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# The Scientific Assessment and Strategy Team

### Fact Sheet 103-99 (May 1999)

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 || Interagency Participation || EROS Hosts Initial Phase of SAST  || SAST Upper Mississippi River Data Base || || Internet Access to the SAST Data Base  || SAST Distributed Clearinghouse || || Floodplain and River Basin Management  || Major Accomplishments and Activities || Information ||

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| Landsat™ image showing near maximum stage of the1993 flood peak at St. Louis, MO. Dark Blue delineates areas of water. |

The flood of 1993 in the Upper Mississippi River Basin caused wide-spread devastation. Thehuman and economic costs were high. The total flood and other related damage estimates were in the $10 billion to $16billion range, with total Federal expenditures in excess of $5.4 billion. In response to the effects of the flood of 1993, theWhite House established the Scientific Assessment and Strategy Team (SAST) on November 24, 1993. The SAST's goalsare to provide scientific advice and assistance to policymakers and officials responsible for flood recovery and river basinmanagement in the Upper Mississippi River Basin and to prepare a data base to support those goals.

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### Interagency Participation

The SAST exemplifies how Federal agencies can work with each other and with non-Federalorganizations to accomplish national goals. The SAST was an interdisciplinary team of senior scientists and engineers fromthe Department of Agriculture (Natural Resources Conservation Service), Department of Defense (U.S. ArmyCorps of Engineers), Department of the Interior (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey),Environmental Protection Agency, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Initial funding was provided by FEMA,and additional funds were provided through two emergency supplemental appropriations to the U.S. Geological Survey(USGS). Critical assistance was also provided by the Department of Commerce (National Weather Service, Stategovernments, the academic community, private industry, and nongovernment not-for-profit organizations.

### EROS Data Center Hosts Initial Phase of SAST

The SAST received indepth technical and scientific support from the USGS Earth ResourcesObservation Systems (EROS) Data Center (EDC) in Sioux Falls, S. Dak., and met at the EDC for an initial workshop duringDecember 1993 to identify the scope of the problem and to begin to address the many logistical issues that the team wouldencounter. Beginning in early January 1994, the SAST spent a concentrated 10-week period at the EDC, when most of the250 gigabytes of data in the SAST Upper Mississippi data base were compiled. After March 1994, the SAST functionedas a distributed team with members working at their home offices or laboratories. The team disbanded in 1997. Additionalrelated scientific work is being done by former members of the team and other scientists. Former team members are oftencalled upon to provide advice or support in solving regional, national, and international problems.

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### The SAST Upper Mississippi River Data Base

While at the EDC, the SAST built a multiresolution data base covering the geographic extentof the Upper Mississippi River Basin. The most concentrated and complete data are along the floodplains of the upperMississippi and lower Missouri Rivers. These flood-plains represent the areas of greatest interest to policymakersresponsible for reacting to the 1993 flood, maintaining the Federal levee system, and restoring habitat. The data base containsadvanced very high resolution radiometer, Landsat thematic mapper, and other satellite data; elevation data; selecteddigitized photographs; historical channel geometries; synthetic structures; geologic, biologic, hydrologic, hydrographic,soil survey, hazardous, and toxic data; and data on many other topics. Numerous links have been made to otherorganizations, both domestic and international.

### Internet Access to the SAST Data Base

Primary access to the data base is through the Internet using commercial browsers that canaccess data in World Wide Web servers. This allows immediate access to the most current versions of the individual data layersand associated documentation, such as spatial metadata and related publications. For users who do not haveInternet access, selected data sets will be made available on digital media by contacting:

Customer ServicesU.S. Geological SurveyEROS Data CenterSioux Falls, SD  57198Telephone:  605-594-6151

Users can access the SAST data from the following Web site:edc.usgs.gov/sast/

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| The SAST Clearinghouse meets the specifications of theFederal Geographic Data Committee. Both Federal and non-Federal organizations areresponsible for maintaining and distributing data to the user community. |

### The SAST Distributed Clearinghouse for Data and Information

Data maintenance, management, and distribution primarily use the distributed clearinghousemodel. The SAST clearinghouse serves as a prototype for the Federal Geographic Data Committee and helpspromote the National Spatial Data Infrastructure and the National Information Infrastructure. The EDC acts as the central nodeof the SAST clearinghouse. Other Federal, State, local, and tribal governments and nongovernmentorganizations act as nodes on the system. Each node is responsible for maintaining and distributing its own data to the usercommunity. The EDC assists other organizations in designing mechanisms to meet quality assurance, documentation, datacomparability, and distribution requirements.

