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2003 WMO Congress
"Three Imperatives for an Integrated Earth Observation System"
Vice Admiral (Ret.) Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., U.S. Navy
Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere, NOAA Administrator
Geneva Switzerland, May 2003
Good
Morning. It is a great pleasure and privilege to be with you. I thank
the WMO for inviting me to meet with you here at this most important
WMO Congress. I have been deeply impressed by the achievements that
have resulted from the long-standing partnerships within the WMO and
its member countries over many decades with one of the most notable
being the WMO Global Observing System for weather that has brought
so many benefits to the nations of the world. In short, the WMO is
a model international organization demonstrating to the entire world
the enormous benefits that can be gained by serious cooperative efforts.
I am indeed honored to have the opportunity to address an organization
like the WMO, which has a worldwide reputation for being both productive
and effective in meeting its mission. This reputation is derived in
no small part from the dedicated work of all of you
the members, as well as those of you who have been willing both to
serve and to lead this great organization. I must pay special tribute
to two individuals in particular who have served so well and have
provided decades of service to this organization — such as Dr.
John Zillman and Professor Obasi. Dr. Zillman is completing 8 years
as the indispensable President, and 30 years of major contributions
to WMO Programs from the Global Atmospheric Research Program and World
Weather Watch to the World Climate Program and the IPCC. Professor
Obasi is completing 20 years as the Secretary General and tireless
architect for weather, climate and water in the Halls of the UN and
with Governments around the world promoting the cause of National
Meteorological and Hydrometeorological Services. On behalf of the
United States and NOAA, I thank you both for your service and extend
to you my very best wishes in the future.
NOAA's Unique Perspective
I speak to you today from a somewhat unique perspective as head of
what might be described as the United States' "operational ecosystem
science agency."
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration is the largest
agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce, 65% in budget terms, and
carries out a daily mission of monitoring and understanding our oceans,
coasts, fisheries and weather as well as developing forecasts and
disseminating that information for economic and public benefit.
We operate
a complex network of observing systems. Our geostationary and polar-orbiting
satellites provide continuous coverage of the Earth 24-hours a day,
and these space assets are complimented by an extensive surface network
of towers, balloons, buoys, and aircraft. During my tenure as the
Head of NOAA, I have come to be most impressed by the current and
future potential of this network. Having all of these technical capabilities
as well as a complete roster of first class earth scientists of all
disciplines under one roof offers enormous possibilities. This enables
to concentrate expertise and technology to address the significant
earth environmental and resource management issues that are emerging
on the horizon of our collective future. I have also come to be most
impressed with NOAA's partnership with the WMO. This partnership has
extended the value of our internal skills to the international level
of collaboration where indeed we all must be to meet the challenges
we face this century.
Observing Systems — Intro
My remarks today are focused on the importance, the benefits and the
way ahead for what I will refer to as a comprehensive, integrated,
and sustained earth observing system.
I strongly
believe we have reached a time for an "Earth Science Renaissance"
a new era where human ingenuity must be applied to developing a deeper
understanding of the complex systems of Planet Earth. That understanding
begins with observations. All of us are aware that not a day passes
that we do not reap the benefits of satellite, aircraft, and ground-based
measurements that document environmental changes across the globe.
These
measurements are essential to every nation to assist in such essential
tasks as
monitoring crops, exploring the oceans, improving weather forecasts,
or assessing disasters, among others. In terms of weather information,
much of the credit goes to the WMO; countries are experiencing thanks
to WMO work on observing systems and free exchange of data.
However, collectively, we can and we must do much more. The forces
of social change
and global development present a number of serious issues for the
world's leaders, decision-makers, and international institutions,
such as the WMO. We are confronting a future that will require advancing
our existing observing systems to the next level of Earth Observation
that is, to build a system of systems that will give us the tools
we need to "take the pulse of the planet."
As we do for weather today, so must we do for climate, for water,
for ecosystem definition and management, for wise use of all earth
resources, for sustainable development and for other newly arising
environmental challenges.
