Continuity of Earth Observation Data for Australia: Research ... - csiro

Anticipated operational improvements in the following areas are expected to have particular benefit
for Australia:
• Maritime forecasting—this is expected to mimic the development of weather forecasting in the last
few decades;
• Climate modelling and carbon accounting—both domestically and internationally to support the
National Carbon Accounting System (NCAS), Indonesian National Carbon Accounting System
(INCAS) and International Forest Carbon Initiative (IFCI);
• Routine weather forecasting, high impact weather detection and nowcasting, climate monitoring,
disaster monitoring, aviation safety, and carbon policy implementation;
• Water resource management—reliable long-term models of eco-hydrological factors, including
evapo-transpiration, surface water and vegetation dynamics;
• Disaster mitigation and management—early detection and rapid response for fires and floods;
• Early warning for coral reef stress;
• Dust warnings and soil erosion risk assessment based on improved atmospheric and soil moisture
measurements;
• Agricultural forecasting for yield, irrigation needs, risks and variability;
• Inland water quality monitoring in response to legislative requirements;
• Coastal monitoring of both water quality and habitat health, shallow water bathymetry; and
• Geoscience mapping for mineral exploration, groundwater locations and land management.
Several of these operational areas have progressed rapidly over recent decades and can be expected to
develop further with access to improved EO datasets. Many of these areas involve commercial benefits and/
or legislative requirements, and several methodologies have been exported for use overseas.
2.3.5 Collaboration
Survey results relating to interactions between projects and researchers and access to restricted EO data
(in the sense that the data were only available to certain activities for a defined period) are summarised in
Table 2-11.
Table 2-11 Project Collaboration
Type of Collaboration Number of Surveyed Projects % Projects
Part of Larger and/or External Program 43 77%
Domestic Collaboration 53 95%
International Collaboration 41 73%
Access to Restricted Datasets 23 41%
The significant extent of current domestic collaboration indicates that the majority of these research
activities are not being conducted in isolation. These connections between researchers should reduce
duplication of effort, and allow more efficient use of data and equipment.
Over three-quarters of Australian researchers surveyed are also actively connected to international research
activities, with 20 having formal membership of international science teams. Considering the need to
access primarily foreign satellite data for research, it is no surprise to see the strong international linkages
used by most R&D teams. For the surveyed projects, these connections between Australian scientists and
international space agencies are summarised in Table 2-12.
28 Continuity of Earth Observation Data for Australia: R&D • January 2012