Program Partnerships

The LCLUC program has developed a number of strategic partnerships at the national and international level. These partnerships have been developed with programs which complement the NASA LCLUC program activities or help achieve the program goals.

National Partnerships

U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) supports research on the interactions of natural and human-induced changes in the global environment and their implications for society. The USGCRP began as a presidential initiative in 1989 and was codified by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-606), which mandates development of a coordinated interagency research program.

The Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) was established in 2002 to empower the Nation and the global community with the science-based knowledge to manage risks and opportunities of change in the climate and related environmental systems. CCSP incorporates and integrates the USGCRP with the Administration’s U.S. Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI). The CCSP has several elements including Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (LULCC: http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/ProgramElements/land.htm).

The NASA LCLUC Program has been closely involved in the development and implementation of this research element, co-chairing the Land Use Interagency Working Group (LUIWG). Agency partners in the LUIWG include NASA, USDA, USFS, USGS, EPA and the NPS. These agencies support external and in-house research on aspects of land use and land-cover change. The LUIWG identifies opportunities for Crop Intensity Map coordination and cooperation between programs and identifies program deliverables associated with the goals of the research element. The LUIWG is guided by a LULCC Steering Group consisting of leaders in land use science. Current areas being addressed by the LUIWG include the requirements for Landsat data continuity, and an NRC review of land use models leading to the development of a community land use model. The LUIWG fosters joint research announcements between agencies, the most recent being between NASA and USDA focused on Land Use and Carbon Cycle research.

International Partnerships

At the international level there has been increased attention to earth observations. The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) has received international ministerial level support to achieve comprehensive, coordinated and sustained observations of the Earth system, to improve monitoring of the state of the Earth, increase understanding of Earth processes, and enhance prediction of the behavior of the Earth system (http://www.epa.gov/geoss/index.html). GEOSS is focused primarily on applications with a strong emphasis on societal benefit for example in the areas of agriculture, disasters, biodiversity, ecosystems and water. The NASA Applications Program is contributing to GEOSS through the US Interagency Working Group on Earth Observations (US IWGEO).

The Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS) provides a comprehensive framework to harmonize the common interests of the major space-based and in-situ systems for global observation of the Earth (http://ioc.unesco.org/igospartners/over.htm).

The Integrated Global Observation of Land (IGOL) theme of IGOS is focused on identifying and gaps in current observations and the requirements for future land observations. The Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS - http://www.fao.org/gtos/) is part of the International Global Observing System (IGOS) focused on terrestrial observations, with a Secretariat at UN FAO, Rome.

The Global Observation of Forest Cover – Global Observation of Landcover Dynamics (GOFC/GOLD) program (http://www.fao.org/gtos/gofc-gold/) is the part of GTOS focused on developing the requirements and coordinating observations and data sets for land-cover and land-cover change and fire. By bringing together data producers and users, GOFC/GOLD promotes improved access to and enhanced use of satellite and ground based data. The NASA LCLUC program actively contributes to the GOFC/GOLD program through funded research and support of the GOFC/GOLD regional networks and their associated workshops.

The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, Land Product Validation (CEOS LPV) working group encourages the international coordination of the validation of global land data sets. Determining the accuracy of land-cover products is important for both science and applications users. CEOS LPV is assisting in the development of protocols for the validation of land-cover products and continuous fields, albedo, leaf area index, fire and burned area products (http://lpvs.gsfc.nasa.gov/).

The International Land Use Cover Change (LUCC) program developed by the IGBP/IHDP program in the 1990’s provided much of the ground work for land use research. The recently proposed Global Land Project (GLP) defined by scientists from IGBP and IHDP is designed as part of IGBP II, to better integrate the understanding of the coupled human-environment systems. The Global Land Project is focused on the dynamics of land systems, the consequences of land system change and integrating an analysis and modeling for land sustainability. The LCLUC program provides support to the GLP office (http://www.glp.colostate.edu/).