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Benefits of GEOSS in Maryland

In Maryland, Earth Observations will:

Expand the ability to track and model natural disasters such as hurricanes and storms. Through Earth observations, the state can have near real-time monitoring that will improve storm and hurricane forecasts and help to dramatically reduce the cost of damage to property and human life. After a disaster event, Earth observations can give us information on flooding, road loss, and extent of property damage, as well as facilitate clean-up activities. Ground monitors, models, and satellite images give emergency responders and relief crews ways to respond faster with more geographic precision and avoid hazards themselves.

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

Benefit Maryland in its efforts to track storms, plan for drought, and manage wet weather runoff.

Drought is estimated to result in average annual losses to all sectors of the economy of between $6-8 billion.2

Help emergency responders pinpoint the location of technological accidents and oil spills, like the one on the Patuxent River several years ago. Water monitoring and satellite imagery can help clean-up crews respond faster and to avoid hazards as they work.

Prevention of another major oil spill similar to the Exxon Valdez is valued at approximately $3 billion to the U.S. public (1990 dollars).3

Aid decision-makers by providing integrated information regarding key environmental factors such as water temperatures, harmful algal blooms, and invasive species affecting the Chesapeake Bay.

Economic impact of harmful algal blooms in United States average $49 million annually but individual outbreaks can cause economic damage that collectively exceed the annual average. Outbreaks in Chesapeake Bay (1997) cost the Maryland seafood and recreational fishing industries almost $50 million in just a few months.4

Advance land use planning, development, and tracking land use changes to predict water runoff, flooding, stream water quality, and water supplies. This, in turn, allows us to determine the amount of plant ecosystems and animal habitats that are being lost over time.

Aid in aquifer protection and the prevention of contamination of drinking water sources in states like Maryland that rely largely on groundwater as a drinking water supply. Furthermore, Earth observations will help in monitoring local ground water supplies and surrounding facilities to protect groundwater resources.

Provide a large volume and variety of data and datasets to the Regional Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) model which, in turn, will allow city and county planners to determine a desired balance of protecting air, water, land, or natural resources as they plan community growth.

Travel and tourism is the Nation's largest employer and second largest contributor to the GDP, generating over $700 billion annually. Beaches are the leading tourist destination, with coastal states earning 85 percent of all U.S. tourism revenues. Approximately 180 million people vacation and recreate along U.S. coasts every year.5

Enable state and local air quality forecasters to issue more timely, accurate, and site-specific warnings regarding poor air quality to the public so that people (especially the sensitive population) may take prudent actions to protect their health. Earth observations will also help state officials decide on the best air quality management practices.

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.

Track and forecast diseases such as the West Nile virus through known conditions, organisms, and the spread of the disease; and Lyme disease through geographic analyses of people and places affected.

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

1 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

2 Economic Impacts of Drought and the Benefits of NOAA's Drought Forecasting Services, NOAA Magazine, September 17, 2002. Website: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/magazine/stories/mag51.htm.

3 A Contingent Valuation Study of Lost Passive Use Values Resulting from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Inc., La Jolla, Calif., November, 1992.

4 Hoagland, D.M. Anderson, Y. Kaoru and A.W. White. August 2002. The economic effects of harmful algal blooms in the United States: estimates, assessment issues, and information needs. Estuaries 25 (4b): 819- 837.

5 Leeworthy, Vernon R., Preliminary Estimates from Versions 1-6:Coastal Recreation Participation, National Survey on Recreation and the Environment (NSRE) 2000, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA Oceans and Coasts, Special Projects Office. Website: http://marineeconomics.noaa.gov.

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