# Presentation: 281718

## GEOSS

- VADM Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr. US Navy (Ret.)
- Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and AtmosphereNOAA Administrator
- June 24 2005

- Global Earth Observing System of Systems

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

- SCIENCESERVINGSOCIETY

**Notes:**
Thank you Patricio.  Good morning colleagues and friends, and thank you for allowing me to present to you as a Co-chair of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO).  In particular, allow me to take this opportunity to thank IOC Executive Director Patricio Bernal for his fine leadership at this challenging time following the December 26th earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

I welcome the opportunity to share with you the considerable progress achieved toward creating the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), particularly in light of the Assembly’s consideration of the global ocean observing system’s (GOOS) role in GEOSS.  
The IOC and GEO share a common goal to produce societal benefits through more coordinated observations, better data management, and increased data sharing.  Over time, GEOSS will provide an important scientific basis for sound policy and decision making in every sector of our society including energy, public health, agriculture, transportation and numerous other areas that shape the quality of everyday life.  In addition, it will enhance our capability to address natural disasters throughout the world. 

## GEOSS History

- Earth Observation Summit III February 2005, Brussels
- Nearly 60 Countries + EC and 34 International Organizations
- 10-Year Implementation Plan
- Official Group on Earth Observations (GEO) established
- Coordinated response to Indian Ocean Tsunami

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

**Notes:**
Since the initial Earth Observation Summit in Washington, DC, the number of participating countries and organizations has nearly doubled, a Ten-Year Implementation Plan has been created, the official Group on Earth Observations (GEO) has been established, and priority has been given to coordinating our efforts to respond to the tragic December 26 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean region.

## GEOSS And GOOS

- December 17, 2004
- Executive Order: Committee on Ocean Policy
- http://ocean.ceq.gov

- U.S. IOOS

- GOOS

- GEOSS

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

**Notes:**
The United States has made progress within its own framework for improving GEOSS, which will enable us to improve understanding of the oceans, atmosphere and land.  The U.S. Ocean Action Plan was published in December 2004 as the Bush Administration response to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy.  The plan states clearly its support for GEOSS, GOOS and the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS).  The plan calls for development of international capacity building through working with the Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS) program of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).  GLOSS helps build capacity in developing countries for installing and operating tide-gauges, and for utilizing the resulting data to address societal needs.  The Plan recognizes and emphasizes lifelong education as a key to successful ocean stewardship through development of informed policy-makers and an informed public.  The SEAREAD project implemented by the Pacific Island GOOS program is an example of a project focusing on secondary school students in order to generate awareness and discussion among students, teachers and communities in subjects such as global ocean observing systems, climate change, sea level rise,and the local impacts of these dynamics.  The U.S. national ocean policy structure has been streamlined and the administration supports continued improvements in GEOSS.
GEOSS will succeed by building on existing systems such as the Global Ocean Observing System by focusing the attention of world leaders on the capabilities of GEO members and participating organizations to identify and fill capability gaps.  Existing programs and initiatives will thus become critical components of the GEOSS, while GEOSS helps to move them from serving scientists to serving society.  In particular, GEO has established two, six and ten year targets to  build capacity by coordinating global partnerships to enhance implementation of observing systems. 

## What is GEOSS?

- Comprehensive
- Coordinated
- Sustained
- An end-to-end system of existing systems (both in situ and remote sensing observation platforms)linked with new systems

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

**Notes:**
GEOSS will be comprehensive, by including observations and products gathered from all components required to serve the needs of participating members.  GEOSS will be coordinated, in terms of leveraging resources of individual contributing members to accomplish this system, whose total capacity is greater than the sum of its parts.  GEO will also be sustained, by the collective and individual will and capacity of participating members.
Deriving benefits from GEOSS requires international cooperation and much is linked to observing our oceans.  Recent advances in IOOS have led to an operational harmful algal bloom forecast for the Gulf of Mexico along Florida’s west coast.  Improve prediction, tracking, and forecasting of toxins in our oceans benefits fisheries, human health and ecosystems.  
Better real-time understanding of tides, currents, salinity, and temperature can translate into millions of dollars of benefits for the shipping industry in port areas around the world.   A preliminary economic study of one of our major seaports in Florida (Tampa Bay) indicates over a $4M annual benefit from increased cargo loading and grounding avoidance using such a real-time observation system. 

## Earth Observations Value: Agriculture

- Earth Observations Value: Agriculture

- Drought costs in U.S. = $6-8B annually

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

**Notes:**
A comprehensive system of Earth observations will supply critical information, allowing us to predict and plan for droughts and other phenomena affecting our agricultural outputs. Estimates of costs associated with drought in the United States alone range from $6 to $8 billion annually.  However, if we knew years in advance that these patterns would be occurring, we could take necessary precautions such as crop planting decisions, seed selection, and fertilizer application to mitigate the impacts.

## Earth Observations Value: Disaster Mitigation

- FLOATS

- GAUGES

- BUOYS

- Better ocean observations = more accurate forecasts & effective warnings

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

**Notes:**
Disaster mitigation is a key focus area for GEOSS.  Better ocean observations—tide gauges, buoys, sensors - whose data is transferred in real time among interoperable systems will allow us to forecast with more accuracy and issue more effective warnings to coastal communities.   A great example of integrating different data streams within the context of GEOSS can be taken from the enhancement of tide gauge data collection technology to provide vital information to the Tsunami warning network.  These technology upgrades to existing tide gauges allow for high rate data sampling (one minute versus six minute) and automatic data transfer to warning coordinators during Tsunami events.  These changes are critical to providing timely tsunami warnings and verifications.
Of course, the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean highlighted the importance of not just observations but of a warning system.  IOC’s leadership in convening two International Coordination Meetings for the Development of a Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System for the Indian Ocean is an important catalyst to new regional and UN system wide collaboration. It is imperative that we move forward on tsunami issues while they still hold the world’s attention.  UNESCO Director General Matsuura expressed his support for developing a global tsunami warning system within the GEOSS framework.  And as UNEP Executive Director Toepfer has highlighted ,an early warning system must include all hazards, not just tsunami.  The benefit of GEO is that it facilitates cost-effective, system integration across diverse in-situ and remote sensing observing platforms to enable us to build a multi-hazard warning system to protect and sustain society. 

