Views on the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Initiative

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“Views on the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Initiative”
4th GMES Forum
Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr. USN (Ret.)
Co-Chair, Ad Hoc Group on Earth Observations,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
and NOAA Administrator
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Baveno, Italy

Introduction
As GEO Co-Chair, and on behalf of my boss and Co-Host for the Earth Observation Summit, Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans and NOAA, I express my appreciation to our Italian hosts and to the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) Plenary organizers for inviting me to share my views with you about the very important topic of the GMES. I am delighted and honored to have the opportunity to be in the company of such a distinguished audience and to be in such a beautiful setting here in Baveno.

I feel especially privileged to be here with European Earth observation leaders – especially the mix of visionary satellite and in situ representative - friends from the Earth Observation Summit and Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and important User groups.

I believe that international economic and development issues are key agenda items for leaders around the world, and that we in the Earth sciences communities take our ability to contribute to their solution very seriously. As Jose Achache mentioned earlier today, elevating what we do to the political level is critically important to address the policy challenges and priorities of today and the future.

I commend your efforts to address the technological and management challenges of organizing a space-based and in situ Earth observation system and then connecting it with user driven requirements across the nations of Europe. I have great respect for the leadership and progress you have made as you begin this 4th Forum for the GMES. You are helping craft a vital new strategy as well as creating a new context for moving Earth Observations and their benefits into the 21st Century.

Main Points
Understanding that I am the last speaker that stands between you and your next meal, and since much of what I have to say will be coincident with what previous speakers have articulated, I will focus on some key points. The message I intend to convey today is that:

1) The GMES is positioned to be an important European contribution to the work of the GEO for developing a global, comprehensive plan for Earth observations that will make full use of Earth based in situ and space-based monitoring assets.

2) The GMES and GEO should work in concert to:
- determine which user requirements can be met at an early date and a sequence for the remainder; and
- determine the plan for ensuring the proper system(s) components and the proper architecture are in place to meet user requirements.

3) The GMES and GEO should develop and harmonize management and organizational principles for meeting our shared objectives.

The GMES and GEO
The GMES and GEO have much in common. The GMES has catalogued the benefits obtained by Earth observing systems in monitoring for scientific, economic, and societal benefits. The GMES has helped to achieve the “buy-in” of world leaders, as evidenced by the Earth Observation Summit and the G-8 Action Plan which highlighted Earth observations as a priority. The GMES initiative focuses on products and services to meet a wide range of societal needs. Integrated operational information services to support User requirements should be the end result of our collective efforts to develop a mature, sustainable operational Earth observation capacity across nations. Society needs information and services, not just data.

The 4th Forum is not only important to advancing the goals of the GMES, but also those of the Earth Observation Summit and GEO. Your efforts are providing a foundation for implementing the elements of the Earth Observation Summit Declaration.

The GMES can serve as a regional observation entity and key part for the global Earth observation system(s). The global connection will not happen without your help — and the help of the individual countries and institutions involved in the GMES.

The GEO and GMES need to draw on the work of previous groups as well as advancing new ideas for improving collection, development, utilization, and integration of Earth observations.

The WMO, the G3OS (Global Climate Observing System - GCOS, Global Ocean Observing System - GOOS, Global Terrestrial Observing System - GTOS) and the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS) and its members, including the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), have focused on achieving the full benefits of Earth observations that result from the combination of in situ and space remote sensing. It has been demonstrated that there is great synergy when the remote sensing and in situ communities come together to identify requirements, share data, and define best practices for exchange of data and establishment of clear standards and formats.

For example:

IGOS Themes, for which EUMETSAT has been a strong leader in integration, include:

Ocean, GeoHazards, Water Cycle, Coastal/Coral Reef, Carbon, and Atmospheric Chemistry; and

CEOS Working Groups include:

Disaster Management Support Group (DMSG) whose report helped to identify requirements for the disaster management community.

Calibration and Validation

Data Utilization

Education and Training

Society has already experienced the benefits of global coordination of systems, such as the enormous growth of worldwide telecommunications, and in banking and finance, where trillions of dollars in capital are moved quickly around the globe everyday.

Prioritization: System Components and Scope
System design and component development begin with an in-depth understanding of the requirements of User groups. A well-connected network of nodes and sensors is imperative for understanding and monitoring larger issues such as climate and other Earth physical and biological phenomena, as well as applications for sustainable agriculture, natural resource management, disaster mitigation, food security, poverty alleviation, and much more. It is the services for addressing these issues that are paramount, and the previous models of “stovepiped” organizations will not achieve these needed services. Integration of technology and expertise — working across “stovepipes” will help us achieve the full benefits of systems and services from those systems.

Prioritization: System Components and Scope
Meeting the goals of the Earth Observation Summit will require piecing together large initiatives like the GMES, as well as the systems and components already in place. It will require the active participation of industry, academia, and the general public. An inclusive approach involving both users and providers will be necessary to build the support needed to achieve success.

