| Back
||NOAA Home
Statement at the 53rd EUMETSAT Council Meeting
“Progressing Towards an Integrated Earth Observing System”
Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere,
NOAA Administrator
Darmstadt, Germany — June 24, 2003
Welcome
Chairman Ewins, Dr. Mohr, distinguished delegates.
Good morning, I am Conrad Lautenbacher and I am pleased to be here
as the NOAA Administrator. This is my second opportunity to visit
your headquarters in Darmstadt. I was here last year in June for a
tour of your impressive facilities and had the pleasure of meeting
with Dr. Mohr and some of the Council delegates. I note that you are
expanding your building, as a positive sign of the level of success
and progress that we are seeing in the realm of satellites and Earth
observing. Earlier this year in Washington, NOAA also broke ground
on a new satellite operation center that we expect to open in 2005.
I understand
that I am the first NOAA Administrator to address the Council. I am
honored to do so and emphasize to you that EUMETSAT is our most important
international partner in space-based environmental observations. Our
two agencies have been working together most effectively since the
creation of EUMETSAT almost 20 years ago, and we look forward to continuing
robust cooperation for the next 20 years and beyond.
Purpose
of Visit
Yesterday, Greg Withee, the Assistant Administrator for Satellites
and Information Services, Jack Kelly, the Assistant Administrator
for the Weather Service and I met with Dr. Mohr, Chairman Ewins and
several of the Council delegates to discuss our long history of cooperation
and to consider ideas for the future. Working together we can meet
our common objectives and achieve the level of satellite services
that will be critical to building the foundation of a true integrated
and sustained Earth observation system. Later this morning Dr. Mohr
and I will sign two agreements that will move NOAA and EUMETSAT to
the next level in achieving this important goal.
In our
meeting yesterday, Greg Withee and I presented what NOAA believes
to be exciting opportunities for cooperation in the future. We think
that there are opportunities for cooperation on the Jason-2 project;
a new polar partnership post EPS [EUMETSAT Polar System] and NPOESS;
and an expanded geostationary partnership. We also think we should
look closely at cooperation in other possible missions in space and
on the ground with communications and improved methods to exploit
and distribute data. I also believe that the upcoming Earth Observation
Summit that will be hosted by the U.S. Government next month will
be another opportunity where we can identify common objectives and
ways in which to cooperate. I will talk more about the Summit in a
moment.
NOAA
& EUMETSAT
NOAA and EUMETSAT are the premier operational environmental monitoring
and weather satellite agencies in the world. We have clearly demonstrated
how to make the transition from research to operations…and how
together, with other partners, to provide geostationary coverage for
most of the planet. When EUMETSAT launches its first polar satellite
two years from now, we will then have important additional coverage
in polar orbit. During our discussions yesterday, I noted that both
NOAA and EUMETSAT have other partners with which we are able to collaborate
on common efforts. However, the long-standing cooperation of NOAA
and EUMETSAT serves as an outstanding model of success for these other
partnerships and for those that that will be pursued in the future.
We have extensive common objectives and a superb record of achievement,
but it is clear that we can accomplish even more through pursuing
cooperation together with additional partners.
The occasion
of this meeting is an especially unique time for transatlantic cooperation
and partnership; and indeed for the world.
The recent G-8 Summit emphasized the need for providing appropriate
security to our citizenry and to continue our collective efforts to
ensure a better quality of life for all. It is evident that the forces
of social change and global development present a number of serious
issues for the world’s leaders and decision-makers. EUMETSAT
and our partnerships together in Earth observations and space applications
have played a significant role in the many accomplishments over the
past few decades to meet society’s needs for valuable weather
and environmental information.
New
Era & Pressing Imperatives
I strongly believe we have reached a new era in which human ingenuity
must be applied to developing a deeper understanding of the complex
systems of Planet Earth - an “Earth Science Renaissance.”
