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Benefits of GEOSS in Ohio
In Ohio, Earth Observations will:
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.1
Facilitate response to and clean-up efforts after flooding by providing residents and official better information on flooding, road loss, and extent of property damage.
Average annual damage from floods is $5.2 billion and over 80 deaths per year nationally.2
Protect watersheds though water quality monitoring along the Ohio River and its tributaries and mapping of land cover changes, thereby protecting sources of water for agriculture, forestry, and human uses.
Monitor runoff from abandoned mines and track effectiveness of Federal and state efforts to address acid mine runoff.
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.3
Children with asthma miss more than 14 million school days annually and asthma accounts for an estimated 14.5 million lost work days per year.4
In 2000, the 15 states with the highest rates of current asthma prevalence were Arizona, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.5
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.
Evaluate stress in crops though satellite monitoring of soil moisture and tracking of plant diseases and invasive species.
Help farmers determine the best rate application of fertilizers and placement of seeds by use of detailed sampling of fields to characterize yields, variable soils and variable fertility.
Monitor wetlands to locate places that are good candidates to promote additional wetlands and monitor wetland conservation programs to help increase the quantity, variety, and functions of wetlands.
Provide more accurate weather forecasting and save Ohio 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.6
1 Insurance Information Institute, 2002. http://www.disasterinformation.org
2 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
3 U.S. Centers for Disease Control
4 CDC. Surveillance for asthma: United States, 1980-1999. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2002;51(SS01):1-13
5 CDC. Self-reported asthma prevalence among adults: United States, 2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. August 17, 2001;50(32):682-686.
6 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.