The View from On-Orbit : New Challenges and Opportunities in Earth Observation and Satellite Remote Sensing

This decade has ushered in an new constellation of satellite sensors that is steadily transforming our understanding of Earth. Each day, these satellites—known collectively as the Earth Observing System (EOS)—produce terabytes of complex imagery that spans a surprisingly wide range of spatial, temporal, and spectral resolutions. High performance computing may ultimately play a central role in harvesting new insights from this rapidly expanding, multiple-petabyte Earth imagery archive. In today’s talk, the aim is to provide a basic orientation to the capabilities of next-generation EOS sensors, share some spectacular EOS imagery, and explore several exciting new applications of EOS, including “Wal-Mart from Space.”