NRC Report Re-emphasizes NOAA Warning on Weather Satellite Gap

摘要

A new report echoes concerns voiced over the past year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that the aging of U.S. Earth observation satellites, coupled with delays in the next-generation U.S. civil polar-orbiting weather satellite program, puts the U.S. "at risk of having serious gaps in observational capability, for both operational forecasting missions and for key climate records." The report, "A Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Strategic Plan," was released Jan. 5 by the National Research Council (NRC) Committee to Advise the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). The report also raised worries that the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which coordinates the climate change research efforts of 13 federal agencies, had not presented a firm enough strategy for preserving U.S. Earth observation capabilities for the coming decade.