Benefits of GEOSS in Alabama

In Alabama, Earth Observations will:

Help expand the ability to track and model natural disasters (such as hurricanes and storms). Through Earth observations, Alabama can have near real-time monitoring that will improve storm and hurricane forecasts and help to dramatically reduce the cost of damage to property and human life.

Average annual damage from tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods is $11.4 billion nationally, of which:

hurricanes average $5.1 billion and 20 deaths per year;

floods account for $5.2 billion, and average over 80 deaths per year; and,

tornadoes cause $1.1 billion in damages.¹

Give us information on flooding, road loss, and extent of property damage, as well as facilitate clean-up activities. Ground monitors, models, and satellite images give emergency responders and relief crews ways to respond faster (with more geographic precision) and avoid hazards themselves.

The average annual damage from floods is $5.2 billion and over 80 deaths per year.²

Help integrate multiple data sets in order to understand complex problems such as too many nutrients in the system and to promote sustainability of resources in the coastal zone, i.e., runoff into the Gulf of Mexico.

Track water temperatures, harmful algal blooms, invasive species, and other environmental factors affecting the Gulf of Mexico coastal areas.

The economic impact of harmful algal blooms in the United States average $49 million annually but individual outbreaks can cause economic damage that exceeds the annual average. For example, outbreaks in Chesapeake Bay in 1997 cost the Maryland seafood and recreational fishing industries almost $50 million in just a few months.³

Pinpoint coastal areas impacted by erosion, weather, and environmental pollutants.

Travel and tourism is the United States' largest employer and second largest contributor to the GDP, generating over $700 billion annually. Beaches are the leading tourist destination, with coastal states earning 85 percent of all U.S. tourism revenues. Approximately 180 million people vacation and recreate along U.S. coasts every year.⁴

Help farmers determine the best rate application of fertilizers and placement of seeds by use of detailed sampling of fields to characterize yields, variable soils and variable fertility.

Monitor soil moisture and meteorology through satellite technology to evaluate drought stress in crops for agriculture and forestry.

Drought is estimated to result in average annual losses nationally to all sectors of the economy of between $6-8 billion.⁵

Benefit agriculture by monitoring rates of fertilizer application, field fertility, and plant diseases, thereby making sustainable agriculture more manageable for both large and small scale farmers.

Help track plant disease and invasive species affecting cotton and vegetable crops and predict where disease will spread based on out knowledge of the climate, soil and the pest organism.

Track effects of global change. Integration of international Earth observation data sets will help us detect signs of global warming, including sea level rise and coastal degradation.

Weather and climate sensitive industries, both directly and indirectly, account for about one-third of the Nations' GDP, or $3 trillion, ranging from finance, insurance, and real estate to services, retail and wholesale trade and manufacturing.⁶

¹ National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Environmental and Societal Impacts Group, and the Atmospheric Policy Program of the American Meteorological Society, 2001, Extreme Weather Sourcebook 2001: Economic and Other Societal Impacts Related to Hurricanes, Floods, Tornadoes, Lightning, and Other U.S. Weather Phenomena, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo. Available only online at http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/sourcebook/data.html

² Ibid

³ Hoagland, D.M. Anderson, Y. Kaoru and A.W. White. August 2002. The economic effects of harmful algal blooms in the United States: estimates, assessment issues, and information needs. Estuaries 25 (4b): 819- 837.

⁴ Leeworthy, Vernon R., Preliminary Estimates from Versions 1-6: Coastal Recreation Participation, National Survey on Recreation and the Environment (NSRE) 2000, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-istration, NOAA Oceans and Coasts, Special Projects Office. Website: http://marineeconomics.noaa.gov.

⁵ Economic Impacts of Drought and the Benefits of NOAA's Drought Forecasting Services, NOAA Magazine, September 17, 2002. Website: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/magazine/stories/mag51.htm.

⁶ Dutton, John A., Opportunities and priorities in a new era for weather and climate services, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, September 2002, volume 83, no. 9, pp 1303-1311.

Benefits of GEOSS in Alabama

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