Gregory W' Withee

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Group on Earth Observation Implications for the
Climate Observation Program
Office of Climate Observation Annual System Review

• Gregory W. Withee
• Assistant Administrator for Satellite and
  Information ServicesNational Oceanic and
  Atmospheric Administration
• April 13, 2004

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Earth Observation Elements
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Presidents Statement
Our cooperation will enable us to develop the
capability to predict droughts, prepare for
weather emergencies, plan and protect crops,
manage coastal areas and fisheries, and monitor
air quality
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The Earth Observation Summit Washington, DC, July
31, 2003

• Summit represented a high level
  governmental/political commitment to move toward
  a comprehensive, coordinated, global network
• Issued declaration to support this concept
• Launched development of 10-year implementation
  plan
• Established the Group on Earth Observations with
  US (NOAA) Co-Chair

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Earth Observation Summit Declaration

• Affirmed need for timely, quality, long-term,
  global information as a basis for sound decision
  making.
• Recognized need to support
• Comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained Earth
  observation system or systems
• Coordinated effort to address capacity-building
  needs related to Earth observations
• Exchange of observations in a full and open
  manner with minimum time delay and minimum cost
  and
• Preparation of a 10-year Implementation Plan,
  building on existing systems and initiatives by
  European ministerial in late 2004
• Established ad hoc Group on Earth Observations
  (GEO) to develop Plan
• Invited other governments to join.

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Earth Observation Summit Participants
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Participating Governments

• Algeria
• Argentina
• Australia
• Belgium
• Belize
• Brazil
• Cameroon
• Canada
• China
• Cyprus
• Denmark
• Egypt
• Finland
• France
• Gabon
• Germany
• Greece
• India
• Iran

• Kazakhstan
• Mexico
• Morocco
• Mozambique
• Nepal
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Nigeria
• Norway
• Portugal
• Republic of the Congo
• Republic of Korea
• Russian Federation
• South Africa, co-chair
• Spain
• Sudan
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Thailand

• European Commission, co-chair

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Participating International Organizations

• Association for the Development of Environmental
  Information (ADIE)
• Central American Commission for the Environment
  and Development (SICA/CCAD)
• Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS)
• European Centre for Medium-Range Weather
  Forecasts (ECMWF)
• European Environmental Agency (EEA)
• European Space Agency (ESA)
• European Organization for the Exploitation of
  Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT)
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
  Nations (FAO)
• Global Climate Observing System (GCOS)
• Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS)
• Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS)
• Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership
  (IGOS-P)
• Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)
• International Council for Science (ICSU)
• International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP)
• International Group of Funding Agencies for
  Global Change Research (IGFA)
• International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
  (ISDR)
• Network of European Meteorological
  Services/Composite Observing System
  (EUMETNET/EUCOS)
• Partnership for Observation of the Global Ocean
  (POGO)

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Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Group on Earth
Observations (GEO)

• Membership open to all countries
• 47 countries (including the EC) are now
  represented
• International organizations are participants
• 26 organizations are now represented
• Organized into 5 subgroups
• Established GEO Secretariat
• Established Implementation Plan Task Team

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Implementation Plan Task Team

• The Implementation Plan Task Team (IPPT) will
  draft the International 10-Year Implementation
  Plan
• IPPT is made up of one representative nominated
  by each GEO Co-Chair
• European Commission, Dr. David Williams of
  EUMETSAT
• Japan, Dr. Toshio Koike of Tokyo University
• South Africa, Dr. Robert Scholes of the Council
  for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
• United States, Dr. Ivan DeLoatch of USGS

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U.S. Representatives to GEO Subgroups

• GEO Architecture Subgroup
• Ivan DeLoatch, USGS, U.S. Representative (GEO
  Subgroup Co-Chair)
• Ron Birk, NASA, Alternate U.S. Representative
• Greg Withee, NOAA, Alternate U.S. Representative
• GEO Capacity Building Subgroup
• Jacqueline Schafer, USAID, U.S. Representative
  (GEO Subgroup Co-Chair)
• John Jones, NOAA, Alternate U.S. Representative
• GEO Data Utilization Subgroup
• Jack Kelly, NOAA, U.S. Representative (GEO
  Subgroup Co-Chair)
• Gladys Cotter, USGS, Alternate U.S.
  Representative
• GEO User Requirements Subgroup
• Gary Foley, EPA, U.S. Representative
• Mary Gant, NIEHS/NIH, Alternate U.S.
  Representative
• Jim Yoder, NSF, Alternate U.S. Representative
• GEO International Cooperation Subgroup
• Harlan Watson, State, U.S. Representative (GEO
  Subgroup Co-Chair)
• Bill Brennan, NOAA, Alternate U.S. Representative
  
