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in print
Ms. Helen Wood, NOAAThe Disaster Management Support Project has evoked the interest and participation of over 185 individuals, representing over 90 organizations, in five meetings over the last year and a half. The intent of the project is to support natural and technological disaster management on a worldwide basis by fostering improved utilization of existing and planned Earth Observation (EO) satellite data.
Project participants recognize that the project needs to leverage off work already underway around the world, including numerous national and regional research programs, demonstration projects, and fully operational systems where they exist. Therefore, the first few project meetings focused on an extensive review of related activities. During 1997, project meetings were held in Europe (Belgium and England) and Asia (Japan and India).
In March 1998, the United States hosted a workshop that provided an opportunity for experts to assess the extent to which satellite data can be expected to satisfy the needs of organizations responsible for the management of various types of disaster. Hazard teams, including both satellite agencies and user organizations, had been formed in seven areas: drought, earthquakes, flooding, fires, oil spills, tropical cyclones, and volcanic ash. The teams were charged to accomplish the following tasks for their hazard:
review existing documentation and current practices in different geographical regions;
compile a concise set of user information requirements for management of the hazard at different phases (mitigation, preparedness/warning, relief/response/recovery);
identify the user level (international, regional, national, state, local, other) and type of use (e.g., research, demon-stration, operations);
identify existing practices in using satellite data in the management of the hazard;
assess the potential of existing or planned satellite data to satisfy the user information requirements;
analyze shortcomings and gaps; and make recommendations for improvement.These recommendations should not only address the space segment (e.g., satellites and sensors), but also address deficiencies in information delivery and utilization.
In preparation for the CEOS Plenary, each team has developed an interim report of preliminary findings. These are being combined with reports of the project's meetings and recommendations into a Consolidated Progress Report. The project will meet three more times in 1998. The first, hosted by the European Space Agency in Frascati, Italy, on September 14-15, will be a working session to review progress, plan next steps, and develop recommendations. The second, hosted by the Canadian Space Agency in Saint-Hubert, Quebec, on October 16, will focus on regional outreach. Similarly, a third meeting on October 29-30 in Tsukuba, Japan, hosted by the National Space Development Agency of Japan, will also focus on regional outreach.
The project has also focused on tools to support project objectives. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is sponsoring a prototype information server, intended to demonstrate timely access to satellite-derived data and information for various facets of disaster management. A number of agencies are participating in the development of this service, providing links to their data and information services. Others are most welcome. Discussions have also taken place with the CEOS working groups to explore opportunities for collaboration.For further information please contact:
Helen M. Wood (chair), NOAA, Tel: 1.301.457.5120,
Fax: 1.301.457.5184, E-mail: Helen.M.Wood@noaa.gov
Kenneth Inglis (vice chair), European Commission/KEMSAT,
Tel: 32.2.345.7190, E-mail: ken.inglis@club.innet.be
Linda V. Moodie (secretariat), Tel: 1.301.713.2024, ext. 111,
Fax: 1.301.713.2032, E-mail:Linda.Moodie@noaa.gov; or visit the Internet server at www.ceos.noaa.gov.
(continued from Page 4)The second report in the series deals with the technical requirements for global-scale, operational remote sensing of ocean colour in both Case 1 and Case 2 waters. It also addresses the issues of complementarity that arise whenever more than one sensor with similar capabilities is in orbit at the same time. The objective was to provide space agencies with the information necessary for them to make an internationally-coordinated plan for the uninterrupted delivery of ocean-colour data into the indefinite future.
A further motivation for the report was the emerging context of an Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS). The aims of IGOS parallel those that the IOCCG has already established for ocean colour. One of the goals is to define a combination of missions, through international collaboration, that will meet the requirements of continuous global and temporal coverage in the most cost-effective manner possible.
Since coverage from a single ocean-colour satellite is only around 15% of the ocean per day (because of the obscuring effects of clouds and sun glint) the group recommended that three sensors in orbit at one time should be the minimum target for ocean-colour capability: additional sensors would allow room for the probability of failure or in-flight problems (cf.ADEOS). This 3-satellite requirement could be met with the core of MODIS-AM, MERIS and GLI for the year 2000 timeframe, with SeaWiFS and MODIS-PM providing backup in the early and late parts of this period. Other missions such as OCM (India), OCI (Taiwan) and OSMI (Korea) may be able to provide further opportunities for com-plementary spatial and temporal coverage, but their policies on global data acquisition, access and distribution were not available at the time of the meeting.
In summary, there is no redundancy in qualified ocean-colour sensors up to the year 2005. Beyond this time frame, the ensemble of agencies had, as yet, not developed a coordinated plan and it was considered that the IOCCG should make strong recommendations for an integrated ocean-colour capability for the post-2005 era.