Earthzine speaks with Japan’s Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Mr. Aoyama, who represents Japan within GEO.
“It’s almost a golden age of Earth observation because these many missions which are flying at the same time are all measuring different aspects of the system at the same time, and most with global extent. This is giving us, for the first time, the fodder for assembling an integrated view of the Earth.”
Given the IEEE’s technical scope and global presence, our 375,000 members have a tremendous opportunity to contribute. In fact, our members are already involved in a number of such projects. For example, the IEEE Committee on Earth Observation has since 2005 been involved in the International Group on Earth Observations and its effort to create a Global Earth Observation System of Systems.
French geophysicist and GEO Secretariat Director Jose Achache discusses not only the vision, progress and achievements of GEO but also the challenges relating to resources and industry’s role in GEOSS with Earthzine contributor Peter Fairley.
Technology has made it possible to interlink the world’s observation systems into one “interoperable” Global Earth Observation System of Systems, or GEOSS. This flexible and distributed network of content providers will greatly improve the quantity and quality of the Earth observations needed for addressing the risks of global environmental change.
We are in the midst of one of the most exciting international and interdisciplinary science projects that many of us will encounter in our professional careers – the International Polar Year. Scientists in the natural, social, and health sciences are collaborating on some 228 endorsed projects in both the Arctic and Antarctic during a two-year period (March 2007-March 2009) of intense field observations.
The 2007-2008 International Polar Year (IPY) provides an international framework for improving our understanding of high-latitude climate change and enhancing our skill in predicting world-wide impacts.
The next state of equilibrium during which humans will live in balance with the Earth’s ecosystems depends on the choices we make today. In turn, those choices are influenced by the way we view Earth. Daily, we each make decisions that impact our environment; collectively our actions affect the health and well being of Earth. Individually and collectively, we have the power to influence our environment and therein resides our hope for future generations.
It has become clear in recent years that human beings need to be much more careful in how we develop the Earth’s resources if that development is to be sustainable for future generations. To support sustainable development, in turn, we need to know the present state of the Earth and the impact of our activities. Measuring that impact and sharing the results with decision makers around the world is the goal of a major international scientific effort, the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
An expert on the behavior of the upper atmosphere, Mahlman led the development of one of the first global climate models, for which he received the American Geophysical Union’s Carl-Gustav Rossby Medal, its highest honor. Mahlman chaired the Earth System Science and Applications Advisory Committee for NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth program in the 1990s and was involved in the founding of the IPCC; He created the so-called betting odds scheme used by IPCC to evaluate uncertainty and was a reviewer of the Working Group I report for IPCC’s 2007 assessment.
