Trade-off da – gdi 2011 1 Earth Science D/A 2

Satellites !—GEOSS I/L

From the commute home from work to a jog in the park, almost every aspect of our daily lives is affected by the quality of the air we breathe. In order to develop better methods for global forecasting and monitoring of air quality, NASA has joined forces with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in an initiative called GEOSS, or the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. GEOSS is a collaborative, international effort to share and integrate Earth observation data, and tools that are developed for GEOSS will aid in managing air quality and watersheds, and will improve drinking water, protect the food supply and ensure a safer transportation system.

Several agencies including NOAA and NASA are in the planning phase for implementing the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS, 2004). The NIDIS authorization bill was signed into law by the President in December 2006. The vision for NIDIS is a dynamic and accessible drought risk information system that provides users with the ability to determine the potential impacts of drought, and the decision support tools needed to better prepare for and mitigate the effects of drought. As the designated lead agency, NOAA is developing an interagency implementation plan. NASA is also engaged in planning for NIDIS as part of an overall strategy to implement key aspects of the international Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) strategic plans. The U.S. Integrated Earth Observing System Strategic Plan (IEOS, 2005), this nation’s contribution to the GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan, has embraced NIDIS as one of six high priority Near Term Opportunities.

During the 1960s and 1970s, NASA developed communications, meteorological, and land and ocean remote sensing satellites. NASA's role in this aspect of space utilization traditionally is R&D. Once the technology is proven, operational responsibility is transferred to other agencies or the private sector. NASA continues to perform research in many of these areas, however, particularly earth sciences (including global climate change). NASA, sometimes in partnership with other countries, has a variety of earth science probes in orbit today, including three large satellites in the Earth Observing System (EOS). The United States also is leading the international Global Environmental Observing System and Systems (GEOSS) program [http://iwgeo.ssc.nasa.gov/]. NASA's FY2005 and FY2006 budgets assume significantly reduced funding for earth sciences research, an issue that was explored at an April 28, 2005 House Science Committee hearing.

GEOSS ! – Extinction

GEOSS is key to predict climate change – saves us from extinction
Nativi and Mazzeti 8 (Stefano and Paolo, Italian National Research Council, 10-20-08, “Predicting the impact of climate change on biodiversity – a GEOSS scenario”, http://www.macroecology.ca/pdf/fullpicture.pdf, accessed 6-21-11, JG)

While some two million plus species have been described, and many millions more remain to be discovered, climate change threatens to commit 15 to 37 per cent of these to extinction by 2050, accelerating a dangerous trend that land use change has already set in motion. An extinction episode of this magnitude would likely severely degrade the quality of vital ecosystem services, such as nutrient cycling, atmospheric regulation, soil formation, water purification, and pollination, upon which the human enterprise relies. Scientists are presented with the formidable challenge of assessing likely impacts of unprecedented interactions between rapid climate and land use changes, predicting how those impacts will unfold into the future, and providing policy options to decision-makers. These issues have been highlighted in stark terms in the newly released Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 1 In short, global change requires a monumental scientific response, drawing on infrastructure that integrates the enormous volumes of data available from biodiversity research, earth observations, and climate models. Components of this mega science infrastructure already exist, having been established by the IPCC and Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Integrating these disparate components will require great effort in terms of metadata development and related service coordination. However, the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) provides the basis for realizing these goals through its clearinghouse registry of registries system. Here, we describe the results of linking the biodiversity and climate change research infrastructures to enable scientists to conduct new, broad-scale ecological analyses. We describe a generic use scenario and a related modeling workbench for studying the impacts of climate change on biodiversity. A scenario, as described here, provides a basis for predicting biodiversity impacts of climate change into the future by demonstrating recent impacts of anthropogenic changes in the 20th century. Models such as this are built using the infrastructure being developed by GEOSS and provide an essential benchmark against which forecasts for the future might be constructed. This development has been conducted in the framework of the GEOSS Interoperability Process Pilot Project initiative.

Directory: 2011
2011 -> Enterprise Network Management iPost: Implementing Continuous Risk Monitoring at the Department of State
2011 -> Voices of the Old Sea Norman Lewis
2011 -> Malevil Robert Merle
2011 -> The Elephant Keeper’s Children Peter Hoeg
2011 -> January 1: Ecstasy zZz January 2: King of Anything Sara Bareillis
2011 -> Tracks, Mixes, Masters, and More!: Analyzing Preservation Priorities for Multitrack Recordings
2011 -> Department of Electrical Engineering 2011 Annual Report
2011 -> Jv packet •Mars Colonization Affirmative •Mars Colonization Negative
2011 -> Asian Pacific Mathematical Olympiad(apmo)
2011 -> Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) omb no. 1024-0018

Download 0.9 Mb.

Share with your friends: