Earth Observations: The View from Scripps

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Earth ObservationsThe View from Scripps

• Charles F. Kennel
• Director
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• University of California, San Diego
• January 2005

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Humans have transformed the earth in the last 50
years
City Lights from Space
Water, ozone, global air pollution, climate
change, ecosystems
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(No Transcript)
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Earth System Science

• In addition to dealing with eons past, earth
  science has a new focus on the geological here
  and now- predict the next hundred years.
• We are creating an interdisciplinary panorama of
  the earth as it is today and as it will be
  tomorrow.
• We are taking into account the human activities
  that influence earths systems
• Earth system science can now make useful
  forecasts in fields beyond weather
• The entire enterprise requires an earth observing
  system of global scale

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Global Earth Observing System

• Human Architecture
• Multi-Sensor Networks
• Cyber-Infrastructure
• Decision-Support Systems

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Human ArchitectureInternational Framework

• Global Change Research Act of 1990
• Calls for global measurements, establishing
  worldwide observations necessary to understand
  the physical, chemical, and biological processes
  responsible for changes in the Earth system on
  all relevant spatial and time scales, as well as
  documentation of global change, including the
  development of mechanisms for recording changes
  that will actually occur in the Earth system over
  the coming decades.
• International Global Observing Strategy
• (OSTP, July 17, 1995)
• The Global Observing System would be an
  internationally coordinated system of mutually
  funded experimental and operational space-based
  and in situ data acquisition, archive, and
  distribution systems and programs for earth
  observations and environmental monitoring.

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Human Architecture - 2

• G-8 Summit, Evian France, June 2, 2003
• We will focus our efforts on three areas that
  present great opportunities for progress
  close co-ordination of our respective global
  observation strategies for the next ten years
  identify new observations to minimize data gaps
  ...
• Declaration of the Earth Observation Summit
• We, the participants in this Earth Observation
  Summit held in Washington, DC, on July 31, 2003
  Affirm the need for timely, quality, long-term,
  global information as a basis for sound decision
  making.
• Ministers at the Earth Observation Summit III in
  Brussels, February 2005, endodrsed the 10-Year
  Implementation Plan.

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55 GEO members as of March 2005

• Algeria
• Argentina
• Australia
• Belgium
• Belize
• Brazil
• Cameroon
• Canada
• Chile
• China
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Denmark
• Egypt
• European Commission
• Finland
• France

Netherlands New Zealand Niger Nigeria Norway Portu
gal Republic of the Congo Republic of
Korea Russian Federation Slovak Federation South
Africa Spain Sudan Sweden Switzerland Thailand T
unisia Ukraine United Kingdom United
States Uzbekistan
Germany Greece Guinea-Bissau Honduras India Indone
sia Iran Ireland Israel Italy Japan Kazakhstan Lux
embourg Malaysia Mali Mexico Morocco Nepal

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40 NGO Participants as of March 2005

• African Association of Remote Sensing of the
  Environment
• Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research
• Association for the Development of Environmental
  Information (ADIE)
• Central American Commission for the Environment
  and Development (SICA/CCAD)
• Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS)
• EuroGeoSurveys
• European Centre for Medium-Range Weather
  Forecasts (ECMWF)
• European Environmental Agency (EEA)
• European Space Agency (ESA)
• European Organization for the Exploitation of
  Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT)
• European Sea Level Service
• Federation of Digital Broad-Band Seismograph
  Networks (FDSN)
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
  Nations (FAO)
• Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)

Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Global
Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers
(IEEE) Integrated Global Observing Strategy
Partnership (IGOS-P) Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (IOC) International
Association of Geodesy (IAG) International
Association of Geodesy (IAG) International
Council for Science (ICSU) International Council
on Systems Engineering International
Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) International
Group of Funding Agencies for Global Change
Research (IGFA )International Institute for Space
Law (IISL) International Society for
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
International Steering Committee for Global
Mapping? (ISCGM) International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction (ISDR) Open Geospatial
Consortium Partnership for Observation of the
Global Ocean (POGO) The Network of European
Meteorological Services/Composite Observing
System (EUMETNET/EUCOS) United Nations Convention
on Biodiversity (UNCBD) United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) United Nations Institute
for Training and Research United Nations Office
for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) World Climate
Research Programme (WCRP) World Meteorological
Organization (WMO)
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Human Architecture - Summary

• The human architecture is developing, starting
  with government organizations representing
  producers of observing systems
• International framework for coordination is being
  developed
• Main participants are national governments
  supporting scientific programs
• Limited decision-support activities to date
• Participation of users at all levels will
  eventually be required

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Multi-Sensor NetworksToday

• Remotely sensed and in situ
• Spacecraft, aircraft, ships, moorings, floats,
• Radars, lidars, physical, chemical and
  biological sensors
• Oceans, atmosphere, land, ice
• Global to regional to local

