Earth Observations for Disaster Reduction: Developing a National Plan Helen M' Wood GEO Secretariat

1
Earth Observations for Disaster Reduction
Developing a National PlanHelen M. WoodGEO
Secretariat Director Chair, U.S. Subcommittee on
Disaster ReductionHelen.Wood_at_NOAA .govOctober
2004
2
Current NSTCStructure
NSTC Director, OSTP
Committee on Environment Natural Resources
Committee on Science
Committee on Technology
Committee on Homeland and National Security
WH Olsen NSF Bement NIH Zerhouni
WH Russell DOC Bond
WH Olsen DOC Lautenbacher EPA Gilman
WH Dale DOD Wynne DHS McQueary
Research Business Models
Technology Dev.
Education Workforce Dev.
National Security RD
Global Change Research
Large Scale Science
Networking Information Technology
Radiological/Nuclear Countermeasures
Air Quality Research
Aquaculture
Disaster Reduction
Nanoscale Science, Eng. Technology
International
Human Subjects Research
Ecosystems
WMD Medical Countermeasures
IWG Physics of the Universe
Manufacturing Research and Development
Toxics Risks
IWG Plant Genome
Standards
Water Availability Quality
IWG Dom. Animal Genomics
IWG Earth Observations
RD Investment Criteria Research Misconduct Policy
Infrastructure
Biotechnology
Aeronautics
IWG on Dioxin
Social, Behavioral Econ.
Oceans
Health and the Environment.
3
INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP ON EARTH OBSERVATIONS

• Reports to the White House Committee on
  Environment and Natural Resources (CENR)
• 18 U.S. Government agencies
• 5 Teams mirror the GEO sub-group structure
• Architecture
• Capacity Building
• Data Utilization
• International Cooperation
• User Requirements and Outreach
• Includes a planning and integration team for
  development of the US 10-year implementation plan

4
U.S. STRATEGIC PLAN Major Topics

• Purpose, Vision Goals
• Linking Observations to Societal Benefits
• Implementation of the U.S. Integrated Earth
  Observation System
• Establishment of a U.S. Governance Structure
• Integration of Earth Observation Systems
• Next Steps in Implementation

http//iwgeo.ssc.nasa.gov/draftstrategicplan/ieos_
draft_strategic_plan.pdf
5
LINKING EARTH OBSERVATIONS TO SOCIETAL BENEFITS
6
STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE U.S. INTEGRATED EARTH
OBSERVATION SYSTEM

• Industry and academic experts workshop (April
  2004)
• Public meeting (June 2004)
• Draft Plan released (September 8, 2004)
• Target completion date (December 2004)

7
SUBCOMMITTEE ON DISASTER REDUCTION

• Reports to the White House Committee on
  Environment and Natural Resources
• 18 U.S. Government agencies
• Earth Observations Task Team
• Grand Challenges Task Team
• International Cooperation Working Group
• Remote Sensing Application Working Group

8
FOUNDATION FOR THE CURRENT U.S. EFFORT

• Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS)
• --Disaster Management Support Group (DMSG)
• Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)
• Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS)
• International Charter Space and Major Disasters
• United Nations International Strategy for
  Disaster Reduction (UN ISDR)
• United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UN
  OOSA)

9
Disasters

• Afflict all all regions of the world
• Significant loss of life and property
• What if...
• We had access to all our systems?
• Research and operational
• Results in more precise assessment of current
  phenomena
• Better models
• More accurate forecasts
• Desired Outcome
• Global disaster reduction warning system

10
Drought

• Worldwide implications
• Asia particularly prone to desertification
  drought
• Affects agriculture production, water supply,
• wildfires
• United States -
• Annual U.S. losses are 6-8 billion
• Western U.S. experiencing 5-year drought
• GEOSS Recommendation
• Fully integrate in situ satellite observations
• On-time drought early warning system

11
Wildfires

• Global Local Implications
• Alaska
• Destroyed over 4.4 million acres
• Air quality concerns hazardous
• smoke impacts
• Integrated EO System
• Better prediction and tracking of fires
• Improved tracking of smoke plume direction air
  quality effects
• Improved response and recovery

12
INTEGRATED EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEMTopic Reduce
Loss of Life and Property from Disasters

