Science for society: Global observations of earth's natural resources in the 21st century

To address the environmental and economic challenges of the 21(st) century it is incumbent upon the global community to evolve and sustain a global observation network. These observations serve as the foundation for the models that are used to describe Earth processes and can be used to predict the effect of different forcings on the planet. These data and models also require management infrastructures to support decision-making and archiving of this valuable resource. This paper will describe the global observations that NASA has on orbit or in formulation for multi-temporal global observations of Earth's natural resources and the infrastructure to support and utilize them in meeting the challenges facing the planet.