Summary Report A Platforms and Sensors

Earth observation and information systems are intended to provide information on the natural environment of the planet Earth, and on the interaction of human activities with this environment. The natural environment consists of the atmosphere, and the surface and subsurface regimes of both the land masses and the oceans. Human activities occur in all of these environments. The interaction of these environments with each other, with human activities, and with radiation from the sun to produce climate and weather is not explicitly understood. However, it is accepted that changes in one regime of the environment will often cause change in several of the others, and that changes in solar or human activity can significantly modify the environment.