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| Computer-generated geographic information systemimage of the St. Louis 1:100,000-scale quadrangle. Orange designates levees and greentriangles show toxic release inventory  sites. Light blue shows the flood extent in1993. |

### Floodplain and River Basin Management

The data and information that the SAST has provided to policymakers and floodplainmanagers assisted them in recovery and restoration from the flood of 1993 and will allow them to establish effective river basin andfloodplain management practices for preventing or lessening the effects of future floods. The SAST recommended thatthese management techniques incorporate the needs of both the natural ecosystem and human activity. The analysis,results, and recommendations of the SAST have influenced long-term policy on many issues in the UpperMississippi River Basin. The SAST serves as an example of a comprehensive Federal approach to planning and emergencypreparedness.

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| Crop disaster payments by county in the UpperMississippi River  Basin. Red area show greatest dollar payment amounts. |

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### Major Accomplishments and Activities

- Analysis of preliminary flood insurance payment data in the SAST data base revealed thatmany of the claims were made by people who had only recently purchased flood insurance, some as late as 5 days beforethe flood. This type of information was critical to  helping decisionmakers pass congressional legislation (RiegleCommunity Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994, PL 103-325) to extend the waiting period to 30 days. Thischange will save the Flood Insurance Program millions of dollars while still providing coverage to programparticipants.
- Parts of the SAST data base were used to help find suitable sites to relocate the entire townof Valmeyer, Ill., from the floodplain to the uplands. Valmeyer was almost entirely destroyed in the floods of1993.
- The SAST data base is used to delineate priority habitat areas for restoration. The U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Missouri have used these data extensively to identify and purchase land of high naturalhabitat value. A large parcel of land has already been purchased as part of the Big Muddy WildlifeRefuge.
- The SAST, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and private industry cooperated to collecthigh-resolution, high-accuracy digital elevation models along parts of the floodplains of the upper Mississippi, lower Missouri,and Illinois Rivers.  These data were critical to reproducing more accurate and reliable hydraulic models for the areathan had existed before.  These models are being used to improve floodplain management and protect people, criticalinfrastructure, and natural habitats in the area.
- Studies of land surface and biologic processes on the floodplain have enableddecisionmakers to reassess the economic use of these areas by identifying high-risk zones on the floodplain and high-value habitat restoration sites.
- The SAST produced high-quality map products both on paper and in digital form ofvarious data included in the SAST data base. This information is maintained through the SAST clearing-house and is accessible toeveryone on the Internet or from the EDC.
- The SAST conducted workshops with other Federal agencies, State and local governments,and nongovernment organizations to promote participation in the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) anddistributed clearinghouse concept. The SAST data base is part of the NSDI and contains data from a variety of sources.Management of the data is the responsibility of the Federal or non-Federal organization that owns the particular dataset.
-  A five-volume series containing the scientific findings of the SAST is being published asfollows:
Vol. 1--(Part 5 of "A Blueprint for Change") "Science for Floodplain Managementinto the 21st Century" is out of print,but a digital version is available through the SAST home page.

Vol. 2--"Upper Mississippi River Basin Data Base and Clearing House" is inpreparation.

Vol. 3--"Overview of River-Floodplain Ecology in the Upper Mississippi RiverBasin," 1996.

Vol. 4--"Selected Studies on Natural and Human Factors Related to FloodManagement in the Upper Mississippi River Basin," in press.

Vol. 5--"Proceedings of the Scientific Assessment and Strategy Team Workshop onHydrology, Ecology, and Hydraulics," 1994.

Digital shaded-reflief map showing the topography of theUpper Mississippi River Basin.
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For More Information
For more information on the SAST, contact:

Gary FisherU.S. Geological Survey519 National CenterReston, VA  20192703-648-5165; Fax 703-648-5542E-mail: [email protected]

John KelmelisU.S. Geological Survey519 National CenterReston, VA  20192703-648-4792; Fax 703-648-5542E-mail: [email protected]

For information on these and other USGS products and services, call 1-888-ASK-USGS, or visit the generalinterest publications Web site on mapping, geography, and related topics at erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/pubslists/.

For additional information, visit the ask.usgs.gov Web siteor the USGS home page at www.usgs.gov.
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*This document has undergone official review and approval for publications established by theNational Mapping Division, U.S. Geological Survey. Some figures, have been modified or addedto improve the scientific visualization of information.*

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