Description
Earth science is evolving into Earth system science, changing from a discipline-specific premise to an interdisciplinary field. Increased awareness of human dependence and impact upon the environment has made global change research one of the most pressing policy issues facing decision makers today. This book presents an overview of past, present and future satellite missions and programmes and their sensor complements. An effort has been made to show existing national and international activities and operations in this context. In particular, the book may serve as a reference, or give reasonable input, on the following subjects: programmatic planning on all levels, planning for the required infrastructure, existing and planned operational service provision, data utilization and exploitation.