Benefits of GEOSS in Kentucky

In Kentucky, Earth Observations will:

Help Kentucky track plant diseases and invasive species, such as tobacco blue mold, by satellite, and predict where it will go based on our knowledge of the climate, soil, and the mold itself.

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

Evaluate stress in crops through satellite monitoring of soil moisture and tracking of plant diseases and invasive species.

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

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.²

Protect watersheds, which benefits agriculture and forestry, by monitoring water quality and mapping land cover changes.

Aid in stormwater management in growth areas. GEOSS' large collection of rainfall data and forecasting tools can benefit Kentucky in its efforts to track storms, plan for drought, and manage wet weather runoff.

Average annual damage from floods is $5.2 billion and over 80 deaths per year.³

Help track West Nile virus and Lyme disease through spatial analyses of environmental conditions, organisms, and people and places affected.

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

Reduce non-point source pollution in watersheds and help reduce sediment, urban runoff, and fecal coliform bacteria contributions to rivers lakes, stream and other waters.

¹ U.S. Centers for Disease Control

² Cite: 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.

³ Cite: 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

Benefits of GEOSS in Kentucky

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