Working Group on Airborne Science
One of the outcomes to emerge from the 2010 NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program (TE) Science Team Meeting was strong community support for the formation of a TE Working Group on Airborne Science. [see Breakout Session: Effective Use of Airborne Remote Sensing] This WG will assess current TE program airborne science-related activities, plans, and/or deficiencies and provide recommendations to the TE Program Manager regarding possibilities for better use of airborne instruments and better availability of data both from these instruments, and from related field campaigns and ground validation efforts. The group will identify opportunities for greater scientific impact, to enhance performance/efficiency, to achieve greater coordination (within the NASA program, across the US government, and/or with international programs and partners), and/or to better support preparation for future satellite missions. When use of aircraft and airborne instruments is expected in TE Field Campaigns, the TE Working Group on Airborne Science on will coordinate with the TE Working Group on Field Campaigns. Moreover, the Airborne Science WG should expect to have a member serving jointly on the TE Data WG to facilitate good lines of communication between these groups.
Initially, the TE Working Group on Airborne Science will focus on developing recommendations for improving data access and availability. The WG should consider concrete actions that would serve to advertise, organize, and document existing and future aircraft observations.
On a yearly basis the WG will be provided a summary of proposed future airborne data acquisitions from funded investigations and asked to identify opportunities for scientific synergies, cost savings, and/or more efficient use of the aircraft and remote sensing instruments within the context of those plans and the needs/activities of the broader Terrestrial Ecology Program. The expectation is to find ways to maximize data collection and minimize aircraft deployments, especially those that require cross-continent shuttle flights and significant mission peculiar costs (MPCs). The WG should also study parallel activities related to the Decadal Survey missions in an attempt to discover opportunities for synergistic measurements and value-added data sets that would benefit multiple missions and the NASA R&A program.
At a later date, the WG may be asked to scope a community effort to create tutorials to demystify data, unlocking access to a wider audience, while characterizing uncertainties that may not be evident to non-domain scientists attempting to use such data.
The WG is also encouraged to identify issues within the scope of the WG for their consideration. Such issues could come from a variety of sources, including the breakout reports from the 2010 TE science team meeting.
Provided an issue is relevant to TE airborne science and of importance to the TE community (e.g. identified at a recent TE workshop), the WG will have the ability identify a new issue for its consideration and develop the agenda to address it.
Details regarding the operations of the WG will be determined by the WG in consultation with the CC&E Office and the TE Program Manger. Recommendations from the working group will
be conveyed to the CC&E Office and the TE Program Manager for their consideration and potential implementation. Recommendations will be shared with the broad TE community through the TE Web site and other appropriate means.
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