Earth Observation Update

Development of a Global Observation System

Carla SullivanSenior Policy AdvisorOffice of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and AtmosphereExecutive Secretary, Interagency Working Group on Earth ObservationsJuly 13, 2004

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Earth Observation Summit I

July 31, 2003

Washington, D.C.

34Nations

20Internationa

l Organizatio

ns

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Earth Observation Summit II

43 Ministers & Heads of Delegation in attendance

25 International Organizations represented

Prime Minister Koizumi gave keynote on importance of observations to the global environment and economy

Adopted Framework for Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), along with Ministerial Communiqué

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GEOSS Will Be...

Comprehensive Includes observations & products gathered from all

components

Coordinated Leverages contributing members resources to accomplish

the system

Sustained By will & capacity of members

A distributed system of systems Addressing data utilization challenges Facilitating/building on current & new capacity building

efforts

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Evolving World—Evolving Needs

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Benefits Focus

Natural & Human Induced

Disasters

Human Health &

Well-Being

Energy Resources

Climate Variability &

Change

Water Resources

Weather Information,

Forecasting & Warning

Terrestrial, Coastal

& Marine Ecosystems

Sustainable Agriculture & Desertificatio

n

Biodiversity

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GEOSS & Disasters

Recent flooding in Dominican Republic and Haiti

Significant loss of life and property

What if... We had access to all our systems?

• Research and operational Results in more precise

assessment of current phenomena Better models More accurate forecasts

Benefit Advanced flood warnings

• Earlier evacuations• Lives saved

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GEOSS & HealthMalaria

Malaria killed more than a million people in 2003

Primarily in developing world

Early warning system Temperature Humidity Vegetation Soil Moisture

Possible outbreak prevention

AVHRR

AVHRR-SST

TOPEX-SSA

SeaWiFS-Chl-a

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GEOSS & HealthEbola

ESA Initiative: Solving the Ebola Enigma

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GEOSS & Energy

Improving accuracy of weather forecasts by one degree F could decrease costs of electricity by $1B annually

• Tennessee Valley Authority

5 Day forecast for hurricanes = Cost savings for offshore industry & consumer alike

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GEOSS & Agriculture

Drought assessments/predictions Affect planning & harvesting Puts restraints on water use Could likely cause active forest fire season

Understanding El Niño/La Niña patterns

Help predict & understand droughts, harvests, potential crop damage

Make decisions based on sustainable agriculture practices

Worldwide benefits to agriculture $450-550M annually

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GEO ProcessDeveloping the 10-Year Plan

EOS-1 Declaration created ad hoc Intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) to develop a 10-Year Implementation Plan

48 Countries + EC & 29 International Organizations currently represented

Four Intergovernmental Chairs: Mr. Akio Yuki, Japan Mr. Achilleas Mitsos, European Commission Dr. Rob Adam, South Africa VADM Conrad Lautenbacher, USN (Ret.), United States

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GEO 1-4

Established 5 Subgroups Architecture Capacity Building Data Utilization International Cooperation User Requirements & Outreach

Societal Benefits Focus

Established Implementation Plan Task Team (IPTT)• David Williams, EUMETSAT• Toshio Koike, Tokyo University• Robert Scholes, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research• Ivan DeLoatch, United States Geological Survey

Finalized Framework & Communiqué Discussion on Post-GEO Governance

Washington, DC

Baveno, Italy

Cape Town, South Africa

Tokyo, Japan

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Post-GEO Governance Structure

Countries submitting comments by August 1 High level Government primacy, with open participation by organizations Membership open to all countries Regular meetings at senior official level, with periodic ministerial

meeting Coordinate, not duplicate work of existing mechanisms Draw fully on international scientific community No new international organization, but clearly defined terms of

reference Should evolve incrementally, following Framework guidelines Form of a governance approach should follow the functions that

the governance model should carry out

Special Session on Governance in Brussels in September 2004

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GEO 5

November ’04, Ottawa, Canada

Aggressive pace thus far; much to do

To complete at GEO 5 10 Year Implementation Plan (negotiated) Technical Blueprint (not negotiated) Communiqué of EOS-III (negotiated)

GEO 5 meeting critical to progress Only 75 days between GEO5 and Earth Observation

Summit III to be held in Brussels, Belgium, February 2005

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G8 Science Ministers meeting April 2004

G8 Science Ministers met in Washington, DC for planning meeting

Discussed specific partnerships and cooperation efforts for the three action areas identified at Evian:

Energy Technologies Agriculture & Biodiversity Global Observations

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US Discussion Papers

G8 Sea Level Rise

Pointed out the following needs that could be addressed by G8 and its partners:

About 170 tidal gauges, reporting hourly data in real time, and with co-located GPS receivers to measure the vertical movement of land

At least three decades of coverage by satellite altimetry

Continuing observations of the upper-ocean temperature and salinity structure by a global array of 3,000 Argo profiling floats

Improved understanding of the re-distribution of water mass on the surface of the Earth

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G8 S&T for Sustainability Action Plan / Progress Report

Meeting in Sea Island, Georgia in June Noted actions taken over the past year to

implement the Evian S&T Action Plan:

“Held First and Second Earth Observation Summits (EOS) and adopted a Framework document on a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Planning to adopt a final 10-year strategic implementation plan on GEOSS at Third EOS in 2005 and working to identify the international mechanism to provide coordination and oversight for GEOSS.”