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NSF Ocean Observatory Networks
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NOAA/DOD/NASA National Polar Orbiting Operational
Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) EUMETSAT/N
OAA Metop
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Multi-Sensor NetworksTomorrow

• Todays sensors and platforms require substantial
  infrastructure for power and communications
• Eventually, there will be hundreds of millions of
  nano-sensors on cell-phones

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Cyber-Infrastructure

• Information management and architecture

Computing
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The InternetAn Evolutionary Tale

• Phase 1 Early Internet (1970s)
• Big servers and small number of clients
• Government funded and controlled
• Phase 2 (late 1980s)
• Distributed international network of largely
  scientific users
• Phase 3 Internet today
• Hundreds of millions of users
• Peer-to-peer
• No centralized control
• Use of a few powerful standards

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Similar path for GEO?

• Phase 1 government operated networks between
  major installations
• Phase 2 distributed high-performance research
  network being established now
• Phase 3 work on miniaturization of sensors and
  distributed (Grid) computing evolving to massive
  numbers of individual nodes

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Growing Fiber Infrastructure - Future Backbone
for GEO?From Shared Internet to Dedicated
Lightpipes
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Beyond Indicators to Decision-Support Tools

• If we connect GEO to effective decision support
  systems, then it will become a principal tool for
  achieving sustainability on a global scale.

Photo credit Global Spatial Data Infrastructure
Project
Photo credit New York Times
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Global Observations are needed for Global and
Local Decisions

• GEO Societal Benefit Areas
• Disasters
• Health
• Energy
• Climate
• Water
• Weather
• Ecosystems
• Agriculture/Desertification
• Biodiversity

• Local Issues (examples)
• Health and safety from severe natural events
• Risk management
• Infrastructure planning
• Facility design, landscaping, maintenance
• Travel and recreation
• Emergency preparedness

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Climate variations affect energy supply and
demand and therefore decisions
El Nino North
Pacific Oscillation (NPO)
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Decision support examples
Fisheries Productivity How to manage coastal
resources Warming Waters Identified as Cause of
Marine Life Depletions off California
Offshore Hydrocarbon Exploration Where to invest
Illustration Free air gravity anomaly map of the
Gulf of Mexico produced using ERS data (Courtesy
Satellite Observing Systems)
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Evolving Role of the Science Community
Originating science, creating models,
developing observing technologies Designing
observing strategies and systems
Transferring designs, technologies, models, and
tested systems to the public and private
sectors Partnering in the governance and
management of long-term observing and decision
support systems Infusing new objectives and
technologies into on-going systems Linking new
capabilities to new users
Research community is becoming more
multi-disciplinary and service-oriented
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Human Architecture Needs to Evolve

• For the full array of environmental information
• Phase 1 Government agencies in charge
• E.g., weather satellites, global weather models
• Phase 2 Large sophisticated scientific and
  technology users engaged
• Regional forecast centers tied to universities
  looking at climate as well as weather
• Phase 3 Broad user base with information
  products tailored to their needs and presented in
  their language
• Wide network of commercial value-added industries
  providing local forecasts for specific clients
  (frost warnings for citrus growers snow
  forecasts for ski resorts beach conditions, etc.)

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New Management Concepts

• System of systems
• Multi-sector consortia
• Standards
• Interoperability
• Open communication
• Evolving, adaptive
• Education and outreach

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Center for Earth Observations and Applications
UCSDs Contribution to GEOSS

• Vision to establish international leadership
  in education, research, technology development,
  observation, and information management for Earth
  observations.
• Headed by SIO/John Orcutt
• UCSD may be unique in its ability to work
  end-to-end on all aspects of global observing.

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CEOA Mission

• To develop, deploy, operate, and use observing
  platforms and sensors for the land, oceans, and
  atmosphere
• To collect and integrate observational data from
  a global network of multidisciplinary sources
• To develop technologies and decision-support
  tools that promote a balance between the natural
  environment and human activities
• To participate in GEOSS

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CEOA Approach Internal Venture Capital Group

• Promote major interdisciplinary scientific and
  technical programs that cross Division,
  Department, and School boundaries
• Substantially increase funding available for
  interdisciplinary programs
• Assist teams in writing major proposals
  providing matching funds. If necessary, assist
  when needed in program operation. Assist in
  hiring where needed.
• Provide a coherent and comprehensive interface to
  the external community on behalf of the extensive
  UCSD capabilities and programs.

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The Grand Convergence

• The convergence of earth science and information
  technology will lead to continuous awareness of
  earths systems and their interactions with human
  activities.
• We will use continuous awareness to manage our
  resources and environment, and our response to
  disasters
• Continuous awareness will promote integrated
  responses to emerging global environmental
  challenges

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Conclusion

• As civilization becomes increasingly global and
  technologically sophisticated, our need for a
  global observing capability will grow.

We are beginning an endeavor that will evolve
over the entire 21st century and endure as long
as we have an advanced civilization.