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GLIMS colleagues, </div>
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This letter was sent to USGS/NASA in response to their Request for Information. We have confirmation that the letter is in the hands of the Landsat Next design committee.</div>
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--Jeff Kargel</div>
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Letter of support for a stereo capability on Landsat Next</p>
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We outline here the crucial importance of stereo capabilities to monitor the Earth surface, made more crucial by the lack of a follow-up mission after ASTER, and the unique opportunity possibly provided by the evolving design of the Landsat NEXT (Landsat 10)
mission.</p>
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The stereo capabilities of the two ASTER Band 3 telescopes and the resulting digital elevation models have led to major advances in our understanding of dynamics of the Earth surfaces. Among others, these freely available elevation data were extensively used
to map glacier and ice sheet changes and a range of other climate change impacts, and various geohazards such as volcanic activities and landslide dynamics. </p>
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A new generation of very-high-resolution optical sensors (e.g., WorldView, Pleiades, etc…) now provide stereo capabilities at much higher resolution and precision but have been mainly available for the Polar Regions (Arctic and Antarctic) or restricted to specific
targets. Furthermore, these sensors often respond to emergency and commercial requests but do not aim at building a global, freely available archive. Sentinel-2 satellites and their planned successor missions also have a wide swath and good revisit period
but no stereo capability.</p>
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Through this letter, we want to attest that a stereo capability onboard Landsat Next (Landsat 10) would be a game changer for this mission and for the understanding of our constantly evolving Earth surface.</p>
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Various options could be considered to provide this stereo capability. An obvious option could consist of adding a stereo band pointing forward or backward in the spirit of the ASTER design. Typically, a stereo angle of about 20° is a good compromise, but
we suggest a tradeoff study to select the angle. More powerful systems could be designed if Landsat Next would be made as a 2- or 3-platform constellation providing opportunities for higher precision and completeness of the DEMs and also simultaneous imaging
and a wealth of new applications, such as in 3-D studies of volcanic eruptions, ocean waves, and clouds. A fallback possibility could be to repurpose, reposition, and repoint Landsats 8 and 9 to fly in a stereo-acquiring constellation with Landsat 10. This
repurposing is less desirable, as the acquisition of stereo imaging would halt if the (by-then) aging Landsat 8 and middle-aged Landsat 9 fail.</p>
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We ask the Landsat Next science and engineering committee to seriously consider these options and not miss a unique opportunity to offer a follow up to the multiple achievements made with ASTER.
<span style="color:#181817">We are prepared to write a more specific and detailed discussion on this Landsat NEXT augmentation, with a stereophotogrammetric performance tradeoff study, upon request.</span></p>
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<b>Glaciers, ice sheets, and snow</b></p>
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Jeffrey S. Kargel, Senior Scientist, Planetary Science Institute, USA, <a href="mailto:jkargel@psi.edu">
<span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">jkargel@psi.edu</span></a></p>
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<span style="background-color:#ffffff">Bruce Raup, NSIDC, CIRES, University of Colorado, USA; GLIMS Director,
<a href="mailto:braup@nsidc.org"><span style="text-decoration:underline">braup@nsidc.org</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p>
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Andreas Kääb, University of Oslo, Norway, <a href="mailto:a.m.kaab@geo.uio.no"><span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">a.m.kaab@geo.uio.no</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
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Etienne Berthier - University of Toulouse / CNRS, France, <a href="mailto:etienne.berthier@legos.obs-mip.fr">
<span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">etienne.berthier@legos.obs-mip.fr</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
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Umesh K. Haritashya, Assoc. Prof., Dept of Geology & Environmental Geosciences, Univ. of Dayton,
<a href="mailto:uharitashya1@udayton.edu"><span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">uharitashya1@udayton.edu</span></a></p>
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David Shean, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Univ. of Washington, USA <a href="mailto:dshean@uw.edu">
<span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">dshean@uw.edu</span></a></p>
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Beáta Csathó - University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA, <a href="mailto:bcsatho@buffalo.edu">
