March 1, 2005 — NOAA's primary mission is to understand, predict and monitor the oceans, coasts, fisheries and atmosphere, as well as to disseminate that information for economic and public benefit. To accomplish this, NOAA operates its own complex network of “observing systems,” as part of a global network of observing systems.

In support of this mission, NOAA has undertaken a major effort to re-engineer the end-to-end management of its observing systems. A critical component of this effort includes the development of near, mid, and far-term observing systems architectures ("blueprints" of all of NOAA's observing systems and the information systems and technology needed to efficiently and effectively manage them). This effort has been designated as NOAA’s Observing Systems Architecture effort. The NOSA team has documented NOAA’s plethora of observing systems, is identifying ways to evolve them in an integrated manner and has made investment recommendations affecting NOAA’s investment decisions.

An enterprise-wide observing systems architecture effort will enable NOAA to better serve its diverse users and support other national and international efforts, including those to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems. "NOAA’s ultimate goal is to develop an integrated system — fully wired and networked together (without unnecessary duplication) — that allows enough freedom to install new observing stations, as well as add new sensors to current platforms, on an as needed basis. Once fully implemented, user data will be easier to process, distribute and archive in an accessible and affordable format. NOSA also provides a basis for the efficient and effective integration of NOAA observing systems with other agency observing systems and international programs," said Gregory W. Withee, assistant administrator for the NOAA Satellites and Information Service and co-chair of the NOAA Observing Systems Council.

History of NOSA
The NOSA initiative emerged as a result of a recommendation from the 2002 NOAA Program Review Team. The resulting NOSA team produced NOAA’s first-ever comprehensive review of all of its observing systems and their interrelationships. This review resulted in what is now known as a “baseline” NOSA, developed with assistance from all NOAA observing system managers. The NOSA Team concentrated this initial effort on cataloguing and describing only NOAA owned, operated and/or funded systems, with particular emphasis placed on identifying where duplication existed and critical gaps remained. (Click on NOAA image to the right for a larger view of NOAA's Global Observing Platforms. Please credit "NOAA.")

The baseline NOSA (completed in July 2003) identified 99 different NOAA observing systems (from satellites to weather radars to human observations of marine mammal populations) measuring more than 500 different environmental parameters. The development of the NOSA is undoubtedly the most comprehensive compilation of observing system data in NOAA’s 40-year history.

Since then, NOAA has expanded its efforts to include collecting and cataloguing NOAA’s expected Earth observation requirements through 2015 and adding Earth observing systems operated by other agencies and/or partners to its observing system database. Identifying and describing all NOAA and other observing systems is a critical step toward developing an overall “target” architecture to meet future long-term Earth observation needs.

Data management and computing capacity are critical, but easily neglected, components of an integrated Earth observing system. In order to fully realize the benefits of an integrated system, the capacity to exchange, store and disseminate data and information on a free and open basis must be in place. There is also an ongoing need to invest in the high-performance computing necessary to ingest, distribute, analyze, model and store comprehensive Earth data that will result from current and increased observing systems. The target architecture will address these needs.

NOAA Observing Systems Council
The NOAA Observing Systems Council leads NOAA’s effort to ensure it has the optimum mix of observing capabilities to meet its broad spectrum of corporate missions — today and as they evolve in response to national and environmental changes. To support this effort, the NOSA team is collecting and integrating information on NOAA’s observing priorities and the potential impact of different “portfolios” of observing systems. The Council is co-chaired by the assistant administrators of the NOAA Satellite and Information Service and the NOAA National Weather Service. Other Council members include senior representatives from NOAA’s line and staff offices.

NOSA Web site
Obtaining information on each of NOAA’s observing systems just became simpler with NOAA's new NOSA Web site. Prior to 2002, NOAA did not have a “one-stop shopping” comprehensive descriptive collection of its remote and in-situ observing systems. Now NOAA is creatively applying the enterprise architecture approach to its uniquely vast array of environmental observing systems operating on the ocean floor and up into space.

Because the NOSA Web site features data in a simple XML database format, the NOSA database can be easily queried and analyzed by both managers of observing systems within NOAA and external NOAA data users who want to know more about how NOAA monitors environmental parameters. Furthermore, the results are displayed in a way that is intuitively understandable and visually appealing.

NOSA Queries and Reports
The NOSA database and its suite of software tools can respond to queries and produce a variety of reports. Examples include:

• Descriptions of NOAA’s 99 observing systems, including system purpose, intended use (operational or research), life cycle phase (concept development, operations, retired, etc.), schedule and system quantities (currently deployed, programmed and needed)
• Costs for each observing system, including initial acquisition cost (or replacement cost), subsequent upgrade costs and several categories of operations and maintenance (O&M) costs
• Environmental parameters measured by NOAA’s observing systems
• Application of NOAA observing systems to the new NOAA strategic goals proposed in the Draft NOAA Strategic Plan.
• Maps of locations of observing platforms or stations that can be overlaid and compared

Typical queries result in displays of: observing systems owned by a particular NOAA line office, organizations that own buoys, observing systems that support the ability to measure ocean temperature, systems that address the requirements of a stakeholder (e.g., airline pilots), geographic coverage of a particular system, acquisition costs of all systems associated with a certain strategic goal, etc.

Because the NOSA Web site allows users to view Earth observation data from many different perspectives, it also satisfies many different user needs. A majority of NOSA users include senior managers and budget analysts, system architects and designers, observing system owners and operators, marine sanctuary managers, IT managers and organizational analysts.

Why NOSA Is Important
NOSA means that, in the future, NOAA’s observing systems will be acquired and refined via a thorough evaluation of how they complement NOAA’s existing and planned suite of observing capabilities, with special consideration given to alleviating identified gaps and eliminating unnecessary duplication. As a result, NOAA will both obtain increased returns on observing system investments across NOAA’s missions and be better prepared to contribute toward national and international Earth observing system efforts. (Click on NOAA image to the right for a larger view of global Earth systems. Please credit "NOAA.")

Over the last few years, NOAA has made substantial progress in its effort to develop an integrated global Earth observation and data management system, yet a tremendous amount of work lies ahead. NOAA plans to continue maintaining and refining both its NOSA database content and the enterprise architecture tools used to analyze and extract information from it. NOAA also will increase its NOSA educational and outreach efforts to both domestic and international users.

Relevant Web Sites
Strategic Direction for NOAA's Integrated Global Environmental Observation and Data Management System

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

FINALIZING PLANS FOR A GLOBAL EARTH OBSERVATION SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS

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:
John Leslie, NOAA Satellites and Information Service, (301) 457-5005