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Benefits of GEOSS in Virginia

In Virginia, Earth Observations will:

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

Give Virginians information during natural disasters 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 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.

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. 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.3

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.4

Integrate satellite images and water quality models that will help pinpoint beach areas impacted by environmental pollutants such as aquatic blooms and oil spills.

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 the United States average annually $49 million but individual outbreaks can cause economic damage that exceeds the annual average. Outbreaks in Chesapeake Bay (1997) cost the Maryland (a relevant neighboring state) seafood and recreational fishing industries almost $50 million in just a few months.6

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 nationally.7

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 US estuaries and 12 percent of ocean shoreline waters unfit for uses such as swimming, fishing, or supporting aquatic life.8

Monitor wetlands to locate places that are good candidates to promote additional wetlands and monitor wetland conservation programs to help increase the quantity, variety, and functions of wetlands.

Monitor beaches and evaluate swimming and recreational waters on a daily basis to identify conditions that could cause sickness.

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.9



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 U.S. Centers for Disease Control

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

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.

7 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.

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

9 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 Administration, NOAA Oceans and Coasts, Special Projects Office. Website: http://marineeconomics.noaa.gov.

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