Benefits of GEOSS in Tennessee

In Tennessee, Earth Observations will:

Help the state 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 in the management of 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 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

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.²

Improve accuracy of weather forecasts.

Every one degree of accuracy decreases costs of electricity by $1 billion, which may have an effect on the Tennessee Valley Authority as well as Tennessee homeowners and businesses.³

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

Aid in stormwater management in growth areas like Memphis. Earth observations' large collection of rainfall data and forecasting tools can benefit Tennessee 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 nationally.⁴

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 CDC. Surveillance for asthma: United States, 1980-1999. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2002;51(SS01):1-13

³ 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

⁴ 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.

Benefits of GEOSS in Tennessee

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