Capacity Building with NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Training Program

Despite access to freely available satellite-based information, non-scientists and working professionals face barriers in the use of this information for decision making. To bridge this gap, the NASA Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET) Program offers cost-free training to develop the technical and analytical skills necessary to utilize NASA Earth observations for decision-support, and to help end-users navigate through the extensive available and open data resources. ARSET trainings are offered in two primary formats, virtual online webinars and in-person trainings, and across six Earth Science themes: health and air quality, climate and resilience, agriculture, water resources, disasters, and ecological conservation. Since 2009, ARSET has trained over 100,000 participants from all over the world, and over 10,000 under our health and air quality thematic area alone. Trainings are offered at a range of knowledge levels, from introductory to advanced, so participants can access training to meet their level of experience and need. Trainings employ a combination of lecture, demonstrations, hands-on exercises, between-session activities, case-study analysis, and post-training homework to provide participants with opportunities for learning reinforcement. In this presentation, we will review ARSET resources for Public Health decision making including air quality management, heat vulnerability risk, and other health applications.