Earth Science Resource Monitoring and Contributions to Natural
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Transcript of 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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Introduction andBackground
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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Introduction andBackground
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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Introduction andBackground
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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Introduction andBackground
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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Introduction andBackground
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Introduction andBackground
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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Contributions WaterBourne Disease
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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Contributions WaterBourne Disease
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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Contributions CarbonSequestration
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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Contributions CarbonSequestration
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).