Ker Than, “Eco Hubble” to Bring Nature Data to the Public, National Geographic News, February 26, 2009.

A network of ecological “satellites” set to monitor environmental change could do for ecology what the Hubble Space Telescope has done for astronomy, researchers say.

Since 1991 raw data from Hubble have been made publicly available for use by professional researchers, educators, and citizen scientists via an online catalog.

“The public can access [the data] and do their own research,” said Hubble spokesperson Ray Villard. “They paid for it. They deserve it.”

A similar openaccess model is key to the National Ecological Network Observatory, or NEON, a new program set to be up and running by 2016.

NEON will link together already existing field stations across the U.S. that are using planes and orbiters, ground-level sensors, and human-run labs to monitor activity in the wild. …

With funding from the National Science Foundation, NEON program managers plan to collect and archive data online for at least 30 years. …

NEON will also create opportunities for the public to aid scientists in conducting field research, said senior team member Carol Brewer, a biologist at the University of Montana. …