Low/medium density biomass, coastal and ocean carbon: a carbon cycle mission

As part of the Global Carbon Cycle research effort, an agency-wide planning initiative was organized between October 2000 and June 2001 by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center at the behest of the Associate Administrator for Earth Science. The goal was to define future research and technology development activities needed for implementing a cohesive scientific observation plan. A timeline for development of missions necessary to acquire the selected new measurements was laid out, and included missions for low-medium density terrestrial biomass/coastal ocean, and global ocean carbon. This paper will begin with the scientific justification and measurement requirements for these specific activities, lightly touch on the options for having separate low Earth orbiting missions, and follow-up in more detail with a combined implementation study centered on a hyperspectral imager at geosynchronous altitudes, highlighting both its merits and challenges.