Satellite Data Archiving

U.S. and Foreign Activities and Plans for Environmental Information Gao ID: RCED-88-201 September 29, 1988

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed U.S. and international environmental satellite data archiving activities and plans.

GAO found that: (1) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are primarily responsible for archiving environmental satellite data; (2) the agencies expect a significant future increase in satellite data and, to varying degrees, have begun planning for the expected increase; (3) NOAA is examining the possibility of private firms taking over its archiving functions; (4) NASA is planning on significant technological advances and interagency cooperation to archive data; and (5) possible future reductions in archiving funding could reduce USGS archiving activities. GAO also found that: (1) since 1977, Japan, France, India, and a group of 13 European countries have launched at least 9 environmental satellites; and (2) several countries have plans to launch at least 30 additional environmental satellites between 1988 and 1997.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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