William J. Brennan, Ph.D.

1

Strengthening Earth Observation Capacity in
CanadaInternational Perspectives on Coordination
of Earth Observation Activities

• William J. Brennan, Ph.D.
• Deputy Assistant Secretary for International
  Affairs
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  NOAA
• January 28, 2004

2
NOAA Strategic Plan

• Ecosystems
• Climate
• Weather and Water
• Commerce and Transportation

3
U.S. Earth Observation Efforts

• Demonstrated payoff
• Farmers and weather forecasting
• El Niño forecasts and economic return
• Weather and climate sensitive industries benefit

4
OSTP/OMB Investment Criteria

• Relevance
• Quality
• Performance

5
OSTP/OMB FY04 Budget Directives

• A key goal of the Administrations RD
  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.)

6
G8 ST Action Plan

• Evian, France June 2, 03
• Committed to strengthen international cooperation
  on global observation
• Building on existing work
• Improving reporting and archiving
• Interoperability and data-sharing
• Ten-year implementation plan

7
Earth Observation Summit
U.S. Department of State, Washington DC July 31,
2003
8
Executive Order 12881

• National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)
  was created in 1993 by Executive Order with these
  functions
• Coordinate ST policy-making process
• Ensure ST policy decisions and programs are
  consistent with Presidents stated goals
• Help integrate Presidents ST policy agenda
  across Federal Government
• Ensure ST are considered when developing and
  implementing Federal policies and programs
• Further international cooperation in ST

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NSTC Membership

• President
• who shall serve as Chairman of the Council
• Vice President
• Secretary of Commerce
• Secretary of Defense
• Secretary of Energy
• Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Secretary of State
• Secretary if Homeland Security
• Secretary of the Interior
• Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space
  Administration

• Director, National Science Foundation
• Director of the Office of Management and Budget
• Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency
• Assistant to the President for Science and
  Technology
• National Security Adviser
• Assistant to the President for Economic Policy
• Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy
• And Such other officials of executive departments
  and agencies as the President may, from time to
  time, designate

10
NSTC Structure
11
CENR Leadership

• Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher
• NOAA Administrator
• Co-chair of Group on Earth Observations (GEO)
• Dr. Kathie Olsen
• Associate Director of Science at OSTP
• Dr. Paul Gilman
• Assistant Administrator for EPAs Office of
  Research and Development
• Science Advisor to Administrator

12
IWGEO Leadership(Interagency Working Group on
Earth Observations)

• Led by three senior-level officials from NOAA,
  NASA, and White House OSTP
• Ghassem Asrar
• NASA Associate Administrator for Earth Science
• Clifford Gabriel
• OSTP Deputy Associate Director for Science
• Greg Withee
• NOAA Assistant Administrator for Satellite and
  Information Services

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IWGEO Membership(Interagency Working Group on
Earth Observations)

• Co-Chairs
• White House Office of Science and Technology
  Policy
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Principals
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Department of Defense
• Department of Energy
• Department of State
• National Institutes for Environmental Health
  Studies
• National Institute for Standards and Technology

• Principals (contd.)
• National Science Foundation
• US Geological Survey
• US Forest Service
• Federal Aviation Administration
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Smithsonian Institute
• Tennessee Valley Authority
• White House Council on Environmental Quality
• White House Office of Management and Budget

14
IWGEO Goals(Interagency Working Group on Earth
Observations)

• 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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IWGEO Structure(Interagency Working Group on
Earth Observations)
IWGEO (Co-Chairs)
Executive Secretariat
Planning Integration Team
Architecture Team
User Requirements Outreach Team
Data Utilization Team
International Cooperation Team
Capacity Building Team
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Planning Integration Team

• Formed late 03 to facilitate a coordinated and
  coherent U.S. plan by integrating U.S. teams
  input
• Provided guidance to a prioritization process
• Identified necessary plan overlaps
• Prioritization Criteria Subteam formed to develop
  schema for prioritization across agencymissions

17
Prioritization Process

• Subteam suggested test-run of draft process
• Presented IWGEO with draft version zero
• January 20-21st 04, met at Aerospace to run
  draft through set of existing observation systems
• Experts from academia, industry, and the
  non-profitsector
• Government facilitators for working
  sessions/breakout groups

18
Societal Benefits Breakouts

• Human Health and Well Being
• Natural and Technological Hazards and Disasters
• Agricultural Efficiency
• Including Food, Fiber and Biofuels
• Air Transport and Air Quality Management
• Water Quality and Quantity
• Especially for Agriculture and Human Uses
• Coastal and Ocean Management
• Ecosystem Management
• Land Management
• Carbon Accounting
• Energy Management
• Built Environment Management
• Including Waste Management

19
Earth Systems Processes Considered

• Atmospheric and Water Chemistry
• Weather and Climate
• Land and Ocean Biogeochemistry
• Solid Earth and Solar Processes

20
Prioritization Meeting Feedback

• General feedback
• Were on the right track
• Weve got a long way to go!
• Follow up meeting planned, March 04
• Subteam sharing findings with other teams to
  further develop U.S. plan

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IWGEO in the Year Ahead

• Develop U.S. comments
• Interagency group meets weekly
• Continuing to engage academic, industry, and
  non-profit partners to guarantee plan
  comprehensive and useful
• Lautenbacher in Houston, TX
• Update to Alliance For Earth Observations
• Planning briefing series to Congress
• Educate masses on global initiative

22
U.S./Canada Partnership

• Public unaware of national observation activities
• Public less knowledgeable of neighboring
  partnershipsCanada
• National Ice Centers

RADARSAT image collection of polar ice fractures
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Conclusion

• Time is short, and our task is great.
• We have an historic opportunity before us to
  truly take the pulse of Planet Earth - and
  address the significant challenges of the 21st
  century.
• Success is essential. Failure is not an
  option.
• 2003 WMO CongressVice Admiral (Ret.) Conrad C.
  Lautenbacher, Jr., U.S. Navy Under Secretary of
  Commerce for Oceans Atmosphere, NOAA
  AdministratorGeneva Switzerland, May 2003