AbstractAlthough data available from various earth observation systems have been routinely used in many resource applications, however there have been gaps, and data needs of applications at different levels of details have not been met. There is a growing demand for availability of data at higher repetivity, at higher spatial resolution, in more and narrower spectral bands etc.Some of the thrust areas of applications particularly in the Indian context are;-Management of natural resources to ensure sustainable increase in agricultural production,-Study the state of the environment, its monitoring and assessment of the impact of. various development actions on the environment,-Updating and generation of large scale topographical maps.-Exploration/exploitation of marine and mineral resources and-Operational meteorology and studying various land and oceanic processes to understand/predict global climate changes.
Each of these thrust area of application has many components, related to basic resource areas such as agriculture, forestry, water resources, minerals, marine resources etc. and the field of cartography. Observational requirements for major applications have been summarized as under.Monitoring vegetation health from space remains the most important observational parameter with applications, in agriculture, forestry, environment, hydrology etc. Vegetation extent, quantity and temporal changes are the three main requirements which are not fully realized with RS data available. Vegetation productivity, forest biomass, canopy moisture status, canopy biogeochemistry are some examples. Crop production forecasting is an important application area. Remotely sensed data has been used for identification of crops and their acreage estimation. Fragmented holdings, large spread in crop calendars and different management practices continue to pose a challenge lo remote sensing. Remotely sensed data at much higher spatial resolution than hitherto available as well as at greater repetivity are required to meet this need. Non-availability of cloud-free data in the kharif season is one of the serious problems in operational use of remote sensing for crop inventory. Synthetic aperture radar data al X & Ku bands is necessary to meet this demand. Nutrient stress/disease detection requires observations in narrow spectral bands. In case of forestry applications, multispectral data at high spatial resolution of the order of 5 to 10 metres is required to make working plans at forest compartment level. Observations from space for deriving tree height are required for volume estimation. Observations in the middle infrared region would greatly enhance capability of satellite remote sensing in forest fire detection. Temporal, spatial and spectral observational requirements in various applications on vegetation viewing are diverse, as they address processes at different spatial and time scales. Hence, it would be worthwhile to address this issue in three broad categories.a) Full coverage, moderate spatial resolution with high repetivity (drought, large scale deforestation, forest phenology....).b) Full coverage, moderate to high spatial resolution and high repetivity (crop forecasting, vegetation productivity).c) Selected viewing at high spatial resolution, moderate to high repetivity and with new dimensions to imaging (narrow spectral bands, different viewing angles).A host of agrometeorological parameters are needed to be measured from space for their effective use in development of yield models. Estimation of root-zone soil moisture is an important area requiring radar measurements from space. Surface meteorological observations from space at the desired spatial and temporal distributions has not developed because of heavy demands placed on the sensor as well as analytical operational models. Agrometeorology not only provides quantitative inputs to other applications such as crop forecasting, hydrological models but also could be used for farmer advisory services by local bodies.Mineral exploration requires information on geological structures, geomorphology and lithology. Surface manifestation over localized regions requires large scale mapping while the lithology can be deciphered from specific narrow bands in visible. NIR, MIR and TIR regions. Sensors identified for mapping/cartography in conjunction with imaging spectrometer would seem to cover requirements of this application. Narrow spectral bands in the short regions which provide diagnostics of relevant geological phenomenon are necessary for mineral exploration. Thermal inertia measurements help in better discrimination of different rock units. Measurements from synthetic aperture data which would provide information on geological structures and geomorphology are necessary for mineral exploration.The applications related to marine environment fall in three major areas: (i) Ocean colour and productivity, biological resources; (ii) Land-ocean interface, this includes coastal landforms, bathymetry, littoral transport processes, etc. and; (iii) Physical oceanography, sea surface temperature, winds, wave spectra, energy and mass exchange between atmosphere and ocean. Measurement of chlorophyll concentration accurately on daily basis, sea surface temperature with an accuracy of 0.5 °K. and information on current patterns arc required for developing better fishery forecast models. Improved spatial resolution data are desirable for studying sediment and other coastal processes.Cartography is another important application area. The major problems encountered in relation to topographic map updation are location and geometric accuracy and information content. Two most important requirements for such an application are high spatial resolution data of 1 to 2 metre and stereo capability to provide vertical resolution of 1 metre. This requirement places stringent demands on the sensor specifications, geometric processing, platform stability and automated digital cartography.The requirements for the future earth observation systems based on different application needs can be summarized as follows:•Moderate spatial resolution (l50-300m), high repetivity (2 Days), minimum set of spectral bands (VIS, NIR, MIR. TIR) full coverage.•Moderate to high spatial resolution (20-40m), high repetivity (4-6 Days), spectral bands (VIS, MR, MIR, TIR) full coverage.•High spatial resolution (5-10m) muitispectral data with provision for selecting specific narrow bands (VIS, N1R. MIR), viewing from different angles.•Synthetic aperture radar operating in at least two frequencies (C, X, Ku), two incidence angles/polarizations, moderate to high spatial resolution (20-40m), high repetivity (4-6 Days).•Very high spatial resolution (1-2m) data in panchromatic band to provide terrain details at cadastral level (1:10,000).•Stereo capability (1-2m height resolution) to help planning/execution of development plans.•Moderate resolution sensor operating in VIS, NIR, MIR on a geostationary platform for observations at different sun angles necessary for the development of canopy reflectance inversion models.• Diurnal (at least two i.e. pre-dawn and noon) temperature measurements of the earth surface.•Ocean colour monitor with daily coverage.•Multi-frequency microwave radiometer, scatterometer. altimeter, atmospheric sounder, etc.