[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 113 (Monday, July 28, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S10043]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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  EARTH RESOURCES OBSERVATION SYSTEMS DATA CENTER CELEBRATES 30 YEARS

 Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, it is with great honor that I rise 
today to congratulate the Earth Resources Observation Systems, EROS, 
Data Center in Sioux Falls, SD, which will hold its 30th anniversary 
celebration on Tuesday, September 30, 2003.
  Opened in the early seventies, the EROS Data Center was staffed by 
only a handful of people and the largest mainframe computer in the 
State of South Dakota. Thirty years later, the EROS Data Center has 
grown to an organization with over 600 employees and they are 
responsible for supplying data to a worldwide community of users. 
Scholars, engineers, and land managers use their data to study a 
growing list of environmental issues such as resource development, 
global change, and land use planning. In addition to maintaining Earth 
science data, EROS scientists are working constantly to discover new 
ways to utilize this information.
  Within the EROS Data Center lies a computer room that was associated 
with NASA's Earth Science Enterprise initiative. The robotic mass 
storage systems within this room hold approximately 920,000 separate 
images and make much of the EROS Data Center's NASA satellite 
information immediately available to scientists working at desktop 
workstations in both South Dakota and around the world. A major part of 
NASA's Earth Science Enterprise initiative is the Earth observing 
system which will collect data required to measure changes in the Earth 
system. Beginning in 1999, and running for at least the next 15 years, 
The EOS will collect data through a series of satellites and field 
experiments to observe the Earth. In addition, since 1991, the EROS 
Data Center has supported the United Nations environment programme/
global resources information database making environmental data 
available to developing countries.
  While the EROS Data Center's mission has changed and grown over the 
years, its original mission, which was to receive, process, and 
distribute data collected and transmitted, still holds true. It is my 
belief that the center will keep on growing and continue to make a 
large impact within the Department of the Interior. As a small state, 
South Dakota can be extremely proud of the impact such a center has not 
only on the State but on the United States and other nations.
  I am proud to have this opportunity to honor the EROS Data Center for 
its 30 years of outstanding service. It is an honor for me to share 
with my colleagues the exemplary leadership and strong commitment to 
data management and research the EROS Data Center has provided. I 
strongly commend their years of hard work and dedication, and I am very 
pleased that their substantial efforts are being publicly honored and 
celebrated.

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