FINALIZING PLANS FOR A GLOBAL EARTH OBSERVATION SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS

February 1, 2005 — On Feb. 16, 2005, representatives from 59 world governments, the European Commission and 33 international organizations will meet in Brussels, Belgium, for the third Earth Observation Summit to discuss and promote the development of a comprehensive Global Earth Observation System of Systems. Producing better information on the environment has become a growing priority around the world, and that is what GEOSS is all about — bringing together many thousands of Earth observation sources and datasets and creating one linked, sustainable network for the distribution of data and information products and services that will yield benefits as broad as the planet itself.

The Earth Observation Summit in Brussels is the third in a series, following the second Earth Observation Summit in Tokyo, Japan, in April 2004 and the first Earth Observation Summit in Washington, D.C., in July 2003. The combined overall goal of these summits is to improve identification and application of Earth observation strategies and research on a global level.

The Third EO Summit
At the third Earth Observation Summit in Brussels, the ad hoc intergovernmental Group on Earth Observation (also known as GEO) will present the much-anticipated 10-year Implementation Plan for the creation of GEOSS to ministers from around the world. (Note that just prior to the summit, the 10-year plan will be finalized in Brussels at GEO-6 on February 14 to 15).

The U.S. delegate is also expected to present the “Strategic Plan for the U.S. Integrated Earth Observation System,” the U.S. contribution to the GEOSS implementation plan recently developed by the Interagency Working Group on Earth Observations (also known as IWGEO). Like the 10-year GEOSS implementation plan, the U.S. Strategic Plan focuses around nine societal benefit areas (See section entitled "Nine Societal Benefits" below.). It also calls for the establishment of a standing Earth Observation Subcommittee under the auspices of the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. The subcommittee will be charged with continuing to pull together vastly expansive science and technical activities to satisfy the identified societal benefits.

“The U.S. strategic plan is just one of the many systems to be included in the network we call the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, which will be adopted by ministers at the third Earth Observation Summit in Brussels. By linking existing Earth observing systems, GEOSS will aid in tracking environmental changes throughout the world and provide the science on which sound decision-making must be built," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.

GEOSS Update
It has been almost two years since Lautenbacher announced the United States’ intention to lead an international effort to develop a comprehensive, integrated and sustained Earth observing system to provide a deeper understanding of the complex systems of planet Earth. NOAA and the United States have played a vital role in promoting GEOSS and are proud to be a part of this international effort that has achieved so much in just 17 short months.

Looking Back at Previous EO Summit Activities
Since the first summit, there have been five GEO sessions, a second Earth Observation Summit (held in Tokyo, Japan, in April 2004) and a total of 23 countries and more than 10 international organizations have joined GEOSS.

At the first summit on July 31, 2003, 33 nations plus the European Commission adopted a declaration that signified political commitment to move toward the development of a comprehensive, coordinated and sustained Earth observation system. To further this goal at the international level, the summit participants launched the intergovernmental ad hoc Group on Earth Observations to develop a 10-year implementation plan. The group, co-chaired by the United States, the European Commission, Japan and South Africa and joined by more than 21 international organizations, began its work by organizing five subgroups (i.e., architecture, capacity building, data utilization, user requirements, and outreach and international cooperation), as well as a secretariat to support its activities. Lautenbacher serves as the U.S. co-chair for GEO. In a parallel effort at the domestic level, the Interagency Working Group on Earth Observations was formed to develop a 10-year plan for implementing the United States’ Integrated Earth Observation System. The IWGEO, co-chaired by Greg Withee (NOAA), Ghassem Asrar (NASA) and Cliff Gabriel (Office of Science Technology and Policy), has representatives from 15 member agencies and three White House offices.

Global Earth Observation System of Systems
Building an integrated, comprehensive and sustained global Earth Observation System of Systems opens a world of possibilities. Imagine a world in which individuals can:

• Forecast next winter’s weather months in advance
• Predict where and when malaria, West Nile virus, SARS and other diseases are likely to strike
• Reduce U.S. energy costs by about $1 billion each year
• More effectively monitor forest fires and predict the effect of air quality on sensitive populations in near real-time
• Provide farmers with immediate forecasts essential to maximizing crops yields
• Predict the pattern of the North American monsoon — Arizona derives two-thirds of its water from the monsoon weather pattern

Over the next decade, a global Earth Observation System of Systems will revolutionize the understanding of the Earth and how it works. With benefits as broad as the planet itself, this initiative promises to make peoples and economies around the globe healthier, safer and better equipped to manage basic daily needs. The aim is to make 21st century technology as interrelated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

Right now many thousands of individual pieces of technology are gathering Earth observations around the globe. They are demonstrating their value in estimating crop yields, monitoring water and air quality and improving airline safety. (Click on NOAA image to the right for a larger view of NOAA's Global Observing Platforms. Please credit "NOAA.")

However, while there are thousands of moored and free floating data buoys in the world’s oceans, thousands of land-based environmental stations and more than 50 environmental satellites orbiting the globe, all providing millions of data sets, most of these technologies do not yet talk to each other. Until they do — and all of the individual technology is connected as one comprehensive system of systems — there will always be blind spots and scientific uncertainty about the state of the world's air, water, land and ecosystems. Just as a doctor can't diagnose health by taking just one measurement, neither can scientists really know what's happening on the planet without taking the Earth's pulse everywhere it beats — which is all over the globe.

The challenge is to connect the scientific dots — to build a powerful system of systems that will yield the science on which sound policy and decision-making must be built.

