sensors and missions (e.g., AM-2, Chemistry-2), (iv) the role of the National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) in partially fulfilling the long-term climate goals of EOS, and (v) plans for a federated EOSDIS, including the schema for governance, operational NPOESS processing, and how to ensure a broad range of participation.
--Michael King
EOS Senior Project Scientist