CoAuthors

Vardis Tsontos (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, United States); Matthew Bonnema (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, United States); Santiago Peña-Luque (CNES, France); Nicolas Picot (CNES, France)

NASA and CNES are programmatically supporting efforts to engage with, support, and grow a broad spectrum of Applied Science-focused user communities (“Applications” user communities) for many Earth observing satellite missions. For over 20 years activities to build and support Applications user communities have successfully identified and engaged applied science and operational uses of mission data, in addition to the primary science objectives of the missions.

The program goal is to engage early-phase NASA Earth satellite mission project teams with applied science representation in the flight mission planning process. The end goal is to "to engage applications-oriented users and organizations early in the satellite mission lifecycle to enable them to envision possible applications and integrate end-user needs into satellite mission planning as a way to increase the benefits to the nation."

Successful strategies to enhance science and practical applications of mission data streams requires engaging with and facilitating between science, societal applications, and mission planning elements. Activities include;

• Identifying applied science user communities and scaling up from existing users to reach broader communities,
• Assessing needs, current methods, experience and technical skills of team members,
• Developing programs to educate, train, and support outcomes for these communities,
• Building bridges between research and analysis capabilities and user communities,
• Share impact outcomes with funding agencies and the public to demonstrate value of the missions.

We will provide an overview and update on the Applications programs for Jason-series altimetry missions and highlight the recent focus on SWOT and the SWOT Early Adopters.