Our need for more effective communications

1
E a r t h S c i e n c e s D i v i s i o n O
u t r e a c h P r o g r a m
David Herring 301-614-6219
dherring_at_climate.gsfc.nasa.gov
Presentation Overview
X

• Our need for more effective communications
• Brief introduction to NASAs Earth Sciences
  Division (ESD)
• A synoptic view of ESDs Outreach Program
• Touch upon some problems issues
• Details about our Outreach programs products
• About this experiment the scope of your
  assignment

X
J u n e 1 5 , 2 0 0 6
2
I. Our Need for More Effective Outreach (What is
at stake.)
3
Why Bother Doing Outreach?

• The case for more effective communications
  (pick your motivation)
• We work with world-class scientists
  engineers. We should strive to be world-class
  communicators.
• Taxpayers bought and paid for our knowledge, we
  are obligated to share it with them
• The world needs NASAs data and information
  because
• - our data and information have the power to
  save lives, to positively influence policy, to
  help us manage our resources more effectively,
  and to advance understanding of how Earths
  climate system works.
• - 80 of the U.S. workforce in environmental
  conservation is within 5 years of retirement age.
  (Brandwein Institute)
• there is a disturbing amount of misinformation
  being perpetuated among the public about climate
  change.
• We are in a time when we must fight for the
  very existence of our Earth Sciences Division
• - Next year, Earth science at NASA will be at its
  lowest level of funding since 1991, and declines
  are predicted

4
Earth is Changing

• In the last 100 years, humans took on the
  magnitude of a geological force (dubbed the
  anthropocene). Consider
• Human population tripled
• Humans altered 40 percent of Earths habitable
  land surface
• The rate of biomass burning quadrupledwe
  consume an average of 175 million acres of forest
  grassland annually
• We drove up carbon dioxide levels by 30
  percent
• We introduced chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and
  other chemicals into the air that destroyed
  stratospheric ozone (our UV shield!)
• Average global temperature rose by 0.5C -
  0.7C (with another 0.6C warming already in the
  pipeline!)
• Perturbations in the water cycle resulting in
  more extremes (droughts vs floods)
• Glaciers and ice sheets are recedingGlacier
  National Park may be renamed No-Glacier National
  Park between 2030 2050
• Arctic temps have risen by 1.1C in last 20
  years and perennial ice cover there has fallen by
  24

5
and NASA is Watching

• NASA is a world leader in space-based
  observations of Earth and Sun
• We employ one of the worlds largest
  concentrations of Earth Sun scientists
• We advance knowledge about our home planet
• - For example, all of the 13 landmark journal
  publications in ice science over the last 6 years
  were produced by NASA scientists

6
II. Synoptic view of NASAs Earth Sciences
Division and Earth Observing System (EOS)
7
NASAs Earth Observing Systemhttp//eospso.gsfc.n
asa.gov/
Terra

• Currently supports 16 Earth- Sun-observing
  satellites on orbit
• Spanning multiple NASA centers
• Eight national data centers
• Partnerships with multiple nations
• Spans multiple science disciplines
• Supports 781 scientists worldwide
• Comprehensive climate research requires
• Local to regional to global perspective
• Wide spectral coverage
• Unprecedented measurement accuracy
• Rigorous ground truth validation
• Data across years to decades
• Only now beginning to approach the climate
  science sweet spot for EOS

Orbview-2
Landsat
Aqua
TRMM
SORCE
QuikScat
ICESat
8
12 Major Research Questions

• 1. Is the Sun changing?
• If so, to what extent is solar variability
  influencing Earths climate system? Quantifying
  solar irradiance over time.
• 2. Is Earths energy budget in balance?
  (Evidence suggests it isnt.)
• If not, what are the mechanisms causing Earth to
  retain more energy than it reflects/emits back to
  space? Quantify each mechanism.
• Tropical clouds type extent change in the 1990s
  from the 80s. But why? Our best models cannot
  reproduce this cloud behavior. Why not?
• 3. How/why is Earths albedo changing?
• Recent studies show that Earths albedo is
  declining, meaning a smaller fraction of incoming
  sunlight is getting reflected.
• Recent studies also show that Earth is getting
  brighter at the surface, likely due to less
  anthropogenic aerosol, thus more sunlight to
  reaches the surface
• 4. Where does all the carbon go that humans
  release into the air?
• Between 1 and 2 billion metric tons of carbon are
  missing from the global carbon budget. Quantify
  the sources and sinks of carbon globally.

