GEOSS AMERICAS
About GEOSS Americas
About GEOSS Americas
Vision
Strengthen existing integrated Earth observations systems and capabilities to meet the needs of national and international societal, scientific, and economic imperatives within the Americas and the Caribbean.
Mission
Build partnerships with countries and organizations in the Americas and the Caribbean to strengthen the ability to access and utilize each other’s research and operational Earth observations.
Goals
GEOSS Americas aims to improve the utilization of Earth observations by facilitating partnerships, encouraging the use and exchange of data, and coordinating and leveraging regional assets and resources in order to improve the use of environmental data by all sectors of society in the Western Hemisphere.
- Educate and train the user community of the benefits and uses of in situ and remote sensing environmental data
- Strengthen the dissemination of environmental data.
- Build the capacity of the user community to translate environmental data into information that is accessible and useful to society as a whole.
- Inform data users of technology changes and facilitate the planning of technological upgrades over the next several years.
- Realize the societal benefits associated with GEOSS.
- Promote regional cooperation and goodwill.
Background
GEOSS Americas precipitated from the requests of numerous officials and organizational representatives throughout South America for better regional satellite coverage. These requests were compounded by an increasing awareness of the region’s growing need for improved coordination of in situ and satellite Earth observations, for technology upgrades, and for associated training. Efforts towards Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) implementation provided a solution. Needs throughout the hemisphere could be met by pursuing GEOSS implementation in the region in an integrated and collaborative way. The U.S. is interested in developing this partnership with others in the Western Hemisphere to help both policymakers and citizens understand their environment and make informed decisions that are of economic and societal importance.
Regional GEOSS implementation makes sense for a variety of reasons:
- GEOSS Americas fulfills a need to increase the visibility of Earth observations in the region.
- GEOSS Americas fulfills a need to realize the user benefits that can come from Earth observations.
- GEOSS Americas fulfills a need to coordinate systems and an opportunity to benefit from each other’s capabilities.
- GEOSS Americas makes geographical sense. EOPA pushes beyond the national plans that are currently being written while integrating at a manageable scale.