I. Three Imperatives for an Integrated Earth Observation System
There are many ways in which we could present a case for a fully integrated
Earth information and data management system, but in the short time
I have today I will focus on a limited selection of these imperatives
organized in three broad categories the are:
1) social
2) economic, and
3) scientific
Social
Perhaps the most pressing set of social needs stems from a growing
population that will continue to demand access to crucial resources
like clean water and plentiful food. Projections of global population
growth show roughly a doubling, and perhaps more, beyond our current
number of 6 billion people over the next few decades.
Trends
show that the concentration of populations is shifting from rural
areas to the urban centers, which will dramatically alter the distribution
of goods, services, and land use. And many of these cities are located
in coastal regions the very regions we rely upon for healthy fisheries,
and reliable transport and navigation. In the United States, more
than half of the population lives within 50 miles of the coasts and
that number continues to climb.
With this kind of increased crowding comes increased potential vulnerability
to natural disasters and we have seen the considerable damage that
is caused by floods and hurricanes, especially in those areas in proximity
to coastlines. Under these conditions, we must improve our understanding
of the complex workings of earth systems in order to manage our resources
in a more efficient way. Much more can be said about social imperatives,
but in the interest of time let us discuss the second category economic
factors.
Economics
Sustainable development has become a popular term for addressing many
of the economic issues that arise from the pressing social changes
that I have described. With shifting concentrations and growth of
population, we see shifts in competition for resources that affect
our economies:
- Twenty-Five
percent of the Earth's biological productivity and an estimated
80-90% of the global commercial fish catch is concentrated in the
coastal zones — where our populations are rising.
- For
the United States, weather and climate sensitive industries, both
directly and indirectly, account for about 1/3 of our nation's GDP
- $2.7 trillion — ranging from agriculture, finance, insurance,
and real estate, to retail and wholesale trade, and manufacturing.
Statistics
compiled from insurance companies from 1950-1999 show that major natural
catastrophes across the globe caused economic losses of $960 billion.
However, citing a statement from Professor Obasi: over the same period,
loss of life in countries with good observation systems for warning
and preparedness has fallen.
I must point out that the benefits from weather forecasting do not
end with early warnings for natural disasters. In pure economic terms,
studies show that national institutions that provide weather, climate,
and water services to their citizens contribute an estimated $20 -
$40 billion dollars each year to their national economies.
Clearly, the return on our investments for Earth observation has brought
great benefits to the general public.
Imagine then, the return on our investment for a fully networked observing
system of Earth information for all nations. Just think what that
return might be.
We can examine regional or industry specific statistics and uncover
many positive indicators of economic return on investments in observing
systems:
- The
annual economic return to the U.S. economy of NOAA's El Niño
ocean observing and forecast system an international effort I might
add - is between 13 and 26 percent. Any business would be happy
to operate at a return of 5%!
- Experts
estimate that the agricultural sector benefits from weather services
at a cost ratio of about 15 to 1. That is, farmers get about $15
of value out of every dollar spent on forecasting the weather.
- One
new industry — seasonal weather derivatives — has seen
exchanges between parties at a level of $2 billion per year in 1998-2000
and $4 billion in 2001. This has resulted in a total notional value
of $11.8 billion in weather risk management contracts over the past
five years. (Weather derivatives are financial contracts in which
money changes hands based on seasonal average temperatures, degree-days,
or precipitation amounts).
It is
clear that a comprehensive Earth observation system calibrated by
the relevant measurement standards is essential to the information
infrastructure necessary for sustainable development. It would indeed
be the basis for improving the management of natural resources and
use of the environment that underpin our economies.
Science
However, improved management of resources cannot be achieved without
a much more comprehensive and detailed understanding of the earth's
physical, chemical, and biological systems. A truly integrated Earth
observation system will be needed to provide the sound science necessary
to make policy decisions in the global context of social and economic
change. Scientists and scientific method require data, and we simply
have too many "blind spots" such as in our oceans, the carbon
cycle, the water cycle, and numerous biological processes. We need
to know much more...
