Working Group on Field Campaigns
With the completion of reviews of the white papers for the Tree-Grass and ABoVE field campaigns and developing a set of recommendations for improvements to field activities, the Field Campaigns Working Group has fulfilled its charter and disbanded in October, 2012.
The NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program (TE) has always included multi-investigator, well-coordinated, focused field campaigns of varying sizes and complexity (e.g. FIFE, BOREAS, HAPEX-Sahel, the Multi-sensor Airborne Campaigns (MACs) of the 1990’s, the DESDynI lidar pointing study). The success of these field campaigns follows from the unique scientific questions and/or remote sensing technical issues that can only be addressed in a coordinated field program as well as from efficiencies in the effective utilization of use of scarce resources (e.g., aircraft, sensors, research funds). Field campaigns also serve to bring the best scientists together to focus on a common problem and provide excellent training and educational opportunities for the next generation of scientists.
The TE Working Group on Field Campaigns assessed current TE program field campaign-related activities, plans, and/or deficiencies and provided recommendations to the TE Program Manager regarding possibilities for new campaigns (large and small) as well as for improving existing ones. The group identified 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 was addressed, the TE Working Group on Field Campaigns coordinated with the TE Working Group on Airborne Science.
Initially, the TE Working Group on Field Campaigns focueds on 1) near-term opportunities in support of Decadal Survey mission planning and preparation and 2) opportunities to coordinate the field activities of ongoing, primarily individual research studies sponsored by TE. The individual science study groups or Science Definition Teams for each of the missions focused only on their most pressing needs for field campaigns – primarily to evaluate mission concepts/sensor requirements or acquire data that simulates mission data to be used in support of algorithm development and/or to test mission data handling/processing approaches. It may be possible to assemble more complete data sets that could be used to address a broader range of issues (across missions and/or adding science objectives) with more coordinated campaign planning across programs and modest investments of TE funding. The same may be true for individual research studies or, for example, inter-related field studies being conducted within the North American Carbon Program.
Following the completion of the two scoping studies for possible large field campaigns, the TE Working Group on Field Campaigns may be asked to help NASA identify the next steps toward a new, major field campaign. The WG may also be asked to take into consideration the campaigns to be conducted under NASA’s new Venture suborbital program.
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.
back to WORKING GROUPS