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Developing the Us Plan for Integrated Earth Observations

OSTP/OMB Budget Directives Memo

“A key goal of the Administration’s R&D investments is to enhance capabilities to assess and predict key environmental systems.

“Assessment and prediction are important to improving our understanding of and ability to model climate change, but they also affect many other aspects of society, such as health, resource management, weather prediction, sustainable development, and economic prosperity.

“To this end, integrated, comprehensive, global observation systems are required for understanding, monitoring, and predicting changes to the Earth system (atmosphere, land, freshwater, ocean and ecosystems.)”

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Developing the Us Plan for Integrated Earth Observations

OSTP/OMB Budget Directives Memo, cont.

“Through the NSTC, the responsible agencies will develop and implement a coordinated, multi-year plan to enhance data time series, minimize data gaps, and maximize the quality, integrity, and utility of the data for short-term and long-term applications.”

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Interagency Working Group On Earth Observations

Established under the NSTC Committee on Environment & Natural Resources (CENR) with dual functions and goals:“to develop and begin implementation of the U.S. framework and 10 year plan for an integrated, comprehensive Earth observation system to answer environmental and societal needs, including a U.S. assessment of current observational capabilities, evaluation of requirements to sustain and evolve these capabilities considering both remote and in situ instruments, assessment of how to integrate current observational capabilities across scales, and evaluation and addressing of data gaps;”

“to formulate the U.S. position and input to the international ad hoc Group of Earth Observations (GEO) as formed at the Earth Observation Summit on July 31, 2003.”

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Interagency Working Group on Earth Observations

Mirrors International process – societal benefits Benefits as drivers of process

5 teams – provide inputs into the US and intergovernmental technical reports which serve as the foundation for the plans

Public Meeting held in June ’04 for technical review / comments on technical activity reports

July 30 (anniversary of Earth Observation Summit I) scheduled release of first draft of US plan

Public comment period

Release of final US Plan by year’s end

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For More Information…

Intergovernmental ad hoc Group on Earth Observations

http://earthobservations.org

Interagency Working Group on Earth Observations

http://iwgeo.ssc.nasa.gov

Backup Slides

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Earth Observation Summit Declaration

Linked to WSSD & G8 outcomes

Affirmed need for: Comprehensive, coordinated, sustained Earth observation

system or systems; Coordinated effort to address capacity-building needs

related to Earth observations; Exchange of observations in a full & open manner with

minimum time delay & minimum cost; and Preparing a 10-year Implementation Plan, building on

existing systems & initiatives

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GEO

AlgeriaEuropean Commission

JapanRussian Federation

Argentina Finland Kazakhstan South Africa

Australia France Mexico Spain

Belgium Gabon Morocco Sudan

Belize Germany Mozambique Sweden

Brazil Ghana Nepal Switzerland

Cameroon Greece Netherlands Thailand

Canada Indonesia New Zealand Ukraine

Chile India Nigeria United Kingdom

China Iran Norway United States

Cyprus Ireland Portugal Uzbekistan

Denmark Israel Republic of Congo

Egypt Italy Republic of Korea

http://earthobservations.org

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Participating Organizations

Association for the Development of Environmental Information (ADIE)

Central American Commission for the Environment and Development (SICA/CCAD)

Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS)

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)

European Environmental Agency (EEA)

European Space Agency (ESA)

European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)

Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS)

Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS)

Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership (IGOS-P)

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commissions (IOC)

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Participating Organizations(Contd.)

International Council for Science (ICSU)

International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP)

International Group of Funding Agencies for Global Change Research (IGFA)

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR)

Network of European Meteorological Services/Composite Observing System (EUMETNET/EUCOS)

Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean (POGO)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)

World Bank (IBRD)

World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

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GEOSS Architecture

Earth System Models

•Oceans• Ice•Land•Atmosphere•Solid Earth•Biosphere

Earth Observation Systems

•Remotely-sensed

• In situ

High PerformanceComputing, Communication, & Visualization

Standards &Interoperability

Observations

Predictions

Decision Support

Assessments

Decision Support Systems

Policy Decisions

ManagementDecisions

SocietalBenefits

DATA

Ongoing feedback to optimize value & reduce gaps

GEOSS common approaches Systems within their mandates