Global VSWIR Imaging Spectroscopy and the 2017 Decadal Survey

On the 5th of January 2018, an unedited prepublication version of the 2017 Decadal Survey was released titled, “Thriving on Our Changing Planet A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space.” This 700 page document that was developed over more than two years with broad input from the Earth science and applications communities. Five targeted observables are indicated as observing system priorities in this early release version. One of these is surface biology and geology. In this category, a set of science and applications targets are identified including: ground/water temperature, snow reflectivity, active geologic processes, vegetation traits and algal biomass. The candidate measurement approach is described as, “Hyperspectral imagery in the visible and shortwave infrared, multi- or hyperspectral imagery in the thermal IR.” This paper reviews some of the key new science and applications objectives, and outlines some measurement approaches that could be used to address this guidance in the area of global visible to short wavelength infrared imaging spectroscopy.