9
12 Major Research Questions

• 5. Global water cycle and the linkage to life
• How is Earths water cycle changing in response
  to land cover changes, anthropogenic aerosols,
  and rising surface temperature?
• What regions are likely to experience crisis due
  to fresh water shortages /or loss of glacial
  melt this century?
• 6. Monitoring the mass balance of Earths major
  ice sheets (Antarctica and Greenland)
• Antarctica holds roughly 90 of Earths ice
  Greenland holds about 9
• How are these important ice sheets changing in
  response to high-latitude warming trends? (West
  Antarctica Greenland each hold enough ice to
  raise sea level by 5 meters.)
• 7. Land cover and land use change
• Humans have altered about 40 of Earths
  habitable land surface
• Research shows land surface changes can be as
  significant as greenhouse gases in their impacts
  to local climates

10
12 Major Research Questions

• 8. How much land is consumed by fire each year?
• Estimates of area burned emission products vary
  widely
• Biomass burning is widely practiced in the U.S.
  and abroad, in agriculture and for clearing
  forests, as well as prescribed burns
• 9. Natural hazards assessments
• How will natural hazardslike drought, wildfire,
  floods, severe storms, dust smoke events,
  vector-borne diseaseschange as the climate
  changes?
• We know the cost of natural disasters is rising.
  But are the severity and frequency of natural
  hazards increasing, or are humans merely building
  more in harms way?
• Can we devise better warning systems for geologic
  events like volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis?
• 10. Invasive species and changes in biodiversity
• Can we map where and how fast invasive species
  are spreading?
• Can we show clear links between natural /or
  anthropogenic changes and their spread?

11
12 Major Research Questions

• 11. Monitoring the physical and biological state
  of the ocean
• The top 6 feet of the ocean transports as much
  heat as the entire atmosphere, thus the oceans
  capacity for storing energy is vast. How is
  ocean circulation responding to changes in
  climate?
• How is life in the ocean changing? Research
  showed an overall decline in primary productivity
  in the late 1990s. Five years later,
  productivity seems to be rising in our coastal
  waters, but falling in the deeper waters. Why?
• 12. Air quality and atmospheric chemistry
• Stratospheric (good) ozone continues to be
  affected by human chemicals and full recovery not
  expected until 2068
• Tropospheric (bad) ozone has increased by up to
  200 since the Industrial Revolution in some
  industrialized parts of the world
• The WHO estimates more than 1 million people die
  annually in developing nations due to respiratory
  complications linked to poor air quality
• Asthma is a leading cause of death among U.S.
  children today
• Release of fine aerosol particulate pollution
  linked to human health issues (increased risk of
  lung cancer, heart attack)

12
Observing Cause and Effect
Terra orbits the Earth once every 100 minutes
(top left). Four instruments aboard Terra
collect frequent global composite images, while a
fifth instrument gives an ability to zoom in on
targets of interest. The top center images show
smoke plumes from California wildfires, and the
plumes heights. The top right image shows the
Williams Fire northeast of Los Angeles at hi-res
in thermal infrared. The bottom right image
shows fires (red dots) and smoke in Brazil. The
green regions are densely forested while the
browns show areas of deforestation.
13
Natural vs Human-induced Change
14
EOS vs other big science programs

• Articles in the refereed literature (per the Web
  of Science) from 1990-2004
• The Human Genome Project 24,584 papers 1,804
  proceedings
• Biotechnology 9,448 papers, 2,758 proceedings
• NASAs EOS 7,837 articles, 4,690 proceedings
• Hubble Space Telescope 4,998 papers, 1,227
  proceedings
• Genetic Engineering 3,175 papers, 930
  proceedings
• Nanotechnology 1,853 papers, 859 proceedings
• International Space Station 872 papers, 1,437
  proceedings
• Publication rate still increasing today, it is
  somewhere between 800 and 900 new papers per year!

15

• III. Synoptic view of the Earth Sciences
  Divisions Outreach Program

16
Our Main Messages

• NASA conducts Earth system science
• The Earth is a dynamic, interconnected system
• NASA answers critical research questions about
  our changing planet
• Earth science is vital for our planets future
  health
• Earth science helps improve our quality of life
• Earth science is a dynamic profession, and a
  viable career path
• NASA supports Earth system science education
  (formal informal)
• NASA collects and shares unique satellite data
  sets
• NASA monitors global changes from the unique
  perspective of space
• To understand global changes, we need NASAs
  global data products
• NASA drives new technology development
• NASA provides state-of-the-art satellite remote
  sensors
• NASA technologies are essential to observing
  understanding changes in the Earths climate
  system
• NASA data products enhance public policy decision
  support systems
• NASA technologies benefit society and stimulate
  commerce

