Benefits of GEOSS in Texas

In Texas, Earth Observations will:

Help expand the ability to track and model natural disasters (such as hurricanes and storms). Through Earth observations, Florida 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.

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 from Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico.

Enable state and local air quality forecasters to issue to the public more timely, accurate, and site-specific warnings about episodes of poor air quality so that people (especially the sensitive population) may take prudent actions to protect their health.

It is estimated that by the year 2010, $10B and 65,000 jobs will have been saved by Texas' revisions of their air quality management plan, according to an independent economic analysis by the University of Chicago and University of Houston. The revisions were made based on NOAA's discoveries of previously unexpected factors that cause the Houston area to experience the highest ozone levels in the nation.³

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

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 diseases and invasive species such as tobacco blue mold, and predict where the disease/species will spread based on our knowledge of the climate, soil, and the mold itself.

Track effects of global change. Integration of international data sets into Earth observations 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

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

Travel and tourism is the Nation's 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.⁵

Track water temperatures, harmful algal blooms, invasive species, and other environmental factors affecting the estuaries and other shoreline communities.

Economic impact of harmful algal blooms in United States average annually $49 million but individual outbreaks can cause economic damage that exceeds the annual average.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

³ Tolley, George and Smith, Bruce, An Economic Evaluation of Alternative Strategies Cleaning Up Houston's Act, Final Report to Greater Houston Partnership from RCF, Inc. January, 2001.

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 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.

⁶ 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.

Benefits of GEOSS in Texas

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