• TBD, USGS, Alternate U.S. Representative

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Group on Earth Observation (GEO) Draft Timeline
Earth Observation Summit-1 July 31, 2003United
States
Initial GEO MeetingAugust 1-2, 2003
GEO-2 Italy November 28-29, 2003
GEO-3 South Africa February 25-27, 2004
Earth Observation Summit-2 April 25, 2004 Tokyo,
Japan
GEO-4 Tokyo, Japan April 22-23, 2004
GEO-5 Ottawa, Canada September 2004
Earth Observation Summit-3 Brussels,
BelgiumFebruary 2005
GEO-6 Brussels, Belgium February 2005
2003
2004
2005
3/5/04
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U.S. Plans
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OSTP/OMB FY05 Budget Directives

• A key goal of the Administrations RD
  investments is to enhance capabilities to assess
  and predict key environmental systems.
• Assessment and prediction are important to
  improving our understanding of and ability to
  model climate change, but they also affect many
  other aspects of society, such as health,
  resource management, weather prediction,
  sustainable development, and economic prosperity.
• To this end, integrated, comprehensive, global
  observation systems are required for
  understanding, monitoring, and predicting changes
  to the Earth system (atmosphere, land,
  freshwater, ocean and ecosystems.)

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Interagency Working Group on Earth Observations
(IWGEO)

• IWGEO reports to the White House Committee on
  Environment and Natural Resources (CENR)
• 15 agencies participate as members
• CENR Subcommittee Co-chairs are ex officio
  members
• Co-chairs
• Ghassem Asrar, NASA
• Cliff Gabriel, OSTP
• Greg Withee, NOAA
• 5 Teams mirror the GEO sub-group structure
• Includes a planning and integration team for
  development of the US 10-year implementation plan

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IWGEO Membership

• Co-Chairs
• White House Office of Science and Technology
  Policy
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Principals
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Defense
• Department of Energy
• Department of State
• Department of Transportation
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Federal Aviation Administration

• Principals (contd.)
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• National Institutes for Environmental Health
  Studies
• National Institute for Standards and Technology
• National Science Foundation
• Smithsonian Institute
• Tennessee Valley Authority
• U.S. Geological Survey
• U.S. Forest Service
• White House Council on Environmental Quality
• White House Office of Management and Budget

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IWGEO Goals

• to develop and begin implementation of the U.S.
  framework and 10 year plan for an integrated,
  comprehensive Earth observation system to answer
  environmental and societal needs, including a
  U.S. assessment of current observational
  capabilities, evaluation of requirements to
  sustain and evolve these capabilities considering
  both remote and in situ instruments, assessment
  of how to integrate current observational
  capabilities across scales, and evaluation and
  addressing of data gaps
• to formulate the U.S. position and input to the
  international ad hoc Group of Earth Observations
  (GEO) as formed at the Earth Observation Summit
  on July 31, 2003.

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U.S. 10-year Implementation Plan

• Focuses on societal benefits
• Reduce loss of life and property from disasters
• Protect and monitor ocean resources
• Understand climate, and assess and mitigate
  climate change impacts
• Support sustainable agriculture and combat land
  degradation
• Understand the effect of environmental factors on
  human health and promote well being
• Develop the capacity to make ecological forcasts
• Protect and monitor water resources
• Will have flexibility to incorporate additional
  societal benefit areas
• Will work to integrate these benefit areas with
  the international plan

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IWGEO in the Year Ahead

• Developing U.S. comments to international process
• Developing U.S. 10-year Implementation Plan
• Continuing to engage academic, industry, and
  non-profit partners to guarantee plan
  comprehensive and useful
• April and June workshops are being planned to
  coordinate expert input and comment
• Industry alliance has been formed
• Planning anniversary of Washington Summit event
  and roll-out of 10-year Implementation Plan for
  broad community review and comment
• Continue education/outreach on the global
  initiative

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