The U.S. has released a draft 10-year Strategic Plan for the U.S. Integrated Earth Observation System aimed at benefiting people and economies worldwide by improving the ability to monitor, understand and predict changes to the planet. The release of the draft marks a significant milestone in the ongoing development of a Global Earth Observation System involving 48 other countries, the European Commission and 29 international organizations. The U.S. draft plan now is open for public and further scientific review and comment before being finalized by the end of the year.

Coordinated through the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), 18 federal agencies collaborated on the draft plan. With the massive effort already well in place, thousands of individual pieces of technology have been demonstrating their value in estimating crop yields, monitoring water and air quality and improving airline safety. The effort aims to integrate these systems into a more powerful “systems-of-systems” that can offer broad new capabilities.

The draft plan focuses on nine areas of societal benefit in which work is underway and progress can be realized most quickly, including improved weather forecasting, reduced loss of life and property from disasters, protection and monitoring of ocean resource, and protection and management of water, energy and other natural resources.

The U.S. plan will be presented to ministers at the third global Earth Observation Summit scheduled for Feb. 16, 2005, in Brussels. For the plan, see http://iwgeo.ssc.nasa.gov/draftstrategicplan.asp. To learn about the Global Earth Observation System, visit http://earthobservations.org.