Earth Science Resource Monitoring and Contributions to Natural

8/14/2019 Earth Science Resource Monitoring and Contributions to Natural

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Agenda for Presentation

Introduction and Background

Some Contributions of EarthScience Data to Climate-Related Public Policy

Renewable Energy

Water-Borne Disease

Carbon Sequestration

Issues Associated with NASAEarth Science Data


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Introduction andBackground

Earth science data collected from theunique vantage point of space range frommeasurements of the earths water cycleand radiation budget to observations

about air quality, land elevation, andvegetation.

Over 70 earth science satellites currentlyoperate under national and regionalgovernment auspices or under

commercial ownership. These satellites use remote sensing

technologies that include scatterometers,multispectral and hyperspectral imagers,polarimetric and sounding radiometers,radar and laser altimeters, sounding


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The value of these data is assessed in terms ofthe contribution to theoretical andobservational scientific understanding andmeasurement of earth processes, therelationships among those processes, andhow they may be changing over time.

The processes include the workings of physicalparameters of the atmosphere, biosphere,land, oceans, and solid earth; globaltemperature gravity fields; and the extentand nature of changes in climate.

In addition to these research themes, someearth-observation data products have longbeen used for more directly applied purposessuch as - geologic exploration, crop

monitoring, weather monitoring andrediction and shi routin .


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NASA has been exploring the role ofearth science data in servingsocietyspecifically, in providing

information useful in making publicpolicy.

NASAs focus on public policy was

intentionally distinguished fromexclusively scientific study andfrom using data products for

routine or operational management


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Since its initial formulation at NASA, thisframework for describing the relationshipbetween science data and public policydecisions has been widely adopted.

One example of adoption in the UnitedStates is in the Climate Change Scienceand Climate Change Technology programstrategies, both established in 2002.

Another example is adoption in theFramework Document for the EarthObservation Summit, an international planfor coordination of the worlds earthobservation networks requested by the G-8 Heads of State


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In late 2002, using this framework, NASA beganan evaluation of the contribution of earthscience data to policy decisions about climatechange.

However challenges exist: Complexity introduced by interactions and

feedback among climate-related physical andeconomic microsystems cannot be ignored.For instance, in the case of energy, theeconomics of renewable energy resources

comes into play. In the case of human health, heat stress, cold-

weather afflictions, changes in fertility due tostress, and the spatial and temporal ranges ofinfectious diseases all play roles.

Among the interactions in the case of water arequality, quantity, and distribution; thedevelo ment of coastal wetlands sea-level


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With these complexities, tracing thecontribution of earth science dataand modeling to climate change

policy is demanding indeed. Nevertheless, some significant

contributions can be found. The

next part of the presentationillustrates several initiatives in thisregard.

C ib i f E h


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Contributions of EarthScience Data to Climate-

Related Public Policy Earth science data have been used inthe making of climate-related policyin many areas. The examples we

discuss are: renewable energy (wind, solar)

assessment

the potential consequences for human

health of climate variability andchange, and the World HealthOrganizations report (2003) on climatechange and human health (including

water-borne disease);


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Contributions Renewable Energy

The renewable energy portion ofNEMS is critical, given the currentpolicy attention to renewable

energy as an alternative to fossilfuels

The data is got from NASA forexample, measurements of thesuns energy are got from severalNASA spacecraft under theagencys Surface Meteorology and

Solar Energy (SSE) project


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Contributions WaterBourne Disease

Climate change can alter theenvironmental background forpathogens, directly affecting

human and ecosystem health.

Modeling efforts to detect the effect

of climatic conditions on chronicand infectious diseases make useof remote sensing data to ID the

antecedents of disease risk.


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Research using the National Oceanicand Atmospheric AdministrationsAdvanced Very High ResolutionRadiometer (NOAA/AVHRR) andNASAs land remote sensinginstrument LANDSAT led directly toseveral scientific findings and policyrecommendations included in the

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment ofthe United Nations (2005) Based on the usefulness, such

integrated assessments are likely tobe repeated every 510 years.


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Other research using earth sciencedata has influenced policyrecommendations published in

Climate Change Impacts on theUnited States: The PotentialConsequences of Climate Variability

and Change, a report produced in2000 by the National AssessmentSynthesis Team, under the federalgovernments Global ChangeResearch Program.


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Contributions CarbonSequestration

The 1992 Energy Policy Act containsa provision enabling businessesand other entities to register

greenhouse gas emissions andreductions

NASAs Carbon Query and EvaluationSupport Tools (CQUEST) project wasdeveloped to support U.S. federalguidelines for a voluntary programfor sequestration of carbon in

biomass and soils


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CQUEST uses the output from theCarnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach(CASA) ecosystem model thatsimulates the fluxes of all major

biogenic greenhouse gases andbiogenic reactive tropospheric gases.

Planners and regulators in the UnitedStates and elsewhere are developing

systems of carbon credit trading inwhich, for instance, industrial emittersof CO2 pay other entities, such as theowners of reforested land, forenhancements that result in netcarbon sequestration.


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Land areas that consistently sequestercarbon through growth in netecosystem production may provide

sinks for industrial CO2 emissions.Conversely, land areas that do notconsistently sequester carbon overtime may be adding to already

increasing atmospheric CO2

fromfossil-fuel-burning sources.

Land-surface data from the NASAModerate Resolution Imaging

Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are


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Additional Notes Energypolicy

In the case of energy policy, modelers areengaged in discussions to understand howNASA earth science data from the mostrecently launched instruments might be

more fully used. For example, NREL is in the process of

updating its wind-energy resourceinformation. Most of the updatedinformation is being developed through

regional and micro-scale modeling efforts.NASAs MODIS data on land-surfacetemperature, sea-surface temperature,land cover, land-surface emissivity, snowcover, ice cover, vegetation, and leaf area

have the potential to satisfy some of thein ut needs of re ional and micro-scale


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Additional Notes waterborne

In the case of water-borne disease, potentialdata applications include use of NASAsMODIS to identify conditions such asharmful algal blooms, suspended solids,

and organic matter concentration thatmay provide indicators of water-bornediseases.

NASAs Advance Microwave Scanning

Radiometer (AMSR) can provide soilmoisture data at a spatial resolution of 25kilometers (km). In the future, NASAsHydrosphere State Mission will provideglobal maps of the primary land-surfacecontrols of processes that link the water,


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Additional Notes CarbonSequestration

In the case of CQUEST, considerablymore NASA data may be used inthe future, including surface solar

radiation data from the SSE project,rainfall accumulation data andcarbon cycle measurements at the

Orbiting Carbon Observatory(OCO).

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Earth Science Resource Monitoring and Contributions to Natural