With the difficult social and economic issues facing the world, the
time has come to move beyond considering the separate disciplines
of science as "stand alone" components of the big picture
of life on earth. Chemistry, physics, biology, geology, and the variety
of new disciplines that have arisen in academia and industry are all
part of an interrelated system for interpreting the world in which
we live. We understand now that boundaries between disciplines will
always be present. Thus, we need a collaborative approach to bridge
understanding and management at the ecosystem level. Our collective
challenge now is to understand and describe the complexities of this
planet we inhabit and we turn to science to help us do this.
We are faced with a number of pressing science questions. How are
all of earth's "life systems" interrelated? In terms of
climate, a major need is to distinguish the human influences from
the natural variability. This calls for an interdisciplinary EarthScience
approach. In addition to the pure science considerations, this is
also an organization and management challenge. We should look at organizing
"earth scientists" similar to the way many of our single
discipline scientific communities have organized so well in the past.
It also means a collective approach to preparing a plan and pressing
for the resources to achieve this giant step forward in advancing
the capability of Earth Science to support the difficult policy issues
facing world leaders. In many respects, this is an organizational,
not a technical challenge.
The direction of science today supports this idea. Reductionism, the
approach of "describing the smallest bits possible one part at
a time" was a rousing success for the double helix (celebrating
its golden anniversary). But now that the sciences are moving towards
a Systems focus, this approach is shifting. For complex Earth systems,
listing the parts of system or organism with its various functions
is no more adequate to understanding the complexity of a living thing
than listing the parts of a submarine, Boeing 777 or Airbus 340 to
understand how they function.
We need to ask how the parts fit together and function as a whole.
A well-connected
global integrated information and data management system is the first
step.
I do not underestimate the difficulty of organizing and building the
next level earth observing system - it is an enormous challenge that
will require a profound change in the way we work. Governments, professional
societies, international institutions, industry, and academia need
to work together in new ways but paved by the successes of the past,
most of which originated with the WMO.
II. Fitting the pieces together
Existing Pieces
The WMO's World Weather Watch and the nations that contribute to the
network have put in place a system for nations around the world to
receive daily weather analyses and forecasts. The WMO has played a
pioneering role in the global coordination of geophysical and meteorological
experiments, thus laying down the operational foundations for the
worldwide monitoring of the chemical composition of the atmosphere
and of climate variability.
The Global Observing System of the World Weather Watch is a good example
for what we can build from over 10,000 surface stations around the
globe. This system is focused on weather, but it is also enhanced
by some relatively new initiatives, which create the opportunity for
more comprehensive earth observing:
- The
Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), which is focused on oceans,
but has a weather and climate component.
- The
Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), with weather and climate
components.
- The
Global Atmosphere Watch, which has a climate component but NOT a
weather component, and
- The
Global Terrestrial Observing System
From
these additional pieces we see plans already in place for components
like 3000 Argo floats for measuring ocean salinity and temperature;
and 1250 surface drifting buoys; 150 GCOS Upper Air Network instruments;
and 1000 GCOS Surface Network stations
And as we seek funding to fulfill these plans, we also have a great
need to sustain funding to maintain and upgrade systems over time.
- For
example, preliminary estimates for replacing 333 GCOS Surface Network
sites, 50 radiosonde sites and 3 Global Atmosphere Watch sites will
require at least $42 million over a 10 year period. I am happy to
announce that NOAA's budget allocates $4 million this year to strengthen
the climate observing capabilities under GCOS.
One
of the greatest accomplishments of the current systems, pioneered
and advanced by the WMO, is the widespread trust that the general
public has in weather forecasts. Yes, people seem to always have something
to criticize about the accuracy offorecasts, but they DO rely on this
information and use it to make important daily decisions — as
evidenced by the economic value that I cited before That trust will
be an important element of a future comprehensive earth observing
system.
