Satellite Calibration/Validation Measurement Campaign Activities Carried out Through the NASA/ESA Joint Program Planning Group

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) created a Joint Program Planning Group (JPPG) more than a decade ago to facilitate cooperation in Earth Science, with subgroups covering joint planning discussions in the areas: satellite missions; calibration/validation and field campaigns, and data systems and operations. The calibration/validation (cal/val) subgroup has been active in jointly implementing field campaigns that provide valuable calibration/validation and information for current and future satellite missions, as well as a valuable scientific data resource. This includes both jointly-implemented campaigns and the addition of calibration/validation components that augment and add value to campaigns already planned. While the efforts of this JPPG subgroup address most areas of Earth System Science, there has been substantial work done in meteorologically-related topics, most recently following ESA’s launch of the EarthCARE satellite on May 28, 2024. Significant joint cal/val activity has previously successfully been carried out between ICESat-2 and CryoSat-2, and in association with ESA’s launch of the ADM Aeolus mission on August 22, 2018.

In this talk, a review of both already-implemented campaigns and those planned for the near future will be summarized, and an assessment of how these joint activities have and will contribute to the enhancement of data set quality will be provided.