[MONITORING]{.underline} [ACTION PLAN]{.underline}

Goal / Issue:

Evaluate the status, needs, and opportunities for USGS monitoring

Monitoring is the foundation for scientific discovery. It provides the
opportunity to develop an understanding of processes, determine the
effects of forcing functions on those processes, evaluate the effects of
change, predict potential changes, communicate and, when appropriate,
warn those affected of impending changes in a timely manner. Without
adequate monitoring procedures and systems, science cannot advance and
the greatest benefits of science cannot be realized by society.
Additionally, many partners and others use information from monitoring
systems for day-to-day operations and decision making for resource
management.

The USGS conducts a variety of monitoring activities from local to
global scales; continuously, periodically, or a-periodically; and
in-situ, or remotely. Data are acquired from systems such as Earth
observing satellites, seismic networks and stream flow gauges. Phenomena
monitored are many and varied including water quantity and quality,
earthquakes, volcanic activity and landslides, wildlife health and
habitat, land surface structure, land cover, fire fuels, invasive
species, and the geomagnetic field of the earth. These data, collected
and archived in ways to ensure high quality and long-term consistency,
are essential for USGS and external user applications. As recognized in
the 2001 Review of the USGS by the NRC: "Long-term databases are one of
the USGS's most important contributions to the nation, and care must be
taken not to disrupt them." (Future Roles and Opportunities for the U.S.
Geological Survey, National Academy Press, 2001, p. 142). Only a federal
agency can ensure both national consistency and long-term availability
of monitoring information.

Although the USGS does an admirable job with existing limited resources,
some monitoring activities are becoming dated or difficult to maintain
as systems age and new technologies emerge, and others are in jeopardy
of being interrupted, reduced, or discontinued. Moreover, the data
collected are not always stored in unified or easily accessible
databases. At the same time, the Nation's need for enhanced monitoring,
including that collected and used in real-time, increases. More and more
internal and external information needs are going unmet. However, new
strategies and technologies are creating new opportunities: to improve
the efficiency and effectiveness of monitoring, to link scientific
activities across programs, and to increase the value of data gathered
by monitoring efforts.

Priority Actions Needed:

Priority actions are needed in a variety of areas to improve, update,
and coordinate USGS monitoring activities, and increase the value of the
information obtained.

Guidance:

The Director's Annual Guidance should call for the development of a
bureau-wide strategy to use, improve, and enhance USGS monitoring. An
evaluation of the current status, needs, and opportunities of monitoring
activities across all USGS programs should be undertaken. This
evaluation should recognize the breadth and diversity of existing USGS
monitoring activities, the value of internal and external partnerships,
and the needs and opportunities for improving USGS monitoring
capabilities. Consideration must be given to maintaining the integrity
of long-term databases and monitoring systems, strengthening
programmatic applications, and ensuring that internal and external user
needs are met or exceeded. It should also charge programs to develop
monitoring plans that address database access and long term archiving.

Program Direction:

Annual Program Direction should, using specific examples of synergy
between or among monitoring activities, charge program coordinators to
generalize and apply these concepts to their programs' activities. In
addition, the Annual Program Direction should:

1.  Call for Program Coordinators to cooperate on producing a report
    that describes the current breadth and diversity of USGS monitoring.
    Programs should identify unmet needs of monitoring activities and
    opportunities to cooperate in data acquisition, new methods and
    technologies, and information storage, analyses, and retrieval.
    Because the USGS's major monitoring programs are national in scope,
    there is no single geographic area that is best for this
    cooperation. However, there may be specific locations, or there may
    be specific types of monitoring technologies, methodologies, or
    strategies through which monitoring activities and results could be
    shared, integrated, or otherwise enhanced within existing program
    activities or plans..

2.  Charge those programs with major investments in monitoring to lead
    the effort, with participation from all programs. Consideration
    should be given to the observatory concept and an enterprise
    solution to monitoring needs.

3.  Encourage the exploitation of existing capabilities and determine
    benefits of transferring monitoring techniques by other programs.
    For example, the Geographic Analysis and Monitoring (GAM) program
    uses a flood and drought monitoring system in Africa as part of the
    Famine Early Warning System (FEWS). The FEWS monitoring system could
    be tested, in cooperation with the National Stream Information
    Program (NSIP), to determine its usefulness in the data rich
    environment of the United States. The Earthquake Program uses the
    Earthworm system for real-time collection and distribution of
    seismic data. The Volcano Hazards program is currently implementing
    and adapting this system for the varied data rates used in volcano
    monitoring and the Volcano and Land Remote Sensing Programs are
    partnering with one another and with other agencies to implement
    InSAR monitoring. Other programs should seek opportunities for
    future testing, transfer, and integration or monitoring techniques
    and systems.

4.  Call for the integration of existing stand-alone data sets into more
    comprehensive National databases. For example, the South Florida
    Ecosystem Project has been collecting high accuracy elevation data
    for years; after the 1993 floods the Scientific Assessment and
    Strategy Team collected high resolution and high accuracy data of
    the floodplains of parts of the Missouri, Mississippi, and Illinois
    Rivers; and various programs throughout the USGS have collected
    LIDAR data for tests and for individual projects. All of these data
    should be integrated into the National Elevation Database. That
    database could be modified to store current and historic data so
    morphological changes could be assessed. This element could require
    new funding to be successful.

5-year Plans:

All programs should explicitly address monitoring needs and planned
activities, including data storage and retrieval strategies, and
requirements for hardware and software, information infrastructure
development, and proposed modifications to existing databases to support
the program's needs. As the five-year plans are being developed, program
coordinators should interact with other programs to identify
opportunities to improve their own or others monitoring capabilities or
to share operational activities to reduce costs or enhance results.
Archival plans and responsibilities for data gathered through monitoring
activities should be explicitly addressed. .

Long term:

In the long-term, programs must strive to maximize limited funding for
monitoring by developing and fostering partnerships with each other, the
Regions, and external partners. National databases should be utilized
and appropriate funding should be sought and shared to develop and
maintain these databases for long-term data availability and
consistency. Although it will be important to maintain separate programs
for a variety of reasons, it may also be desirable to have a bureau-wide
monitoring initiative to further enhance our ability to obtain
complimentary information and to expand our monitoring capabilities.
Understanding that it may take several years to build support for a
robust enterprise wide monitoring initiative, the groundwork should be
laid during the FY 2005 initiative process. This should include
currently known monitoring needs and capabilities (from the proposed
report), and a proposed plan to modernize our monitoring activities and
information infrastructure. The long term strategy should enlist
partners, cooperators and customers to help educate the department,
administration, and congress on its importance. A bureau monitoring
initiative should be inclusive of all USGS programs ranging from hazards
and remote sensing to invasives and surface water resources. The focus
of such an initiative should be to raise the level of all USGS
monitoring capabilities, including the adoption of new technologies in
sensing and in data transmission, and new strategies for access,
distribution and storage.