NASA Airborne and Field Data Workshop (2024) Summary and Findings

For decades, NASA has conducted field campaigns for the collection of airborne and field observations. These investigations cover a wide range of measurements from passive remote sensing (multi-spectral, hyperspectral) to active remote sensing (laser altimeters, synthetic aperture radar), in-situ atmospheric chemistry and composition, and ground-based remote sensing (e.g., lidar) to ground-based in-situ measurements. The data are archived and distributed by NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information Systems (ESDIS) and the Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) working closely with the science teams. Field campaigns help to propel advances in the Earth sciences by providing a deeper understanding of specific processes and phenomena as well as improve the accuracy of and deepen trust in NASA’s satellite measurements. As a follow-on and recommendation from the 2022 Airborne and Field Data Workshop, members of NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS), the Airborne Data Management Group (ADMG), ESDIS, and several DAACs co-organized and hosted a second two-day Airborne and Field Data Workshop from 23-24 April 2024. The goals of the virtual workshop were to provide updates on changes that have been implemented by ESDIS, ADMG, and the DAACs based on feedback at and since the 2022 workshop and to continue identifying ways to enhance the findability, accessibility, and usability of suborbital data.  This report contains the summary and findings  of the workshop for NASA to enhance the findability, accessibility, and usability of suborbital data.