17
Working Groups Mapped to Audiences
Decision Makers
Group 1 Inreach / Outreach - Government to
government communications, including operational
users, stakeholders policy leaders
Science Policy Leaders
NASA HQ
Commercial Operational Data User Communities

• Group 2 Public Media
• Aims to raise public awareness support,
  thereby garnering support by decision makers

Public Media
Educators Students
Underrepresented publics
Museums, Science Centers, After School,
Community-based Programs

• Group 3 Informal Ed
• Seeks to elevate the public up the continuum from
  residual to interested to attentive

Science Attentive Public, Citizen Scientists
Public Continuum
Science Interested Publics Residual Public
18
IV. Details about the ESDs Specific Outreach
Programs Products

• The Scientific Visualizations Studio 24 of
  budget
• PAO TV Production Team 20 of budget
• Earth Sciences News Team 23 of budget
• Earth Sky Radio 10 of budget
• Oregon Museum traveling exhibit 9 of budget
• TOTAL 86 obligated
• (77 aimed at public media)

19
Annual Highlights Newsletter

• Annual newsletter highlights NASAs Earth science
  achievements from the previous year
• 5,000 hardcopies printed
• Distributed by snail mail hand out at
  conferences
• E-copy to be available on-line this year for
  first time

20
Scientific Visualizations Studiohttp//svs.gsfc.n
asa.gov

• High quality animations data visualizations
  available on-line for TV and Web display

21
Scientific Visualizations Studio

• The SVS mission is to create visualization
  products and systems to support NASA missions,
  research, and outreach.
• Products animations, images, DVDs,
  narrated/scored productions, etc.
• Systems web-accessible image servers,
  visualization software, etc.
• Internal NASA customers determine the purpose and
  audience for each SVS project, provide funding,
  and evaluate effectiveness of the result.
• Agency-level outreach public media, Web access,
  museums, etc. for agency priorities
• Project outreach enhancing scientific
  presentations and project Web servers
• Internal outreach supporting new GSFC missions
  and local visitors
• Scientific research systems and software for
  analyzing data with visualization
• SVS projects focus on the visualization of remote
  sensing and simulation data, with some
  visualization of satellites and concepts.
• The synergy of an expert group concentrating on
  visualization of NASA data allows world-class
  expertise to be focused wherever needed.

22
The SVS Web Archive

• This publicly-accessible repository of all SVS
  products is designed to facilitate maximum re-use
  of SVS material from all funded efforts.
• All new animations include full-resolution source
  frames for re-purposing.
• Contextual metadata is included describing the
  source and context for all on-line products.
• The customer base for the archive is
• General public and educators interested in or
  teaching about NASA science,
• Producers creating news shows, educational
  productions, and exhibits,
• Internal NASA users seeking to support
  presentations and briefings.
• Statistics 1 terabyte of on-line imagery and
  animations in 2,700 animation pages
• Statistic 50 terabytes of imagery delivered from
  July 2005 - June 2006
• Statistic 285 Animations totaling 1.7 hours for
  92 researchers added in 2005
• External partnerships and links to the archive
  are encouraged to enable access to this material
  through more general portal systems and user
  software tools.
• NASA sites NASA Portal, Earth Observatory,
  Visible Earth
• External sites Digital Library for Earth Science
  Education (DLESE), media websites such as CNN
• User Tools Web map clients such as World Wind,
  display systems such as Magic Planet

23
SVS Outreach Projects

• NASA science themes fund Media Outreach Projects
  to create visualizations for media releases about
  NASA missions, research discoveries, and breaking
  news.
• Products Video files for the media, scientist
  interview support, web resource pages.
• These major projects supports adapting this
  material for exhibits and other purposes.
• These products have appeared on NOVA, CNN,
  Discovery Channel, PBS, New York Times, Aviation
  Week, the Daily Show, and numerous local news
  programs this year.
• This project directly supports NASAs Ozone
  Watch and Hurricane Watch sites.
• Museum and Science Center exhibits supported
  include
• Smithsonian Earth Today and Forces of Change,
  Houston Museum of Natural Science Microcosm,
  NOAA Science on a Sphere, Maryland Science
  Center TerraLink, forthcoming Sphere of Life
  dome show
• NASAs Earth Science Data and Information System
  Project funded two DVD productions Multisensor
  Fire Observations and A Tour of the Cryosphere
• NASAs Learning Technologies Project funded the
  SVS Image Server, an extension of the SVS Archive
  to support on-demand imagery for education.
• NASAs Modeling and Analysis Program funds
  on-demand hurricane visualizations from NASA
  simulations and remote sensing data.