We need to gain this deeper understanding so that we can more fully
address the pressing economic, social, and science challenges that
confront us. That understanding begins with observations. All of us
are aware that each day we reap manifold 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, improving
weather forecasts, managing fisheries, assessing disasters, or exploring
the oceans.
However,
collectively, we can and we must do much more. 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 that is international, integrated, comprehensive, and sustained
that will give us the tools we need to “take the pulse of the
planet."
The G8
nations recognize this need also. The Action Plan for Science and
Technology for Sustainable Development agreed to in Evian addresses
strengthening international co-operation on global observations; it
includes:
- Developing
close co-ordination of global observation strategies for the next
ten years
- Improving
the world-wide reporting and archiving of these data, filling gaps
of coverage in existing systems, and reciprocal data-sharing
- Developing
an implementation plan for the Tokyo ministerial conference in Spring
2004
- Working
in partnership with developing countries and relevant multilateral
organizations
Science
and technology are providing us a remarkable capability to observe
and understand the Earth as a system. This offers opportunities to
improve our predictive capabilities beyond weather and meteorological
services to serve a variety of critical societal needs. For example,
we are experiencing today unprecedented population growth and migration
around the globe. We are seeing also growing concentrations of people
along coastlines, where 25% of the Earth’s biological productivity
and an estimated 80-90% of the global commercial fish catch exists…
In the United States, more than half of the population lives within
50 miles of the coasts – and that number continues to climb.
As populations
move from rural areas to urban centers, we are witnessing a dramatic
shift in the distribution of goods, services, and land use, which
has increased competition for access to resources such as water, arable
land, and improved living conditions. These changes call for a quantum
improvement in such products as precipitation forecasts for food production….warnings
of natural disasters….seasonal forecasts for climate and drought.
The potential economic benefits are enormous. (Current economic benefits
are documented on our NOAA Internet site and are also published in
a publication entitled “NOAA Economic Statistics.”) To
realize the increased economic benefits, we must improve our understanding
of the complex workings of Earth systems. To gain this enhanced understanding,
we must implement a comprehensive global observing system, and for
that, we need the resources that no one nation has alone – we
can only do this together as a global community.
This international, comprehensive, sustained, and integrated global
observing system will encompass the vast amount of environmental data
that is already being acquired and exchanged for a variety of applications
from air quality control to tide predictions, from the assessment
of the frequency of seismic hazards to weather forecasting, from crop
prediction to the assessment of environmental impacts on health. Existing
operational data acquisition, analysis, and distribution systems already
constitute an essential - but far from complete - source of information
for scientific studies and assessments of the global Earth system
and climate. Many of the existing surface-based observing systems
are focused on national territories that leave gaps over our “global
commons” such as the oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. Thus,
we fall short of providing an adequate determination of the global
environment and its characteristics — the carbon cycle, the
water cycle, numerous biological processes — and climate to
mention a few.
I believe
that the Integrated Global Observing Strategy and its theme approach
to combining in situ and satellite communities is a most important
step towards “drawing a circle” around existing examples
of integration to improve our ability to assess the environment and
its elements. The IGOS and continued evolution of its work is a critical
link to achieving the purpose of the Earth Observation Summit and
a fully integrated Earth information and data management system.
Over
the past year, the United States, with our international partners,
has made some important steps towards achieving this goal:
Earth
Observations Summit
The points I made before about developing a dramatically improved
understanding Earth system and the pressing social, economic, and
science questions of this new age are the primary motivating factors
for the Earth Observations Summit on July 31 in Washington DC. The
U.S. will host the event for Ministers of the G-8 and other nations,
as well as established international organizations. They will discuss
at the political level what is needed to commit to building an international,
comprehensive, integrated and sustained observing system for the
Earth.
In
addition to the Ministerial meeting, an Ad Hoc Working Group, will
commence work the day after the Summit on developing an international
conceptual framework and ten-year plan for fielding such a system.
