MOVING FROM GLOBAL INFORMATION TO LOCAL DECISION MAKING: AN EXAMPLE FROM WISCONSIN RICK LAWFORD AND STEVE GREB WORLD WATER FORUM IV MARCH 21, 2006

Transcription

1 MOVING FROM GLOBAL INFORMATION TO LOCAL DECISION MAKING: AN EXAMPLE FROM WISCONSIN RICK LAWFORD AND STEVE GREB WORLD WATER FORUM IV MARCH 21, 2006

2 A VISION THAT MOTIVATES COLLABORATION: IMPLEMENTING A NEW APPROACH TO WATER MANAGEMENT IN OUR LIFETIMES THAT IS FACILITATED BY OBSERVATIONS OBSERVATIONS AND IMPROVED PREDICTION SYSTEMS. Land Atmosphere IMPROVED CAPABILITY TO ASSIMILATE AND PREDICT M C P Q E W N cf. Sorooshia n INTEGRATED DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS

3 SATELLITES PROVIDE GLOBAL DATA COVERAGE THE ISSUE LOCAL OBSERVATIONS ARE SPARSE OR NON-EXISTENT FOR MANY VARIABLES IN MANY AREAS. AT THE LOCAL LEVEL: PEOPLE AND ECOSYSTEMS EXPERIENCE THE EFFECTS OF THE PHENOMENA (STORMS, POLLUTION, ETC)

4 SATELLITES PROVIDE GLOBAL DATA SERVICES LOCAL OBSERVATIONS ARE SPARSE OR NON-EXISTENT IN MANY AREAS. FOR SOME STAKEHOLDERS, THE USE OF DATA IS LIMITED BECAUSE THERE IS: 1) LIMITED ACCESS TO GLOBAL DATA, 2) NO APPROPRIATE GLOBAL DATA. (ONE RESPONSE: INTEGRATED GLOBAL WATER CYCLE OBSERVATIONS (IGWCO) THEME) LOCAL: EXPERIENCE THE EFFECTS OF THE PHENOMENON RESEARCH IS NEEDED: TO UNDERSTAND THE PROCESSES AND TO DEVELOP THE NECESSARY MEASUREMENT AND ANALYSIS METHODS AND MODELS (ONE RESPONSE: GLOBAL ENERGY AND WATER CYCLE EXPERIMENT (GEWEX), WORLD CLIMATE RESEARCH PROGRAMME (WCRP) AND ESSP PROGRAMS).

5 THE GEWEX MISSION CAN BE DESCRIBED AS THE DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF PLANETARY EARTH SCIENCE, OBSERVATIONS AND MODELS TO THE PROBLEMS OF CLIMATE AND WATER RESOURCES THE PROGRAM ENTAILS: - GLOBAL DATA SETS DERIVED FROM SATELLITE DATA, IN SITU DATA AND DATA ASSIMILATION CAPABILITIES, - MODEL DEVELOPMENT AND PREDICTABILITY STUDIES - FIELD AND PROCESS STUDIES - APPLICATIONS

6 GEWEX STUDIES DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF THE WATER CYCLE AND IMPROVES OUR CAPABILITY TO DESCRIBE AND MODEL THEM WATER BUDGETS ARE STUDIED AT LOCAL, REGIONAL AND GLOBAL SCALES. (after Trenberth) THE COORDINATED ENHANCED OBSERVING PERIOD (CEOP) DEVELOPS GLOBAL DATA SETS AND ANALYSES FROM IN-SITU AND SATELLITE DATA AND DATA ASSIMILATION SYSTEMS.

7 THE INTEGRATED GLOBAL WATER CYCLE OBSERVING (IGWCO) THEME HAS THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: HELPING TO SOLVE THE WORLD S WATER PROBLEMS WITH INTEGRATED WATER CYCLE OBSERVATIONS AND INFORMATION 1. Provide a framework for guiding decisions on priorities and strategies regarding water cycle observations for: - Monitoring climate variability and change, - Effective water management and sustainable development of the world s water resources, - Societal applications for resource development and environmental management, - Specification of initial conditions for weather and climate forecasts, - Research directed at priority water cycle questions 2. Promote strategies that facilitate the processing, archiving and distribution of water cycle data products

8 IGWCO COMPONENTS PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: PRECIPITATION, SOIL MOISTURE, RUNOFF, WATER QUALITY, GROUNDWATER. INTEGRATED SYSTEMS: COORDINATED ENHANCED OBSERVING PERIOD (CEOP) DATA SYSTEM, GLOBAL WATER SYSTEM PROJECT SUPPORT, FLOODS (NEW), GIS APPLICATIONS (NEW), INTEGRATION OF PHYSICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA (NEW) OUTREACH: CAPACITY BUILDING

9 DATA ISSUES: 1) NO ACCESS TO GLOBAL DATA 2) NO APPROPRIATE GLOBAL DATA RESEARCH NEEDED: TO UNDERSTAND THE PROCESSES AND TO DEVELOP MEASUREMENT AND ANALYSIS METHODS AND MODELS DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS ARE NEEDED TO DETERMINE HOW NEW TECHNIQUES WORK IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS PRIORITY SHOULD BE GIVEN TO REFINING AND SIMPLIFYING DATA ACCESS AND ANALYSIS TOOLS FOR THOSE DATA TYPES AND TECHNIQUES FOR WHICH THERE IS LARGE DEMAND ROBUST CAPACITY BUILDING EFFORTS ARE NEEDED TO ENSURE WATER MANAGERS EVERYWHERE HAVE ACCESS TO DATA HANDLING TOOLS. THIS WILL INVOLVE PARTNERSHIPS, ALIANCES, EDUCATION, TRAINING AND HARDWARE/SOFTWARE TRANSFERS. AN ON-GOING PROCESS IS NEEDED TO REFINE THE RESEARCH SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT OPERATIONS CYCLE.