24
Earth Sciences News Team

• Goal To increase public awareness of NASA's
  Earth science programs through the news media,
  primarily by increasing the quantity and quality
  of Earth science information issued by NASA's
  Public Affairs offices.
• Scope The 3-person team works within Public
  Affairs (agency-wide) to identify science news
  topics, supplement strategic planning and
  implementation, and create media products issued
  by NASA.
• Audiences The U.S. news media is the primary
  audience the informed U.S. public is the
  secondary audience.

25
News Team Major Activities

• Write NASA press releases, Web features --
  research and write stories that are distributed
  to news media and posted on NASA portal
• Plan media events -- recommend, plan, and
  implement press briefings and workshops at major
  science meetings (AGU, AMS)
• Increase exposure to science news media -- post
  Team-produced releases, Web features on AAAS
  EurekAlert news service (http//www.eurekalert.org
  /)
• Create supplemental media resources -- produce
  "science writer's guides" on NASA missions, an
  expert directory (both in print format)
• Routine "newsmining" -- identify newsworthy
  topics through discussions with scientists and
  review of upcoming science meetings, journal
  articles
• Content for Earth Observatory "Newsroom" --
  Consolidate weekly content for this
  information-rich resource (http//earthobservatory
  .nasa.gov/Newsroom/)

26
News Team Sample Products

• NASA Press Release and Visuals (March 8, 2006)
• NASA Survey Confirms Climate Warming Impact on
  Polar Ice Sheets
• lthttp//www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/mar/HQ_06089
  _polar_ice_sheets_melting.htmlgt
• Press Briefing (AGU, San Francisco, Dec. 2005)
• The Ozone Hole Prospects for Recovery
• lthttp//www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory
  /2005/ozone_recovery.htmlgt
• Web Features (NASA Web Portal)
• NASA Satellites Help Researchers See Why
  Australian Reef is Bleaching
• lthttp//www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/cora
  l_bleach.htmlgt
• Science Writer's Guide (Print online PDF)
• CALIPSO-CloudSat-GRACE Science Writer's Guide
  (October 2005)
• lthttp//earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaRe
  sources/CALIPSO-CloudSat-GRACE.pdfgt
• New "Hurricane Resource Web Page" (launched
  2005)
• Initiated cross-agency collaboration to focus
  NASA's role on this topic
• lthttp//www.nasa.gov/hurricanegt

27
News Team Recent Releases

• NASA Successfully Launches CloudSat/Calipso
  Mission
• Press release issued April 28 lthttp//www.nasa.gov
  /mission_pages/cloudsat/news/cloudsat-20060428.htm
  lgt
• NASA Survey Confirms Climate Warming Impact on
  Polar Ice Sheets
• Press release issued March 8
• lthttp//www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/mar/HQ_06089
  _polar_ice_sheets_melting.htmlgt
• NASA Satellites Help Researchers See Why
  Australian Reef is Bleaching 
• Web feature issued April 5
• lthttp//www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory
  /2006/coral_bleach.htmlgt
• Early Warning from Space of Deadly Floods and
  Landslides
• Press briefing at AGU in Baltimore, May 24, 2006

28

• V. Other relevant outreach programs
• (not supported by the ESD Outreach Program
  Budget)

29
Exhibit Conference Support

• Annually support 2 dozen major Earth
  science-related events from technical conferences
  to general public events.
• We bring science to the communities through our
  scientists live talks and public outreach tools.
• We showcase NASA science results, technologies,
  data sets.

30
Outreach Tools in our Booth

• ViewSpace Program
• Free-standing multi-media
• Located in more than 100 science centers
  worldwide
• Real-time updates via Internet
• Brings a museum-quality product to the booth

• Magic Planet
• Interactive digital display with spherical screen
• Touch screen tour of Earth science data products

31
Presentations Demos in Booth

• Direct access to scientists
• 20-minute talks with QA
• Scientists firsthand explanations of new science
  results
• Increasing emphasis on relationship building

• Where / how to access NASA satellite data
• Short technology demonstrations with QA
• Who to call for more info

32
Sample List of Booth Venues
33
Sample Mission Outreach Products

• Data user workshops
• Wide participation in science symposia
• Series of NASA spacecraft animations beauty
  shots available on line
• Science colleague brochures produced for science
  data user communities
• Lighter brochures produced for general public
• Mission Science Writers Guides and Press Kits for
  public media
• NASA Earth science fact sheets about wide variety
  of topics (e.g., ozone)
• Print fold paper models of spacecraft
• Mission decals
• Mission posters (Terra poster, left)