The pressing social, economic, and science imperatives of today and the future will determine the scope of what should be included in this effort. For example:

Understanding the carbon cycle and its role in climate projections;

Drought and water — more than 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and two billion lack basic sanitation;

Managing and developing energy sources — reducing harmful emissions and a growing derivatives market;

Transportation — 95% of U.S. trade is transported by ship across oceans waterways;

Global coastal population trends show growing concentration along coastlines which are often the most biologically productive areas of a country. They are a primary source of nutrition, support growing tourism, and affect public health in terms of water quality including the effects of toxic algal blooms.

Civilian Focus
We have moved beyond short-range weather monitoring and forecasting to the longer- range implications such as those derived from our El Nino monitoring and prediction system. We are moving towards ecosystem-level monitoring. We now foresee a broad scope of users and information requirements — insurance, utilities and energy management, transportation, agriculture, finance and derivatives, and security aspects related to public health and safety, such as air quality monitoring, harmful algal blooms, ports and infrastructure security, vessel monitoring for fisheries management…to information dissemination for hazard warnings and emergency rescue (COSPAS-SARSAT and the new personal-locator-beacons).

GEO does not have the word “security” in it, but clearly the applications of Earth observations have public safety and security aspects. It should be stated that the GEO is focused on the civil applications for Earth observations and monitoring — for research, for natural resource management, and for public use and safety. The “security” aspects of GEO cover essential civilian applications, such as public health, air quality, and management of infrastructure asset. GEO does not include classified assets that are used for other purposes of national defense.

End to End
Successful culmination of both the GMES and GEO will require full system planning — the end-to-end concept. Drawing from principles established by many of the groups represented here today, we must continue to support and expand development through a systems engineering approach.

from identifying User requirements to developing and connecting the platforms in order to:

--assure data receipt systems
--process and distribute data
--assuring open access to data
--provide the services and products that the public, research, and commercial sectors need.

Prioritization: Initial Objectives
The GMES provides an important forum for identifying and defining the work of the GEO. The GMES is a global and a regional model. GEO can be what we want to make it. Your work can be extremely important as we proceed to the next meeting of the Group on Earth Observations that starts here on Friday afternoon. GEO has an ambitious schedule, and I must emphasize that given the complexity of the effort, progress has been incredible. However, it cannot succeed without the committed involvement of those here today.

There is similarity and coincidence between the efforts of the GMES and the GEO Sub-Groups, which have been working hard to draw from existing efforts. For example:

Architecture — This group will develop a concrete, structured, end-to-end approach and consider concepts for the technical operation of the system or systems, including such features as data capture, data collection, processing, dissemination, storage/archiving, exchange, products and services, and telecommunications.

Data Utilization — This group is grappling with reviewing and documenting relevant international Earth observation data policies and identifying barriers to data accessibility and utility to develop strategies to minimize them.

Capacity Building — This element includes one of the fundamental drivers for the Earth Observation Summit, which is to assist resource managers in the developing to gain expertise and access to information vital to make sound decisions on food security, sustainable agriculture, natural resource management, disaster mitigation, and poverty alleviation.

User Requirements and Outreach — This group is undertaking the important task of improving dialogue with Users and is drawing from important sources such as the GMES/WMO database, IGOS Themes, latest update of WCRP needs, and GCOS Adequacy Report. It is important to note that during the last few years new types of users are beginning to value remote sensing, such as nongovernmental organizations for conservation and humanitarian relief and others, which include media organizations requiring timely information.

International Cooperation — This group has the task of reviewing existing international coordination mechanisms and models. It includes identifying barriers and determining how to improve on the way the international earth observing community is organized and carries out its work.

Prioritization: Management and Organizational Principles

Research to Operations
There are several long-term issues that are critical to both the GMES and GEO. The first is moving research discoveries to an operational and value-added context. I cannot emphasize enough how important this transition is to our success. Secondly, working from mission requirements, we must be capable of providing not only data, but also more importantly, decision support information. And lastly, asking the right kinds of questions to ensure the utility of both the products and the supporting technologies. The GMES and its partners know the value of the transition from research to operations, and within the framework of the GMES will have a new mechanism to expedite this critical process.

Management and Organizational Principles
I also stress the importance of prioritization for managing and organizing what we are collectively trying to accomplish. Organization and management structures should flow from asking the right questions about the complex issues we face for the future. Traditional “stovepipe” organizations will not be the most useful in meeting user requirements. Additionally, continuity, sustainability, and exchange of data are important operating and management principles.

Data Management and Access
If Earth observations are going to be useful, it requires more than just developing more sensors. We are also faced in the near future with the need to double — even triple - existing data management capacities to match sensor system capacity.

In the next 15 years, the Earth will launch over 150 satellites, bringing increased data streams. For example, my agency, NOAA, by 2004, will ingest and process more new data in one year than was contained in our total digital archive in 1998. By 2017, it is expected that NOAA’s data holdings will grow by a factor of 100. Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) data volume alone will grow by a factor of 30 over the next 8 years.