Nine Societal Benefits
In the U.S. and globally, the emerging system will focus on nine societal benefits:

• Improve Weather Forecasting
• Reduce Loss of Life and Property from Disasters
• Protect and Monitor Our Ocean Resource
• Understand, Assess, Predict, Mitigate and Adapt to Climate Variability and Change
• Support Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry and Combat Land Degradation
• Understand the Effect of Environmental Factors on Human Health and Well-Being
• Develop the Capacity to Make Ecological Forecasts
• Protect and Monitor Water Resources
• Monitor and Manage Energy Resources

The benefits of building a global observing architecture are enormous.

Substantial Socio-Economic Payoffs
Potential savings that can result from an established international, comprehensive, integrated and sustained Earth Observation System of Systems are listed below:

• Weather forecasters could more accurately predict how severe next winter’s weather will be, with strong implications for emergency managers, transportation, energy and medical personnel, farmers, families, manufacturers, storeowners, etc. Weather and climate sensitive industries account for one-third of the nation’s GDP, or $3 trillion.
• Meteorologists could forecast weather with just one degree F more accuracy, saving at least $1 billion annually in U.S. electricity costs.
• With coastal storms reflecting 71 percent, or $7 billion, of U.S. disaster losses every year, improved forecasting will have a major favorable impact on preparedness.
• In the United States, at a cost of $4 billion annually, weather is responsible for about two-thirds of aviation delays — $1.7 billion of which would be avoidable with better observations and forecasts.
• Benefits from more effective air quality monitoring could provide real-time information, as well as accurate forecasts that (days in advance) could enable us to mitigate the effects of poor quality through proper transportation and energy use.
• Benefits from ocean instrumentation that, combined with improved satellite Earth observing coverage, could provide revolutionary decadal worldwide and regional climate forecasts (enabling us, for example, to predict years of drought).
• Benefits from real-time monitoring and forecasting of the water quality in every watershed and accompanying coastal areas could provide agricultural interests with immediate feedback and forecasts of the correct amount of fertilizers and pesticides to apply to maximize crop generation at minimum cost. This would help to support both healthy eco-systems and greatly increased U.S. fishery output and value from coastal tourism.
• Globally, an estimated 300 million to 500 million people worldwide are infected with malaria each year and about one million die of this largely preventable disease — with a linked international system, we could pinpoint where the next outbreak of SARS or West Nile virus, or malaria is likely to hit.

GEOSS and Tsunami Warning and Detection Systems
The tsunami that devastated coastal communities along the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, 2004, is yet another reminder of the importance of establishing a global Earth observation system. As a result, the United States will emphasize the need for an accelerated and expanded tsunami warning and detection system as one of the near-term deliverables of GEOSS during the Brussels meetings, where Lautenbacher will also discuss the steps the United States has already taken to help achieve this goal. (Click on NOAA image to the right for a larger view of NOAA's Proposed DART Buoy System. Please credit "NOAA.")

On Jan. 14, 2005, the United States announced that a total of $37.5 million will be dedicated to tsunami-related activities over the next two years. Specifically, NOAA will deploy 32 new advanced technology DART buoys for a fully operational tsunami warning system by mid-2007. In addition, the U.S. Geological Survey will enhance its seismic monitoring and information delivery from the Global Seismic Network, a partnership with the National Science Foundation. The new system will provide the United States with nearly 100 percent detection capabilities of a U.S. coastal tsunami, allowing response within minutes. The new system will also expand monitoring capabilities throughout the entire Pacific and Caribbean basins, providing tsunami warning for regions bordering half of the world’s oceans.

The newly expanded tsunami detection and warning system will significantly contribute toward the ongoing effort to build a cohesive Earth-observing architecture and will benefit society in many ways (e.g., reducing the loss of life and property from disasters, increase understanding of the effects of environmental factors on human heal and well-being and foster the continued protection and monitoring of the world's ocean resources).

“NOAA, our sister agencies in the United States and our partners around world have come a long way since the groundbreaking Earth Observation Summit on July 31, 2003,” stated Lautenbacher as he prepared for the upcoming Earth Observation Summit III. "But we are just getting started, and much work lies ahead — additional data must be collected, data gaps still have to be identified and filled, and standards and guidelines need to be established and implemented. It is a huge task, but I am convinced that 10 years from now, the Global Earth Observing System of Systems will be at work for the benefit of people around the globe and the economies they depend on."

Relevant Web Sites
Earth Observation Fact Sheet, Benefit Sheets for all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Tribal Nations

INTEGRATED EARTH OBSERVATION SYSTEMS CONTINUE TO GAIN MOMENTUM AT BOTH NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVELS

NOAA PARTICIPATES IN U.S.-HOSTED EARTH OBSERVATION SYSTEMS SUMMIT: NATIONS JOIN TOGETHER TO TAKE THE PULSE OF PLANET EARTH

EARTH OBSERVATION SYSTEM MOVES FORWARD WITH WORKING GROUP MEETING IN SOUTH AFRICA

AN ECONOMIC CASE FOR AN INTEGRATED OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEM

THE CONTRIBUTION OF NOAA BUOYS TO A GLOBAL OCEAN OBSERVING SYSTEM:
BENEFITS TO CLIMATE PREDICTION AND RESEARCH

Progressing Towards an Integrated Earth Observing System (June 24, 2003 Speech)

An Integrated Earth Observation System — A Public-Private Partnership (June 4, 2003 Speech)

Media Contact:
Jordan St. John, NOAA, (202) 482-6090