SPACE EXPLORATION | Expanding the boundaries of human understanding
25 January 2008
Nations Join Forces To Expand Access to Earth Observations
Developed and developing countries benefit from environmental data
This is the second in a two-part series about the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.
Washington -- A worldwide effort is under way to expand the access of nations to the range of data being gathered night and day by terrestrial, oceanic, airborne and space-based instruments that monitor the globe.
Those who receive such environmental information can use it to make more informed decisions about natural resources, disasters, health threats, food and energy sources, forestry and other vital issues.
At the center of the effort is the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), a 10-year framework for integrating data from different observation systems to allow better monitoring of the planet, illuminate complex Earth processes and predict the effects of environmental change.
Coordinating GEOSS is the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), a voluntary organization of 72 governments and the European Commission and 46 intergovernmental, international and regional organizations. GEO co-chairs are from China, the United States, South Africa and the European Commission.
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.
“All countries will benefit from the Global Earth System of Systems,” GEO Secretariat Director José Achache said at the ministerial. “But perhaps the greatest rewards will be reaped by developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, disease outbreaks and other barriers to sustainable development.”
OBSERVATION BENEFITS
Although eight years remain in the GEOSS implementation plan, early advances are helping nations address drought, weather events and air quality.
Drought is one of the world’s most expensive and far-reaching disasters, with impacts on food security, disease and power generation. To improve the response to drought, the United States, Canada and Mexico established the North American Drought Monitor program. Local and regional drought experts and database specialists from the three countries deliver information monthly in English, French and Spanish on impacts and local conditions that is not available from traditional observing systems.
“The idea of trying to understand in advance what’s happening in drought conditions is extremely important for agriculture, food supplies and efficient use of resources in agriculture,” GEO co-chair Conrad Lautenbacher, administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told America.gov. “And the system is absolutely exportable to other countries.”
A program called SERVIR is leveraging U.S. and other national satellite resources to put previously inaccessible Earth observation data and other tools to work in all seven Central American countries and southern Mexico.
SERVIR is a regional visualization and monitoring system that integrates satellite and other geospatial data that managers, researchers, students and the public can use, for example, to monitor and forecast ecological changes and severe events such as forest fires, red tides and tropical storms.
Another program, AIRNow-International, was developed to bring experience gained in real-time data-sharing, processing and distribution of a U.S. AIRNow program to other parts of the world. AIRNow’s color-coded air quality index makes real-time data meaningful to the public. And the scale -- good, moderate, unhealthy for sensitive groups, unhealthy, very unhealthy and hazardous -- ties air-quality concentrations to health effects.
SATELLITES FOR GOOD
Another result of GEOSS is a broader distribution of Earth-observing satellite data to nations that might otherwise not have access. One effort, the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS) program, is launching an Earth observation service that will provide state-of-the-art images of the planet at no charge to end-users throughout Africa.
The program, announced at the GEO ministerial in Cape Town, will help governments and organizations in Africa use satellite imagery to monitor and respond to natural disasters, deforestation, desertification and drought, food security and emerging health risks.
“This new service forms a major contribution to international efforts to build the Global Earth Observation System of Systems,” said GEO co-chair Zheng Guoguang, head of the China Meteorological Administration, in a statement. “It will also advance global cooperation toward achieving the full and open sharing of Earth observation data.”
Brazil and China agreed in 1988 to build, launch and jointly run remote-sensing Earth observation satellites. They also signed agreements with South Africa, Spain and Italy to use ground stations to download and process CBERS imagery and distribute it freely in Africa through GEONETCast, a low-cost, near-global environmental information delivery system that transmits satellite and other data through communications satellites.
At the ministerial, Lautenbacher said, a spirit of cooperation prevailed. “We had the Russians stand up and declare that data from their satellites -- the ones they’re putting in orbit for environmental observing -- will be open and shared. They also agreed to join the GEONETCast network, so they will provide satellite broadcasts for their section of Asia.”
In December 2007, GEO and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) signed an agreement to strengthen cooperation on satellite remote sensing, especially for disaster preparedness and response.
In the midst of a disaster, information can save lives -- rapid access to weather forecasts, data on land and ocean conditions, maps of transport links and hospitals and information on socioeconomic variables. The GEO-ITU collaboration will protect the dedicated radio frequencies that satellites and Earth-based instruments use to gather data on the global environment.
More information about the Group on Earth Observations is available at the organization’s Web site.
More information about GEOSS is available at the NOAA Web site.
More information about GEONETCast is available at the GEO Web site.
See also "Benefits Arise from Global Effort To Link Earth Observation Data."