Such an Integrated Earth Observing System will move us to accomplishments
that go far beyond the next day's weather. El Nino, for example, provides
an excellent preview of what future environmental services can be:
El Niño
As you know, we have a combination of in situ and space observing
systems, computers and models that we use today to predict El Niño
cycles. This information has significantly increased our skill levels
associated with the forecast of general and seasonal winter and summer
conditions 3 6 months in advance. It took intense international cooperation
and 20 years to build, but the major investments in predictive capability
and the observing platforms that provide the data have proven to be
of immense economic and social benefit. It is fairly clear from this
demonstrated success that for climate prediction we need to expand
and build upon these pieces to diagnose mid-term and long-term climate
effects.
Because,
As much as we know about the Earth's climate system and we have achieved
a significant base of knowledge thanks to basic research, critical
uncertainties remain. And these uncertainties derive from the incomplete
nature of our Earth observation systems.
And climate
is just one piece of the puzzle. We need to expand our horizons to
include the sensors necessary for unraveling the mysteries of the
wide variety of physical, chemical, geological, and biological cycles.
What are the missing pieces?
Recently NOAA has established an observing system architecture effort.
The first step was to inventory of our observing networks. We found
that we have 99 separate observing systems measuring 521 different
environmental parameters. We also found that we have room to further
optimize the system. We are now in the process of identifying where
duplication exists, and where critical gaps remain. Understanding
and cataloguing user requirements will be a major part of this effort.
If we can develop an integrated system, fully wired and networked
together without duplication, we then have the freedom to install
needed new observing stations as well as add new sensors to current
platforms. In addition, and most importantly, user data will be easier
to process, distribute, and archive in an accessible and affordable.
NOAA applauds similar efforts underway at the WMO, such as the "Redesign
the Global Observing System" activity and we are participating
in this important exercise. This is exactly the kind of leadership
we need internationally to get this process on to the next level of
achievement.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that perhaps the most important,
but easily neglected components of an integrated information system
for Planet Earth are the areas of Data Management and computing capacity.
In order to realize the full benefits of an integrated system, we
need the capacity to exchange, store, and disseminate data and information
on a free and open basis. We also need supercomputers that have the
capability to model the complex ecosystem-based processes that define
our world. We certainly applaud the latest developments in this field,
such as Japan's Earth Simulator.
Again, I am pleased to note that the WMO is out front paving the way
through the "Future WMO Information System" initiative,
and we at NOAA are paying close attention to this activity.
III. The solution a true integrated Earth observation &
information system
Earth Observation Summit
In furtherance of the objective of achieving an integrated and sustained
earth observing system, I am pleased to announce that the U.S. will
host an Earth Observation Summit on July 31 in Washington, D.C., to
bring together Government Ministers of the G-8 and other interested
nations, as well as established international organizations including
the WMO to promote the concepts I have discussed with you today. The
summit will provide a chance to explore and discuss what is needed
to commit on the political level to building a comprehensive, integrated
and sustained observing system for the Earth. In addition to the Ministerial
level meeting, the plan is to establish an international Ad Hoc Working
Group, which will meet the next day. This group will begin development
of an international ten-year plan for fielding such a system of systems.
The United States believes that the combined global observations of
terrestrial, ocean, and atmospheric phenomena around the world will
move us closer to providing "Sound Science for Sound Decisions"
to our national and international decision-makers.
The driving social, economic and scientific imperatives that I have
described put us in a race against time. We need to take effective
collective action. Across the ages, the human species has endeavored
to predict the future and thanks to the WMO and the national partnerships
represented here today we have reached a great measure of success
with weather forecasts. It is time to take this model and move forward
into the full range of earth sciences data observation. The task is
difficult, but the stakes are high and the benefits will accrue many-fold
to all the nations of the world.
Just as medical doctors must understand the pulse, temperature and
blood pressure of their patient, as well as the interrelation of those
vital signs to make an accurate diagnosis — we must also look
at the Earth as a complex and interrelated system.
We have an historic opportunity before us to truly "take the
pulse of Planet Earth" and address the significant challenges
of the 21st century. I look forward to the WMO playing a significant
role in meeting this challenge. With your experience and established
record of success in building observing systems, you have the ability
and the mandate to play a key role and serve as a catalyst for this
next level of achievement for the future of humankind. Success is
essential. Failure is not an option.
Thank You for your time and attention.
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