The work of the US National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive Advisory Committee: 1998–2000

Earth observation data have been acquired and stored since the early 1970 s. One of the world's largest, and most important, repositories for land satellite data is the Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center (EDC). It is a data management, systems development and research field center for the US Geological Survey's (USGS) National Mapping Division in Sioux Falls, SD, USA. It was established in the early 1970 s and, in 1992, the US Congress established the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive at EDC. Although data have been acquired and stored for decades, the world's remote sensing community has only recently begun to address long-term data preservation and access. One such effort was made recently by remote sensing leaders from academia, industry and government as members of a federal advisory committee from 1998 to 2000.² This paper provides a brief account of the Committee's work product.