CEOS data principles for operational
environmental data
Source: CEOS Yearbook, 1995.
At the eighth CEOS Plenary meeting held in Berlin on September 26-28, 1994, the
following data provision principles were adopted, with EUMETSAT abstaining. They
were developed at an ad hoc Data Policy Meeting in Washington, DC, on April 18-19,
1994, hosted by NOAA and NASA.
Resolution on Principles of Satellite Data Provision in Support of Operational
Environmental Use For the Public Benefit
RECOGNISING that both satellite and non-satellite data have potential economic
and social value, that both forms of data are important to operational environmental
activities, and that the sustained acquisition, processing and supply of data
involve investments and costs;
RECOGNISING that, in various national and international contexts, the sustainability
of the observing systems and the end-to-end services to the users is a pre-requisite
to full operational environmental use for the public benefit;
RECOGNISING that data provision should take into account the benefits of expanded
data use, as well as investments and costs;
RECOGNISING that Earth observation data, especially satellite data, are essential
to governments and public authorities and relevant international organisations
in fulfilling certain mandates, such as the protection and preservation of human
life, the Earth, and property from the effects of natural disasters, severe weather,
and environmental emergencies, and support for improved environmental management;
RECOGNISING more than 100 years of cooperation within the international meteorological
community in the free and unrestricted exchange of basic meteorological data;
ANTICIPATING the emerging operational requirements from global observing systems,
such as the Global Climate Observing System, the Global Ocean Observing System,
and the Global Terrestrial Observing System;
RECOGNISING the value of user feedback to improve responsiveness of data suppliers;
RECOGNISING the existence of various legal regimes for data provision and different
policies for pricing and data ownership;
ANTICIPATING the potential benefits of compatible policies and mechanisms for
data provision in obtaining access to data for operational environmental use for
the public benefit;
REAFFIRMING the commitment of CEOS Members to the general principle of non-discriminatory
access to data;
RECOGNISING the common goal of providing data for operational environmental use
for the public benefit from all appropriate missions;
RECOGNISING also that the constraints of mission operations and of available resources
may require different mechanisms for data provision for different programs;
CEOS Members endorse the following principles relating to data provision in support
of operational environmental use for public benefit and agree to work toward implementing
them to the fullest extent possible within available resources:
1) Criteria and priorities for data acquisition, processing, distribution, preservation,
archiving, and purging should be harmonised to take into account the needs of
users of data for operational environmental use for the public benefit.
2) Real-time and/or archived data for operational environmental use for the public
benefit should be made available on time scales compatible with user requirements
and within agency capabilities.
3) CEOS data suppliers should provide, eg., through the CEOS International Directory
Network, easily accessible information about the data and related mission parameters,
including quality assessments, supporting ancillary information, and guidance
and aids for locating and obtaining the data.
4) Recognised standards, to be defined and developed in common, including those
generated by CEOS Working Groups, should be used to the greatest extent practical
for recording/storage media and for processing and communication of data sets.
5) To optimise the use of data for operational environmental use for the public
benefit, CEOS Members should establish appropriate data provision mechanisms.
6) Programs should have no exclusive period of data use except where there is
a need to provide for data validation. An initial period of exclusive data use
should be limited and explicitly defined. The goal should be release of data in
some preliminary form within three months after the start of routine data acquisition.
DEFINITIONS
Data Provision
Distribution of data among CEOS agencies and dissemination of data by CEOS agencies
to the user community.
For the Public Benefit
The pursuit of social and equitable objectives, directed by government or public
authority.
Non-discriminatory
All users in a clearly defined category obtain data on the same terms and conditions,
and the categories are defined in such a way that all potential users will be
included in categories with access to data.
Operational environmental use for the public benefit
Use of data to provide a regular environmental service for the public benefit
Carried out by public national or international Earth observation agencies, or
other entities designated by governments or public authorities, to support public
benefit mandate
Examples include use of data to carry out a mandate of environmental observation
and prediction or missions relating to environmental management or regulation
Real time
Making data available by direct broadcast or immediately after acquisition and/or
initial processing
Sustainability
Long-term availability (supported by an appropriate replacement strategy), affordability,
and capacity to adapt to evolving user needs.