47
COUNTRIES, EUROPEAN COMMISSION AGREE TO TAKE “PULSE
OF THE PLANET”
Milestone Summit Launches Plan to Revolutionize Understanding
of How Earth Works
April
26, 2004 — Recognizing that Earth’s
most pressing problems know no geographic boundaries, ministers
of 47 nations and the European Commission agreed Sunday
to develop pioneering global architecture that will, over
the next decade, revolutionize the understanding of how
Earth works. At the international Earth
Observation Summit held April 25 in Tokyo, ministers set forth a visionary
agreement committed to scientifically connecting the world
for the benefit of people and economies around the globe.
“Our environment knows no boundaries. We all breathe
the same air and drink the same water. We all cause pollution—every
one of us. And working together, we can find the solutions
and affect the changes needed to protect people, promote
prosperity and preserve our planet,” said EPA Administrator
Mike Leavitt.
Leavitt
led the U.S. delegation to the Summit, which included
John Marburger, the president’s science adviser,
and Retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D.,
undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and
NOAA administrator.
“Collectively we’re pioneering the framework
of a comprehensive Global Earth Observation System of Systems
that will be as interrelated as the planet it observes,
predicts and protects,“ Lautenbacher said. “The
result will be sound science on which sound policy must
be built. For the first time we’ll able to take the
pulse of the planet.”
Lautenbacher is one of four co-chairs of the Group on
Earth Observations. Other co-chairs are Achilleas Mitsos,
director general for research, European Commission; Akio
Yuki, deputy minister of education, culture, sports, science
and technology, Japan; and Rob Adam, director-general of
the department of science and technology, South Africa.
Right now many thousands of separate technological assets
are demonstrating their value around the globe, in estimating
crop yields, monitoring water and air quality, improving
airline safety, and forecasting life-threatening natural
hazards. However, these assets are not set up to talk to
each other. Once linked as a system of systems, the societal
and economic benefits will be enormous. By launching the
development of a 10-year implementation plan at the summit,
the ministers committed to make people and economies throughout
the world healthier, safer and significantly better prepared
to manage the basic needs of daily life.
The ocean, for example, is the memory of the global climate
system and the key to climate variability. Since the highest
incidence of solar radiation occurs near the Equator, measuring
what heat is doing in the Equator is a good indicator of
what it is doing elsewhere. As warming water moves, it
can send strong signals, telling us that some parts of
the world will be drier, wetter, colder or warmer. If rainfall
is heavier, water may pool, increasing the chance that
there will be more breeding grounds for mosquitoes, some
of which may carry life-threatening diseases. Some fish
also follow ocean temperature, and this information is
key to sustaining healthy fisheries.
Since
people and economies would benefit all over the globe,
there is urgency in developing a comprehensive global
system. In the U.S. alone, forecasting weather with just
one degree (F) more accuracy could save at least $1 billion
annually in energy costs. At a cost of $4 billion annually,
weather is responsible for about two-thirds of aviation
delays—$1.7 billion of which would be avoidable with
better observations and forecasts. An estimated 300-500
million people worldwide are infected with malaria each
year and about one million people die from this largely
preventable disease. Since studies show that the malaria
cycle intensifies during El Niño events, improved
forecasting is key to mitigation. More than 90 percent
of natural disaster-related deaths occur in developing
countries.
The benefits of a connected system are:
- Forecasting
more accurate severe winter weather;
- Pinpointing
where the next outbreak of SARS or West Nile virus,
or malaria
is likely to hit;
- Improving
air quality monitoring to provide real-time information
and accurate forecasts;
- Enhancing
ocean instrumentation that, combined with improved
satellite Earth observing
coverage, will
provide revolutionary
decadal worldwide and regional climate forecasts;
and
- Providing
real-time monitoring and forecasting of the water quality
in every watershed and accompanying
coastal areas.
The summit in Tokyo fulfills a commitment made
last year by the G-8. It builds on the first
Earth Observation
Summit
hosted by the United States last July and directly
feeds into the G-8 meeting in June in Georgia.
NOAA
is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national
safety through the prediction and research of weather and
climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship
of the nation’s coastal and marine resources. NOAA
is part of the U.S.
Department of Commerce.
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