Therefore, with investments in satellite and in situ monitoring systems comes the need for appropriate investment in data management and high-performance computing.

common standards, formats and mechanisms for sharing information;
common infrastructure for information systems

providing:
up-to-date GIS presentations on a global scale,
images quickly in crises;

Continuity of measurements and data for environmental parameters is extremely important if we are to reap the benefits of a comprehensive system. Creating long-term consistent records of the environment is of the highest importance for many key users of both remotely sensed and in situ data. It is also extremely challenging for agencies responsible for their creation. As one step in this direction, we need to pay special attention to the GCOS Climate Monitoring Principles that are in the Second Adequacy Report provided to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Full and open sharing of data between nations is essential. We welcome new ideas for access and distribution, such as use of pre-processing software, standardized metadata strategies, and streamlined coordination mechanisms. I expect that the GMES contribution in this area will be enormous and indispensable to progress.

User Connection and Future Projection
Previously used one-way models - “technology push” or “user driven” — have not led to efficient information product systems. They must be replaced by a structured and permanent dialogue between all actors involved in information production and use. We need to construct two-way exchanges and feedback. The GMES has recognized this fact and can help with our emphasis on ensuring that users needs are adequately met and anticipated by integrating dialogue early in the process of definition of programs and systems.

This approach is consistent with GEO fundamentals and GEO will look to the GMES to contribute in a substantive way.

Building a deeper and broader level of dialogue with Users and all levels of society would involve state and local agencies, federal agencies, academia, and the private sector since they have access to vast and unique resources to achieve the full potential of Earth observation.

And what might that future hold given a successful development and implementation strategy? Future valuable products and services could certainly include:

Up to the minute, accurate forecasts of travel/road conditions available in every car and truck on our highways. Travelers and commercial vehicle operators will have the advantage of knowing if there is fog, heavy rain, hail or developing icing and snow conditions around the next corner on every road in our national system. Savings in lives and economic benefits in the billions will accrue.

Real time monitoring and forecasting of the water quality in every watershed and accompanying coastal areas would provide agricultural interests with immediate feedback and forecasts of the correct amount of fertilizers and pesticides to apply to maximize crop generation at minimum cost, as well as maintain healthy ecosystems which will support greatly increased EEZ fisheries output and value from coastal tourism.

Instrumenting the ocean combined with improved satellite observing coverage will make the Biblical story of Joseph and the seven years of drought following seven years of plenty a routine part of what will become revolutionary decadal worldwide and regional climate forecasts. Agriculture and energy to mention only two important economic sectors will have the benefit of being able to plan for maximum production and efficient use of resources years in advance.

Comprehensive monitoring of physical, chemical and biological parameters in combination with super computing will give us the capability to predict and prepare for such human health issues as the next outbreak of diseases like Malaria, West Nile Virus or SARS.

Air quality monitoring systems will provide real time information as well as accurate forecasts days in advance allowing for mitigation of the effects by proper transportation and energy use planning, again saving lives, and avoiding losses in productivity worth many billions of dollars in every region of the nation.

A comprehensive Environmental information matrix, with short term and long range economic consequences available daily on both a national decision maker-level and "USA Today" level for individuals — would make today’s valuable weather forecasts look like prehistoric relics.

Potential for Advancing Global Earth Observations
The GMES approach can make an important difference in meeting the challenges of establishing the user connection, setting priorities and scope, developing innovative management and organizational initiatives, expediting the transition of relevant technologies from research to operations, and assuring free and open data access.

We are excited about the prospects. I fully expect that the next steps the GMES and its partners will take in this meeting will be directly relevant to advancing GEO and our collective efforts for improving the global observing system. Such progress will be of immeasurable value to the following GEO objectives:

1) Improved coordination strategies and systems for observations of the Earth and identification of measures to minimize data gaps;

2) A worldwide effort to involve and assist developing countries in improving and sustaining their contributions to observing systems, as well as their access to and effective utilization of observations, data and products, and the related technologies by addressing capacity-building needs related to Earth observations;

3) The exchange of observations recorded from in situ, aircraft, and satellite networks, dedicated to the purposes of the Earth Observation Summit Declaration, recognizing relevant international instruments and national policies and legislation; and

4) Preparation of a 10-year Implementation Plan, building on existing systems and initiatives.

I know it takes no urging from me. You have already clearly demonstrated your motivation and enthusiasm to join in this critically important undertaking.

Again, I am pleased and honored to share the stage with this group of knowledgeable and dedicated leaders, and to be with you today. We are on a path of collaboration that will benefit the world in many ways we cannot yet imagine. I hope that the GMES and its member states will continue to offer their expertise and support. I look forward to working with you on achieving and improving upon our joint mission and our common goal for generating relevant and comprehensive Earth information for the benefit of humankind.

Thank You