24 January 2008
Benefits Arise from Global Effort To Link Earth Observation Data
73 nations, 52 international organizations participate in 10-year effort
This is the first article in a two-part series about the global earth observation system of systems.
Washington -- Two years into the 10-year plan to revolutionize the way environmental data are used to monitor and better understand the planet’s land, sea and atmospheric conditions, scientific advances that will benefit all nations already are being announced.
But the new earth observation products are doing more than helping developed and developing countries manage energy and water resources, reduce loss of life from disasters, support sustainable agriculture and improve weather forecasting.
The effort involves building a global earth observation system of systems (GEOSS) that integrates data from the widely distributed Earth-observing networks of surface-based, airborne and space-based monitoring instruments. Engineers, scientists and government officials from many countries are working in a spirit of cooperation and sharing to create the system.
The intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) -- a voluntary organization of 72 governments and the European Commission (EC) and 46 intergovernmental, international and regional organizations -- coordinates the GEOSS effort.
“The Group on Earth Observations is important on an international policy level -- working with other nations in a collaborative manner to improve our understanding of the environment and our ability to manage resources for a sustainable world,” Conrad Lautenbacher, GEO co-chair and administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told America.gov.
“It also depends,” he added, “on improvements in our technical and scientific ability to understand what happens to the physical, biological and chemical systems of the Earth.”
DECLARATIONS
The GEOSS program began in 2003 at the U.S.-hosted Earth Observation Summit in Washington. There, 33 nations plus the EC adopted a declaration laying out a political commitment to develop a comprehensive, coordinated Earth observation system to collect and disseminate better data, information and models.
In 2004, during a second summit in Tokyo, 50 nations formally adopted a 10-year implementation plan for GEOSS that would help all participating nations produce and manage their own Earth-observing information in a way that benefits the environment and the planet.
The third summit was held in February 2005 in Brussels, Belgium, to make final the 10-year implementation plan. At that meeting, GEO went from an ad hoc, informal group to a permanent organization with a secretariat in Geneva and a work plan.
On November 30, 2007, in Cape Town, South Africa, ministers and government officials from around the world attended the fourth Ministerial Summit on Earth Observations. There, they adopted a declaration that stressed the importance of interconnecting the planet’s many environmental monitoring systems over the coming decade.
“This meeting is an opportunity to highlight the importance of GEOSS and discuss the critical environmental, economic and societal concerns of countries around the globe,” President Bush wrote in a letter that U.S. Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorne read to the Cape Town attendees.
“By working together and linking observation systems worldwide,” Bush wrote, “we can address a broad range of issues and help build a more hopeful future for people everywhere.”
SOCIETAL BENEFITS
Projected GEOSS societal-benefit areas include disaster response and mitigation, health, energy, climate, water, weather, ecosystems, agriculture and biodiversity. One way to approach these benefits is to give as many people as possible access to the best information about each area.
GEONETCast, an early outgrowth of the emerging GEOSS system, does that. It is a low-cost, global environmental information delivery system that transmits satellite and in-place data, products and services from GEOSS to users through communications satellites.
GEONETCast will provide near-global coverage to manage more effectively a world of resources by transmitting information on climate, crops, water quality, air pollution and more.
Using a multicast, access-controlled, broadband capability, GEONETCast provides information essential to protecting lives and allows for faster decision making and policy response.
“Basically,” Lautenbacher said, “the concept is to blanket the world with environmental information that’s absolutely essential for economic development and sustainable use of resources.”
Users determine which data they will receive, manage and save locally. No Internet connection is required. The receiving station is a standard personal computer, an off-the-shelf satellite television dish and a few computer cards. The result is expanded, worldwide dissemination of environmental data to users nearly anywhere on the planet, automatically, 24 hours a day.
The communication satellite for each sector of the globe is provided by one or more GEONETCast partners. Current coverage is based on contributions from the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, NOAA and the Chinese Meteorological Administration.
As a GEONETCast partner, the World Meteorological Organization contributes its experience in coordinating globally interoperable telecommunication systems for weather-related information.
More information about the Group on Earth Observations is available on the organization’s Web site.
More information about GEOSS is available on the NOAA Web site.