## GEOSS Implementation

- Data Management Needs
- New systems mean 100-fold increase in data
- Current systems already face challenges
- Development of browser and visualization systems— underpinned by core geospatial technologies
- Interoperability through protocols and standards

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

**Notes:**
Implementation is the key to GEO’s success.  An all-hazards warning system, based on the immense benefits it would offer the world, is one of GEO’s first real challenges.  Another near-term challenge is the development of plans for better management of Earth observation data.  Our individual agencies’ current data management systems are already challenged to process current data streams.  New observation systems will lead to a 100-fold increase in Earth observation data.  The 10-Year Implementation Plan adopted at the Brussels Summit noted that GEOSS “will facilitate, within 2 years, the development and availability of shared data, metadata, and products commonly required across diverse societal benefit areas.”  Only by viewing observations as part of an end-to-end process will we fully maximize their utility.  
At the recent GEO-I meeting in Geneva, (May 3-4, 2005), IOC Executive Secretary Patricio Bernal presented an update on global tsunami early warning capabilities.  Participants underscored the need to address the challenges to implementation of a global tsunami warning system, such as interoperability among national and regional systems, data and technology standards, and the importance of timely and open exchange of data. 

## GEO IGeneva, Switzerland

- First meeting of new GEO at WMO headquarters in early May
- IOC Update on Global Tsunami Early Warning Capabilities
- Elected GEO Executive Committee
- Begin Implementation of 10-year Plan
- Next report to GEO in December 2005

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

**Notes:**
The GEO structure is evolving to take on these challenges.  The newly-elected Executive Committee convened its first meeting following the GEO-I meeting, and met again earlier this month to focus on selecting a director for the secretariat and building a committee structure to begin the task of implementation of the 10-Year Plan.  In its first year, GEO will continue to address such core institutional issues as funding, staffing, and governance, and will begin the true work of creating a coordinated and comprehensive global observing system of systems.  GEO will have a small staff, supported in part by generous in-kind support provided by its hosts, WMO and the Swiss government, and other donors. 
The GEO Executive Committee recognizes that without the strong involvement of organizations such as IOC, the GEOSS initiative will not be able to grow and build on the successes of initiatives such as GOOS.  Participating organizations are GEO’s key source of scientific and technical expertise.  As the permanent GEO moves forward, the Executive Committee will ensure that mechanisms are in place to give research communities formal and ongoing input into setting GEO’s direction.  The Implementation Plan contains hundreds of not just ten-year and six-year goals, but two-year goals that we will work aggressively to achieve.  The new GEO committees will report to GEO at its second full meeting in December. 

## U.S. Contribution to GEOSSAn Interagency Effort

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

**Notes:**
Of course, successful implementation requires not just international collaboration among the many stakeholders, but also internal, interagency collaboration in each nation.  In the United States, we have created a U.S. Group on Earth Observations to coordinate Earth observation activities and policies across 15 government agencies and 3 White House offices.  One early outcome of the U.S. interagency effort is the recently published Strategic Plan for the U.S. Integrated Earth Observing System. 

## IEOS and GEOSSA System of Systems

- U.S. IEOS

- U.S. IOOS

- GOOS

- Ocean Component of U.S. IEOS

- Ocean Component of GOOS

- U.S. Component

- U.S. Component

- GEOSS

- IEOS and GEOSSA System of Systems

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

**Notes:**
This strategic plan builds on other interagency coordination efforts, such as the plan for a U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS).  IOOS is both the ocean component of the U.S. Integrated Earth Observing Plan and the U.S. component of GOOS – and it all comes together in GEOSS.  This degree of coordination presents many challenges, but it is necessary for our efforts to be effective. 

## Other National Earth Observation Efforts

- Other countries are following the lead of the US and Europe in developing their own national integration structures:
- Canada
- China
- Japan
- Morocco
- South Africa

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

**Notes:**
Canada, China, Japan, Morocco and South Africa are just some of the countries that I am aware of that have undertaken similar internal coordination initiatives, but I have urged all nations participating in GEO to explore the development of their own national programs. 

## Thanks for your efforts!

- Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission

**Notes:**
GEO would not exist today without the high-level political commitment of all of the participating nations.  For those of you who have been involved, I thank you and commend you for your efforts.  For those who have not, I encourage you to join GEO and get involved in helping us address the ongoing challenges.   The IOC has been a leader in transcending national boundaries and building concensus.  I am most grateful for IOC participation and support for GEO and GEOSS.  The GOOS is a most critical and fundamental component of GEOSS.  
Over the next decade, I believe we will look back at this period and recognize what an enormous turning point it represents in the scientific understanding of our planet.  The goal of every country participating in GEO is to ensure that this understanding leads to improved operational capabilities that will be put to work for the benefit of people throughout the world and the economies on which they depend. 
Once again, thank you for allowing me to address the relationship between the GEO and the GOOS.