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Benefits of GEOSS in Arizona
In Arizona, Earth Observations will:
Enable state and local air quality forecasters to issue more timely, accurate, and site-specific warnings about episodes of poor air quality to the public so that people (especially the sensitive population) may take prudent actions to protect their health.
Asthma, a chronic respiratory disorder, affects an estimated 316,200 Arizona residents in 1998.1 Nationally, asthma affects more than 15 million people including five million children.2
In 2000, the 15 states with the highest rates of current asthma prevalence were Arizona, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.3
Be critical to wildfire management by improving wildfire prediction, improving fire tracking, improving prediction of fire and smoke plume movement, and improving fire response coordination. Earth observations will also help estimate emergency costs for lost property and habitat, response/fire fighting, and rebuilding, as well as the economic costs of human health impact from smoke inhalation.
Severe fire seasons due to drought and frequent winds can result in billions of dollars in damages. The Western Fire Season of Spring-Summer 2000 resulted in nearly seven million acres burned and an estimated $2 billion in damage costs (includes fire suppression).4
Monitor drought conditions for agriculture and forestry and help farmers, agribusiness, and local water management authorities better manage water resources.
Drought is estimated to result in average annual losses to all sectors of the economy of between $6-8 billion.5
Aid in aquifer protection and the prevention of contamination of drinking water sources in states like Arizona that rely partly on groundwater as a drinking water supply.
Help protect fish and wildlife by tracking water quality in the state's waters.
Approximately 17 million Americans engage in marine fishing as a recreational activity and spend approximately $25 billion per year on fishing related activities.6
Help expand the ability to track storms and precipitation. Through Earth observations, Arizona can have near real-time monitoring that will improve storm forecasts, flash flood warnings, and help reduce the cost of damage to property and human life. The North American Monsoon is responsible for two third of Arizona's annual rainfall. Earth Observations will help the NOAA Climate Prediction Center do a better job of forecasting precipitation and enabling water resource managers to develop better public supply strategies.
Average annual damage from tornadoes and floods is $6.3 billion nationally, of which:
- floods account for $5.2 billion, and average over 80 deaths per year; and,
- tornadoes cause $1.1 billion in damages.7
Provide more accurate weather forecasting and save the state millions of dollars in heating and cooling costs.
The value of understanding the interrelationships between weather variables and electric load can save a small utility at least $0.5 M annually through improved temperature forecasts.8
Protect watersheds, which benefit agriculture and forestry, by monitoring water quality and mapping land cover changes.
Protect surface and underground drinking water sources through water quality monitoring and land use data.
Deliver a large volume and variety of data and datasets into the Regional Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) model which, in turn, will allow city and county planners to determine a desired balance in their planning activities between protecting air, water, land, and natural resources.
1 Arizona Department of Health Services, www.hs.state.az.us/phs/oncdps/asthma/
2 U.S. EPA.
3 CDC. Self-reported asthma prevalence among adults: United States, 2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. August 17, 2001;50(32):682-686.
4 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.
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 Fisheries of the United States, 2000, 2001, 2002, http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/. Marine Angler Expenditures in the Northeast Region 1998. NOAA Tech Memo No. NMFS-F/SPO-47.
7 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
8 Tribble, A.N., 2003: The relationship between weather variables and electricity demand to improve short-term load forecasting. Ph. D. dissertation, School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, 221 pp., from Building The National Cooperative Mesonet: Program Development Plan For COOP Modernization dated October 2003