For the year that follows, they will work on the steps for connecting
and sustaining observing systems, data management and standards,
and incorporating User requirements. This will be the next step
towards connecting and building from the existing observing systems
that have been put together separately over the past couple of decades.
SBSTA
Intersessional Meeting
The climate element of an Earth observing system is one area that
is conceptually well developed. At the recent UNFCCC meeting of
the Subsidiary Body for Science and Technical Advice, the 2nd Global
Climate Observing System Adequacy Report was a focus for discussion.
This Adequacy Report represents a significant step toward the development
of a consensus for an international plan that integrates space and
in-situ observations across the atmosphere, ocean, and land in support
of climate. The meeting report requests Parties to submit views
on priorities to help GCOS proceed in developing an implementation
plan. And it proposes a Decision for the next UNFCCC Conference
of the Parties…COP-9…at its meeting in Milan this December
that GCOS be requested to develop a corresponding implementation
plan.
Climate Change Science Program
In the United States, many of you are aware that we have undertaken
our own efforts to organize a national climate change science and
technology initiative. President Bush called on NOAA as part of
the Department of Commerce to lead an interagency effort to prepare
a climate change science plan and to organize and develop the science
portion the Climate Change Science Program.
The
GCOS Adequacy Report and our own National Strategic Plan are just
two of a number of reasonable reference points for implementation
of the climate element of an Earth observing system.
How
might we proceed?
Expanding on what I just said, it is clear that we can point to a
number of important programs that have been initiated over the past
decade that provide the foundations for answering these questions:
the aforementioned Global Climate Observing System (GCOS); the Global
Ocean Observing System (GOOS); the Global Terrestrial Observing System
(GTOS); the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS); and
the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS). Additionally, the
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has played a pioneering role
in the global coordination of geophysical and meteorological experiments
that have helped to create the operational foundations for the worldwide
monitoring of atmospheric chemical composition and climate variability.
The Global Observing System of the World Weather Watch and the ongoing
“Redesign the Global Observing System” are good examples
of building blocks for an Earth Global Observing System.
As we can see, none of the above listed programs are comprehensive
enough individually. And none alone is politically, fiscally, nor
technically supported in a way to accomplish the purpose of the Integrated
Earth Observing System. For example, there is no structured intergovernmental
mechanism for establishing priorities for an integrated suite of earth
observation platforms and for identifying the respective countries
(or organizations) that agree to fund and maintain specific earth
observation capabilities.
One of
the best examples we can use as a smaller-scale model for what we
need to do for a fully integrated global system is what we have accomplished
in understanding, forecasting, and modeling the El Niño phenomenon.
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 levels of
skill associated with the forecast of general and seasonal winter
and summer conditions 3 – 6 months in advance. It required 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 evident 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 significant knowledge thanks to basic
research - critical uncertainties remain. And these uncertainties
derive from the incomplete nature of our Earth observation systems.
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 Earth’s physical, chemical, geological, and
biological cycles.
We are
now seeing how weather and climate products and services have moved
beyond traditional uses. For example, our new Solar X-ray Imager (SXI)
on our most recent geostationary satellite, is providing space weather
forecasters with real-time images of the sun’s explosive atmosphere.
This new instrument is helping our space environment center to issue
timely warnings when solar activity might harm billions of dollars
worth of commercial and government assets in space and on land. We
also now have a “Degree Heating Week” product that provides
up-to-date, accurate, and reliable information to monitor the long-term
effects of heat stresses on several coral reefs throughout the world.
What
NOAA is doing
NOAA has been working to organize itself to conduct our mission in
a way that looks at the “whole Earth system.” In fact,
we could be considered the U.S. “operational ecosystem science
agency.” On a Daily basis, we monitor and work to understand
our oceans, coasts, fisheries and weather as inter-linked systems.
As part of our effort to meet the new challenges of our mission, we
have undertaken an inventory of our observing systems to contribute
to an international, integrated system for Earth observations and
information.
