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Benefits of GEOSS in Tribal Nations

In Tribal Nations, Earth Observations will:

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 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

Children with asthma miss more than 14 million school days annually and asthma accounts for an estimated 14.5 million lost work days per year.2

Increase tribal subsistence hunters' success and safety with better access to data such as sea ice thickness and fisheries information.

Enhance monitoring of snow pack and snow melt allowing ski resorts and water managers in Colorado to better predict the impacts on resort management, and water management systems.

Monitor local ground water supplies and surrounding facilities to protect groundwater resources.

Help expand the ability to track and model natural disasters such as hurricanes and storms. Through Earth observations, tribes will 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.

The average annual damage from tornadoes and hurricanes is $6.2 billion nationally, of which:

Help tribal nations exercise sovereignty by allowing emergency responders to pinpoint the location of technological accidents and oil spills. Water monitoring and satellite imagery can help clean-up crews respond faster and to avoid hazards as they work.

Prevention of another major oil spill similar to the Exxon Valdez is valued at approximately $3 billion to the U.S. public (1990 dollars).4

Give tribal nations 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 nationally.5

Track water temperatures, harmful algal blooms, invasive species, and other environmental factors affecting the lakes, fisheries, and recreational waters.

The economic impact of harmful algal blooms in the United States average annually $49 million 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.6

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.7

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 to all sectors of the economy of between $6-8 billion.8

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.

1 U.S. Centers for Disease Control

2 CDC. Surveillance for asthma: United States, 1980-1999. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2002;51(SS01):1-13

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 A Contingent Valuation Study of Lost Passive Use Values Resulting from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Inc., La Jolla, Calif., November, 1992.

5 Ibid

6 Cite: 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.

7 Cite: 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.

8 Cite: 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.

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