A study on methods for assessing the impact of satellite observations on environmental policy

The goal of this research is to develop a method for quantitative and objective assessment of the effect of satellite Earth observations on environmental policy. For this purpose, as an initial case study, the protection of the ozone layer is used to analyze the different phases and processes where satellite observations might have had an impact, and to track if and how satellite data has produced such an effect. The method chosen for this is to search for relevant keywords from existing documentation. Satellite observations constitute critical inputs to understanding how the Earth system works and how its many natural and social components interact. Natural scientists have been proposing such satellite observations, and gaining knowledge on Earth systems. While satellite observations are expected to contribute to enhancing the effectiveness of environmental policy, to date there has been little research on whether this expectation has been met or not. Therefore our research target is to perform an objective and quantitative assessment of the impact of satellite observations on environmental policy and, at the end of this three-year research project, to propose a mission possibly on atmospheric observations and human health that would achieve an "innovation cycle", where the assessment would feed back to new innovation for next-generation observation technology, thus contributing to global policy demand.