<span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">bcsatho@buffalo.edu</span></a></p>
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<span style="color:#000000">Tobias Bolch, </span>Geography & Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK,
<a href="mailto:tobias.bolch@st-andrews.ac.uk"><span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">tobias.bolch@st-andrews.ac.uk</span></a></p>
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Ted Scambos - Senior Research Scientist, Earth Observation and Science Center, CIRES, University of Colorado Boulder, USA,
<a href="mailto:tascambos@Colorado.EDU"><span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">tascambos@Colorado.EDU</span></a></p>
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Mike Willis<span style="color:#000000">, </span>Assistant Professor, Geodesy and Remote Sensing,</p>
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CIRES and Department of Geological Sciences<span style="color:#000000">, </span>Univ. of Colorado, Boulder<span style="font:13.0px Times">,
<a href="mailto:mike.willis@colorado.edu"><span style="font:13.0px Arial;text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">mike.willis@colorado.edu</span></a></span> </p>
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Christopher A. Shuman, Research Associate Professor</p>
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UMBC JCET at Code 615, NASA GSFC<span style="font:13.0px Times">, </span>cshuman@umbc.edu</p>
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<b>Volcanoes</b></p>
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Rick Wessels, U.S. Geological Survey, Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP), USA,
<span style="color:#000000">rwessels@usgs.gov</span></p>
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<span style="color:#000000">Jani Radebaugh, </span>Professor, Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, USA,
<a href="mailto:janirad@byu.edu"><span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">janirad@byu.edu</span></a></p>
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Sarah A. Fagents, Hawaii Institute of Geology and Planetology, Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, USA<span style="font:13.0px Times">,
<a href="mailto:fagents@higp.hawaii.edu"><span style="font:13.0px Helvetica">fagents@higp.hawaii.edu</span></a></span><span style="color:#155478"> </span></p>
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<b>Earthquakes, Tectonics and Landslides</b></p>
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Jean-Philippe Malet, University Strasbourg, France - CEOS WG Disaster Landslide Pilot, France,
<a href="mailto:jeanphilippe.malet@unistra.fr"><span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">jeanphilippe.malet@unistra.fr</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
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Pascal Lacroix - University Grenoble Alpes, France, <a href="mailto:pascal.lacroix@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr">
<span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">pascal.lacroix@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr</span></a></p>
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Dan Shugar, University of Calgary, Canada, <span style="color:#181817">dshugar@ucalgary.ca</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
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Olivier Dewitte - Royal Museum For Central Africa - Belgium - <a href="mailto:Olivier.Dewitte@africamuseum.be">
<span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">Olivier.Dewitte@africamuseum.be</span></a></p>
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Eric Fielding, Principal Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA, <a href="mailto:eric.j.fielding@jpl.nasa.gov">
<span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">eric.j.fielding@jpl.nasa.gov</span></a></p>
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Michael P. Bishop, Dept. of Geography, Texas A&M University, USA, <a href="mailto:michael.bishop@tamu.edu">
<span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">michael.bishop@tamu.edu</span></a></p>
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<b>Forests </b></p>
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Donald Falk, Professor, Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona,
<a href="mailto:dafalk@arizona.edu"><span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">dafalk@arizona.edu</span></a></p>
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<b>Ocean</b></p>
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Lorenzo Corgnati, National Inst. of Marine Science, CNR, Italy, <a href="mailto:lorenzo.corgnati@sp.ismar.cnr.it">
<span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">lorenzo.corgnati@sp.ismar.cnr.it</span></a></p>
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<b>ASTER Remote Sensing</b></p>
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Yasushi Yamaguchi, Japan ASTER Science Team Leader, Professor, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan,
<a href="mailto:yasushi@nagoya-u.jp"><span style="text-decoration:underline;color:#103cc0">yasushi@nagoya-u.jp</span></a></p>
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Michael Abrams, U.S. ASTER Team Leader, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Michael.j.jabrams@jpl.nasa.gov</p>
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