• SCOPE
• Hazards Wildland fires, earthquakes, volcanoes
  and volcanic ash, landslides, floods, extreme
  weather, tropical cyclones, sea and lake ice,
  coastal hazards (including tsunami), pollution
  events, space weather
• Stakeholders everybody
• Critical Users three categories identified
• Requirements by hazard

13
INTEGRATED EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEMTopic Reduce
Loss of Life and Property from Disasters

• GAPS IDENTIFIED
• Surface-based systems (coverage, spatial
  resolution inadequate)
• Moderate-resolution VIS-IR imagery
• Passive-microwave capacity
• High-resolution topography

14
INTEGRATED EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEMTopic Reduce
Loss of Life and Property from Disasters

• FUTURE SYSTEMS NEEDED
• Robust networks for essential in-situ monitoring
  (seismic, deformation, stream gages, ocean buoys,
  precipitation gages, etc.)
• Enhanced weather satellites
• More abundant SAR imagery at varying wavelengths
  (X or C, L)
• Improved access to moderate to high-resolution IR
  imagery, including airborne capacity
• More systematic acquisition and processing of
  data to produce high-resolution DEMs

15
TABLE 1. Recent major events for each type of
hazard (Sample table as of 31 May 2004)
16
TABLE 2. Products required by end users (Sample
table as of 31 May 2004)
17
TABLE 3. Crosswalk for required observations
hazards and disasters (Sample table as of 31 May
2004)
18
TABLE 4. Crosswalk for gaps hazards and
disasters (Sample table as of 31 May 2004)

• (X requirement, no gap identified G gap in
  ground-based systems, Agap in airborne coverage,
  Sgap in satellite systems, L gap in lab data)

19
FRAMING THE CHALLENGES FOR DISASTER REDUCTION

• A Grand Challenge is a fundamental problem in
  science and technology, with broad economic and
  scientific impact, whose solution can be advanced
  by coordinated sustained investment in research,
  education, communication, and application of
  technology. The focus must be strategy, not
  implementation.

20
FRAMING THE CHALLENGES FOR DISASTER REDUCTION

• Objective To enhance disaster resilience by
  composing a ten-year agenda for research and
  development activities that will produce a
  drastic reduction in the loss of life and
  property from natural and technological disasters.

21
GRAND CHALLENGES OVERVIEW

• Across all hazards and disaster management stages
• Flood, fire, volcanoes, severe weather,
  earthquakes, public health, and environmental
• Identify priorities for research and investment
• Such as Networks for monitoring, modernizing
  existing systems, modeling capabilities,
  observing systems

22
GRAND CHALLENGES OVERVIEW (CONTINUED)

• Identify current capability, needs, and
  deficiencies
• Such as Satellite imagery systems, remote
  sensing, and high-resolution topography
• Identify areas of overlap and key challenges
• Reduce redundancies and increase efficiencies
• Achieved through integrated systems, joint data
  collection, and behavioral modeling initiatives
  etc.

23
GRAND CHALLENGE 1

• To know about the hazards that threaten us.
• Improve data collection to increase our
  understanding of how hazards evolve.
• Improve models and visualization techniques.

24
GRAND CHALLENGE 2

• To know when a hazard event is imminent.
• Make all hazard information accessible
  stakeholders.
• Train expert emergency managers through
  initiatives in higher education.
• Warn citizens with consistent, accessible, and
  actionable messages and a national all-hazards
  emergency communication system.
• Develop policies that promote risk-wise behavior
  and that are based in social science research.

25
GRAND CHALLENGE 3

• To have a safe haven.
• Create resilient structures using advanced
  building technologies.
• Prevent cascading failures in public
  infrastructures.
• Ensure that public health conditions remain
  unchanged before and after a hazard event.

26
GRAND CHALLENGE 4

• To have economic stability and freedom from
  disruption by hazard events.
• Quantify the monetary benefits of disaster
  mitigation using economic modeling.
• Assure intelligent community planning and
  investment strategies and protect natural
  resources with comprehensive risk assessments.
• Understand the impact of hazards
  on the natural environment.
• Learn from each hazard event.

27

• From the Earth Observation Summit

to the U.S. National Plan for coordinated Earth
observations
to Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction.
REDUCING DISASTER VULNERABILITY
28
(No Transcript)