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Benefits of GEOSS in Michigan
In Michigan, Earth Observations will:
Enable state and local air quality forecasters to issue to the public more timely, accurate, and site-specific warnings regarding bad air quality so that people (especially the sensitive population) may take prudent actions to protect their health. This information also helps Michigan's officials decide on best air quality management practices.
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.1
Between 1990 and 1997, hospitalizations for asthma in Michigan averaged 10,850 per year for persons aged 0-44 years.2
Aid in transborder air quality efforts between the U.S. and Canada. Sharing ground-truth measures and satellite images will improve understanding of transborder pollution phenomena and better appreciation of Federal and state efforts to reduce air pollutants.
Integrate satellite images and water quality models that will help pinpoint recreational waters impacted by environmental pollutants such as harmful algal blooms and oil spills.
Enhance meteorological modeling of severe weather events, like blizzards, thereby improving Michigan's ability to prepare and respond.
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.3
Track precipitation and soil moisture available to crops to help farmers and foresters adjust management practices for optimal yields.
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.
Monitor temperature and moisture to predict mosquito population and related outbreaks.
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.4
Help predict how changing environmental conditions affect fish and aquatic health in Michigan's lakes and streams and help sustain a financial (national) income of $3.4 billion for commercial fishing and $20 billion in recreational fishing each year.
The economic value added to the national economy by the commercial fishing industry is approximately $28.5 billion yearly.5
Aid in meteorological predictions of El Nino events and other high and lower water years; thereby, hoping to manage drought years, major spring floods, and water levels in streams and lakes that receive snow and rain runoff.
Overall, the 1997-1998 El Niño is estimated to have had total U.S. economic impacts on the order of $25 billion.6
1 U.S. Centers for Disease Control
2 Ibid.
3 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
4 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.
5 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.
6 Changnon, Stanley A., ed. El Niño 1997-1998; The Climate Event of the Century, Oxford University Press, 2000.