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Benefits of GEOSS in Illinois

In Illinois, 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

Asthma deaths in the Chicago area increased by 250 percent between the years 1979 and 1996. Chicago and other high-risk communities in Illinois exceed the national average for pediatric asthma rates, with approximately one out of six children diagnosed with the disease.2

Enhance meteorological modeling of small-scale weather events, precipitation and storm tracking; create a better understanding of soil moisture available to crops; and understand weather-related crop damage and its extent.

Average annual damage from tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods is $11.4 billion nationally, of which:

Help manage large and small farms by providing better local and regional scale temperature, rainfall, and soil moisture information. With Earth observations information, farmers can decide the rate of fertilizer application, placement of seeds, and use of irrigation to maximize crop yield and minimize crop damage.

Aid in tornado preparation by using satellite data, weather models, Doppler radar and other information thereby reducing natural disaster impacts.

The costliest U.S. tornado outbreak caused nearly $1.6 billion in insured losses on May 3-7, 1999, with the greatest losses in the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma area.4

Promote reduction of erosion and other non-point sources of pollution in many watersheds and help to reduce agricultural runoff, sediment, urban contributions, and fecal coliform bacteria contributions to rivers, lakes, streams and other waters.

Provide more accurate weather forecasting and save the state millions of dollars in heating and cooling costs.

The value of understanding the interrelationships between weather variables and electric load can save a small utility at least $0.5 M annually through improved temperature forecasts.5

Protect surface and underground drinking water sources through water quality monitoring and land use data.

Protect watersheds through water quality monitoring and mapping of land cover changes thereby protecting sources of water for agriculture, forestry, and human uses.

Track water temperatures, harmful algal blooms, invasive species, and other environmental factors affecting the state's lakes and streams.

1 U.S. Centers for Disease Control

2 Illinois Department of Public Health, "Addressing Asthma in Illinois, 2000"

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 Insurance Information Institute, 2002. http://www.disasterinformation.org

5 Tribble, A.N., 2003: The relationship between weather variables and electricity demand to improve short-term load forecasting. Ph. D. dissertation, School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, 221 pp., from Building The National Cooperative Mesonet: Program Development Plan For COOP Modernization dated October 2003.

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