34
NASAs Earth Observatory http//earthobservatory.n
asa.gov

• An interactive, Web-based magazine about Earth
  science satellite remote sensing of Earth
• Mainly targets the science attentive public
• Recipient of numerous awards
• Webby Award winner (2003)
• 3 Peoples Voice Awards (2002, 2003, and 2006)
• Selected among 50 Best of the Web by both
  Popular Science Scientific American
• 3 NASA Group Achievement Awards

35
EO Natural Hazards http//naturalhazards.nasa.gov

• Near-real-time Earth events tracking monitoring
• Access to timely, newsworthy imagery posted as
  thumbnails, medium sized, at sensors
  full-resolution
• Thumbnails to help visitors determine images
  locations
• Interpretive captions written in popular style
• Scientist editorial oversight
• Easily scalable to add info from more missions
• More than 4,500 subscribers with daily e-mail
  notifications of new postings
• Coming soon daily updated maps showing locations
  severity of hazards around the globe

36
EO Activity in a 12-month span

• 365 Images of the Day with captions in popular
  style
• Syndicated via RSS feeds, so these images appear
  in dozens of other venues, including Web sites,
  museums, ViewSpace, etc.
• 717 images in Natural Hazards section with
  captions
• 20 new feature articles about new science results
• 2 new NASA fact sheets
• 88 press releases
• Agency-wide editorial meetings held weekly via
  teleconference to gather and share ideas

37
EO Quantitative Assessments http//earthobservator
y.nasa.gov/SurveyResults/

• From May 4 - 18, 2004, we surveyed both site
  subscribers visitors and received a total of
  3,717 (1,896) responses

509 Teachers (14,2) 238 Students (6,
-4) 673 Scientists (18) 224 Media
Professionals (6, 2)
94 Legislative Officials (3)
1,979 None of the above
(53)
38
Earth Observatory User Stats

• First published on April 29, 1999
• Steadily climbing visit rate currently more
  than 26,000 unique visitors per day
• Total global data sets served 2
  million (600 per day)
• Steadily climbing subscription rate
• 45,000 subscribers
• 10-15 new subscribers per day

39
NASAs Visible Earth http//visibleearth.nasa.gov

• Digital image library of NASA Earth images,
  animations data visualizations for public
  release
• One of the 3 most-visited Web sites at GSFC
  (250K / month)
• Serving 13 Gigabytes per day
• 15,344 image records (80,259 images) growing
  fast!
• Just rebuilt the entire system database
• XML database will allow scripted queries
  content syndication
• Simple forms will allow content authoring by
  colleagues from across the agency

40
Content Syndication

• Communications partners public media can easily
  access and re-use, re-publish, or rebroadcast our
  content

National Museum of Natural History Forces of
Change
Tokyo Science Museum GeoCosmos (20-foot
spherical TV)
41
Our In-reach Portal

• http//esdepo.gsfc.nasa.gov
• Brief tour of the site
• Calendar tool
• Subscription for weekly e-mail
• Directory of EPO staff contact info
• Document archive
• Sections populated, managed by working groups
• Designed to be a living document of our
  overall EPO strategy

42
VI. About this experiment the scope of your
assignment
43
Public opinion about NASA

• Harmonic International reports
• NASA has exceptionally high brand equity among
  the U.S. public
• The public is interested in NASAs programs
  (80)
• The public feels NASA is doing a good job (84)
• The public feels it is important for the U.S.
  and NASA to be 1 in space (80)
• The public feels their personal lives are
  better because of NASA (75)
• The public feels the country is better off
  because of NASA (86)
• NASAs brand equity is primarily rooted in
  memories from its Mercury and Apollo days
• The under 35 aged public reports shuttle
  accidents as primary shaping events for how they
  remember feel about NASA
• Unprompted, the public knows almost nothing
  specific about what NASA does!
• In focus groups, less than 1 percent mentioned
  Earth and NASA in the same sentence, when
  unprompted

44
What do you think?

• Your candor is appreciated
• While our aim is certainly not to embarrass or
  humiliate anyone, we are requesting the benefit
  of your full, honest, professional opinion
• In addition to whatever other audience
  sensitivities you bring to this assignment,
  please pay particular attention to your assigned
  audience, as follows
• General Public gt Rick Borchelt
• Informal Educators gt Kendall Haven
• Public Media gt Thomas Lucas
• Public Stakeholders Policy Leaders gt Jon Miller