10 RELATIONSHIPS IN AN INTEGRATED EARTH INFORMATION SYSTEM FULLY INTEGRATED EARTH INFORMATION SYSTEM IGOS-P IS DEVELOPING THE STRATEGY FOR INTEGRATING OBSERVATIONAL SYSTEMS GEO IS DEVELOPING A PLAN FOR A GLOBAL EARTH OBSERVING SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS (GEOSS) GEWEX, WCRP, ESSP, IAHS, ETC ARE CARRYING OUT THE RESEARCH NEEDED TO DEVELOP A PREDICTION AND INFORMATION SYSTEM

11 QUALITY OF THE WATER DEPENDS ON: WHAT GOES INTO THE WATER (TYPE OF POLLUTION SOURCE, RATE OF EMISSION, POINT SOURCE VS MULTIPLE SOURCES, ETC) HOW MUCH WATER IS AVAILABLE TO DILUTE WHAT IS ADDED TO THE WATER. CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL REACTIONS OCCURRING IN THE WATER. SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF POLLUTION ARE: -COLOR - ODOR - TOXICITY - CONCENTRATION OF CONTAMINANTS - CLARITY OF THE WATER

12 Anthropogenic Stressors Low and high flow volumes (minimum flow requirements) Eutrophication Thermal Discharges Diffuse pollution (Urban and Rural) Mining discharge (Hard rock gold mining/cyanide) Pathogens SITE SPECIFIC MONITORING User Groups with Water Quality Concerns Municipal drinking and sanitation utilities Agriculture Recreation Industry Ecological needs biological integrity SATELLITE SYSTEM CAPABILITIES (OPTICAL WAVELENGTHS) TROPHIC STATUS IMAGES FOR WATER BODIES NEAR EAGAN, MN FROM IKONOS DATA (FROM S. GREB)

13 Water Quality/ Remote Sensing Advantages over conventional monitoring Spatial Coverage (Landsat 185 km x 185 km) Simultaneous sampling In-situ monitoring may lack of financial, institutional, technical resources, insufficient coverage Continuity of historical records/ political instability Quick dissemination/sharing of data/transboundary issues Disadvantages Freshwater is complex mixture, CPA s- algae, particulate,color. RS measure surface conditions, bottom visible in shallow Dynamic water quality changes Relatively small water body sizes Cloud cover over inland areas Can t monitor all parameters Laboratory analysis required for cal. and ver.

14 Measuring Water Clarity of Wisconsin Lakes via Satellite Remote Sensing

15 A Partnership involving Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources-Project management, coordination, funding, equipment University of Wisconsin- Remote Sensing technical expertise, R&D University Extension- Outreach and continuing education on these new approaches Local Citizen s Groups and Lakeshore Landowners- Collect water samples and field measurements

16 Data and Image Processing Steps I. Data Acquisition Secchi Disk Measurement Landsat Image II. Preparation of Landsat Imagery III. Preparation of Self-Help Data spreadsheet IV. Preparation of field hydrography shapefile V. Extraction of field data signatures from imagery VI. Combining field and satellite data-model VII. Preparation of all-lakes hydrography shapefile VIII. Extraction of all-lakes signatures from imagery IX. Applying the model to satellite data for all lakes Natural logarithm of Secchi Disk Transparency (meters) Model 3: y = x R 2 = Model 8: y = x R 2 = Blue:Red Spectral Radiance Ratio (TM1/TM3)

17 Wisconsin Lake Trophic State Index Environmental Remote Sensing Center, University of Wisconsin

18 SUMMARY 1. THERE ARE MANY EXCELLENT IDEAS AND PROJECTS THAT COULD MOVE US TOWARDS A GLOBAL EARTH INFORMATION SYSTEM, THIS REQUIRES BALANCED RESEARCH INVESTMENTS, AND SUSTAINED COMMITMENTS TO PROJECTS AND MISSIONS. 2. MANY OPPORTUNITIES (E.G., GEO) EXIST TO MOVE OBSERVATIONAL ISSUES FORWARD. HOWEVER, THIS REQUIRES GREATER INVOLVEMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, RESEARCH AND OPERATION COMMUNITIES IN EARTH OBSERVATION PROGRAMS. 3. BASED ON THIS LOCAL ACTION IT IS CLEAR THAT WATER QUALITY REPRESENTS AN OPPORTUNITY AREA FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS. 4. TO HELP REALIZE THE FULL POTENTIAL OF EARTH OBSERVATIONS PLANS ARE BEING DEVELOPED FOR A WATER CYCLE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE UNDER THE GROUP ON EARTH OBSERVATIONS (GEO)