Free Earth Observation Data on a Global Scale

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Free Earth Observation Data on a Global Scale

• Gilberto Câmara
• General Director
• National Institute for Space Research
• Brazil

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The fundamental question of our time
How is the Earths environment changing, and what
are the consequences for human civilization?
fonte IGBP
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Global Change
Where are changes taking place? How much change
is happening? Who is being impacted by the
change?
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Global Land Project

• What are the drivers and dynamics of variability
  and change in terrestrial human-environment
  systems?
• How is the provision of environmental goods and
  services affected by changes in terrestrial
  human-environment systems?
• What are the characteristics and dynamics of
  vulnerability in terrestrial human-environment
  systems?

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Impacts of global land change
More vulnerable communities are those most at risk
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Earth observation satellites provide key
information about global land change
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EO data benefits to everyone
EO data benefits to everyone
CBERS-2 image of Manaus
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Slides from LANDSAT
Aral Sea
source USGS
1973
1987
2000
Bolivia
1975
1992
2000
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(No Transcript)
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October 21 2007
Charles launches campaign to save ravaged
rainforests
Prince Charles will this week join the battle
against climate change by launching an
organisation which calls for a new green
economics that recognises the world's rainforests
are worth more alive than dead.
Deforestation is responsible for 18-25 per cent
of global carbon emissions, an output second only
to energy production.
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Deforestation is responsible for 18-25 per cent
of global carbon emissions (Prince Charles)
How does anyone know?
Source Carlos Nobre (INPE)
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Despite solid improvements by scientists in
monitoring deforestation, the uncertainties are
still substantial. (Science, 27 April 2007)
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Science, 30 march 2007
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NASAs mission formerly began with To understand
and protect our home planet. Those words have
now been replaced with Pioneering the future.
The aim of better exploring the moon and Mars has
attractions, but we agree with the sentiment The
planet that has to matter most to us is the one
we live on.
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Growth of Space Government Investments(2002-2006)
source EUROCONSULT
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Costs of EO satellites x benefits from EO data
ENVISAT sat US 3 billion
ENVISAT images US 5 million/year
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The root of the crisis Budgets of EO satellites
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The root of the crisis Deliverables of EO
satellites
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Land Remote Sensing 20 to 50 meter resolution
commercial
public
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
LANDSAT-5 1984
LANDSAT-8 2012
SPOT-4 1998
SPOT-5 2002
CBERS-2 2003
CBERS-2B 2007
CBERS-3 2010
IRS-P6 2003
IRS-P6/2 2008
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August 2007
Indias ResourceSat and the China-Brazil Earth
Resources Satellite (CBERS) might be good sources
of useful data to substitute for the loss of
Landsat data during this period (pg. 37)
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What did we learn from our fathers?
A penny saved is a penny earned
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The Anti-Uncle Scrooge Principle
LANDSAT data archive (USGS)
A pixel unused is a penny wasted
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Uncle Scrooge and the Internet
Value comes from use!
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The Internet has reduced the cost of data
distribution to zero!
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What is a public good?

• Non-rival
• ...goods which all enjoy in common in the sense
  that each individual's consumption of such a good
  leads to no subtractions from any other
  individual's consumption of that good...
  (Samuelson)
• Non-excludable
• it is impossible to exclude any individuals from
  consuming the good

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Pictures are documents of culture (public goods)
Turner, Snowstorm (Tate Gallery, London)
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Images are public goods Rondonia, Brazil
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CBERSsatellites for the public good
CBERS-2B Launch (19 September 2007)
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CBERS Image Distribution in Brazil (05/2004-
08/2007)
Number of full CCD scenes distributed (145 Mb/scene) 360,000
Number of institutions and companies 14,500
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Time to respond an image request
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User Distribution()
Government Institutions 23
Educational Sector 26
Private Companies 51
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Private Farm Management
CBERS brought the freedom to have data
immediately available when you need it.
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What do the private companies say about free
CBERS data?
Enables new business development Facilitates
trial uses for new clients Planning new
applications becomes easier Creates jobs by
reducing cost of data buys Increases quality by
adding data previously unavailable
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LANDSAT Ground Station Network
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CBERS as a global satellite
CBERS ground stations will cover most of the
Earths land mass between 300N and 300S
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A vision for the future
A constellation of satellites will provide free
global land imaging for all countries on Earth
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The Group on Earth Observations, GEO, is leading
a worldwide effort to build a Global Earth
Observation System of Systems, GEOSS.
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Vantage Points
Capabilities
L1/HEO/GEO TDRSS Commercial Satellites
Far-Space
Permanent
LEO/MEO Commercial Satellites and Manned
Spacecraft
Near-Space
Airborne
Aircraft/Balloon Event Tracking and Campaigns
Deployable
Terrestrial
User Community
Forecasts Predictions
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Will the Global Earth Observation System of
Systems be based on free and open data policies?
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A Potential Land Surface Imaging Constellation
TERRA (ASTER MODIS)
IRS
LANDSAT
RESOURCESAT
ALOS
SAC-C
SPOT
CBERS
Source Daniel Vidal-Madjar (France)
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What can we achieve?

• There is an enormous demand for remote sensing
  data in the world
• Free on-line data access will significantly
  increase the number of users of earth observation
  data
• Free data will lead to a much better
  understanding of the global Earth System

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• One world, one dream...

Free Earth Observation data for all!