Jump to main content.

Benefits of GEOSS in Delaware

In Delaware, Earth Observations will:

Help expand the ability to track storms and precipitation. Through Earth observations, Delaware can have near real-time monitoring that will improve storm 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:

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. By 2005, ozone forecasts will be made available along the entire East Coast and by 2009, particulate matter forecasts will be made available.

It is estimated that 31 million Americans including 9 million children have asthma. Ground level ozone in the summer time is the chief cause for poor air quality warnings and human exposure to ozone is known to aggravate asthma. Another component of air, airborne particulate matter, is associated with increased hospital admissions and emergency room visits for people with heart and lung disease and increased work and school absences. 2

Track water temperatures, invasive species, and other environmental factors affecting the Delaware Estuary.

Aid in aquifer protection and prevent contamination of drinking water sources in states like Delaware that rely largely on groundwater as a drinking water supply. Furthermore, monitoring local ground water supplies and surrounding facilities protects groundwater resources.

Help poultry farmers in Delaware track agricultural runoff and pollution using water quality measures and/or satellite images.

Evaluate stress in crops through satellite monitoring of soil moisture and tracking of plant diseases and invasive species.

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 Nation's GDP, or $3 trillion, ranging from finance, insurance, and real estate to services, retail and wholesale trade and manufacturing.4

Provide more accurate weather forecasting and save Delaware 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.5

Protect watersheds through water quality monitoring and mapping of land cover changes; thereby, protecting sources of water for agriculture, forestry, and human uses.

Economic activity in coastal regions is very large. Seventy-five percent of the nation's Gross State Product came from the coastal states in 2000. Almost half of the national economy came from the coastal watershed counties, and more than one-third came from those counties in which states operate their Coastal Zone Management programs. The near shore area, which is four percent of the nation's land, produces more than 11 percent of the nation's economic output.6

Promote reduction of erosion and other non-point sources of pollution in many watersheds, and help to reduce sediment, urban contributions, and fecal coliform bacteria contributions to rivers, lakes, streams and other waters, and potentially reduce phosphorus and nitrogen contributions to waters.

Pollution has rendered 44 percent of tested United States estuaries and 12 percent of ocean shoreline waters unfit for uses such as swimming, fishing, or supporting aquatic life.7



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 U.S. Centers for Disease Control

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 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.

5 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.

6 National Ocean Economics Project, www.oceaneconomics.org.

7 Health of the Oceans Report 2002, The Ocean Conservancy, http://www.oceanconservancy.org/

Local Navigation

Jump to main content.