One of
our organizational goals is to develop a NOAA Observing System Architecture
(NOSA) for documenting our multiple observing systems and identifying
ways to evolve them in an integrated manner. The first step was to
take an inventory. We found that we have 102 separate observing systems
measuring 521 different environmental parameters. We also found that
we have room to improve the system. As we develop an integrated system,
fully wired and networked together without duplication, we will install
new observing stations as well as new sensors to current platforms
to fill the gaps in our coverage. In addition, and most importantly,
user data will be easier to process, distribute, and archive in an
accessible and affordable manner.
We are
convinced that understanding our existing observing systems and how
they are structured to meet mission goals such as climate change,
will provide a basis for the appropriate integration of our systems
with other agency observing systems and international programs. In
the process, NOAA will continue to operate, sustain and enhance existing
national observation programs, as for example such varied purposes
as monitoring sea level, estuarine reserves, and of shoreline change
to name a few.
Supercomputing
We cannot forget to mention another important part of improving
our understanding of Earth Systems, the role of supercomputing. I
believe that an increase of our super computing capabilities in combination
with the integration of observations and historical records, will
be essential to generate new breakthroughs. Also please note that
it is not only data and model outputs that are critical to progress,
but it is also the methodical way that we process, archive, and distribute
those data.
We had the privilege to announce two weeks ago the initial operation
of NOAA’s latest weather and climate supercomputer dedicated
to bringing our nation faster and more exact weather and climate predictions.
It will provide a performance enhancement of two and a half times
the capabilities of the Class VIII supercomputer it replaced. Making
more than 450 billion calculations per second, the new generation
IBM supercomputer is poised to give the NOAA’s weather arm the
ability to improve local and national forecast accuracy, as well as
extend watch and warning lead times for potential severe weather.
Yet it is only the beginning of where we need to go in terms of computing
capability.
The development
of a fully integrated Earth data and information management system
will require sustained investment in the data management and high-performance
computing tools necessary to handle the data loads for ingesting,
distributing, analysing, modelling, and storing data for enhanced
and future use.
Research
to Operations: How do we get there?
One way is to continue to emphasize and examine the transition from
research to operations as it applies to our mission. To this end,
NOAA and NASA, cosponsored a study (that was just released in March)
by the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council (NAS/NRC)
entitled "Satellite Observations of the Earth's Environment:
Accelerating the Transition of Research to Operations.”
NOAA
is currently examining the implications of that study and other recommendations
before making decisions on what steps to take, but the study provides
a reliable, external impetus to improve our ability to transition
successful research to sustained operations.
Satellite
instrumentation is of course not the only research area that should
be included in improving transition of research operational status.
NOAA is a science-based agency and everything we do is based on research
and the research we are involved in applies research as well as operations
stretching from the bottom of the ocean to the surface of the sun.
We have a responsibility in collaboration with our internal research
laboratories as well as with external research agencies to ensure
that User requirements are imbedded in the process from the start.
Gaining the support and resources necessary to turn a concept into
an operational reality requires careful and comprehensive planning
that brings together the researchers and the ultimate beneficiaries
of a successful project.
International
Collaboration is Essential
In closing, the social, economic, and scientific benefits of an Integrated
Earth Observation System can only be achieved as an international
effort. Together, we can meet the challenges associated with the international
coordination of planning and developing such a system. 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.
I urge
each of you here today to work together with us to pursue partnerships
for establishing an Earth observing system, to assist developing countries
to build the capacity to participate, and to use this opportunity
to move the world closer toward the goal of implementing a truly integrated
observing system. The United States is committed to working with EUMETSAT
and other relevant international organizations to achieve this goal.
I am confident that together we can provide the needed products and
services that will increase our understanding of Earth systems and
allow the nations of the World to become effective stewards of this
planet for the future of humanity.
Thank
you
|