 9. Impacts on NOAA Goals and Society
Satellite-derived information provides important and effective perspectives
of the environmental situation from which efficient decision-making can occur.
SOCD provides satellite ocean remote sensing data, data sets, and fused data
products to its customers and partners. Customers and partners span the gamut
of federal, state, and local government entities, international partners,
academia, industry, and public and private users.
SOCD directly enables satellite remote sensing collection of oceanographic
and meteorological observations (e.g., sea-surface temperature, ocean surface
winds, etc.). These data support near-real-time information needed for timely
and accurate environmental forecasts in support of public safety, commerce,
agriculture, navigation, etc. NOAA satellite data, products, research and
services provide support for disaster relief and emergency assistance through
timely, accurate, and relevant data at all hours of the day and night. Specific
contributions include, for example: accurate sea-surface temperature, sea-surface
height (altimetry), and ocean surface winds (scatterometry and passive
polarimetry) data for routine and critical ocean and weather analysis and
forecasts, such as hurricane intensity forecasts, high waves, and storm surge;
synthetic aperture radar detection of 1)sea ice extent and location for maritime
navigation and safety, as well as river ice breakup, 2) oil spills for pollution
abatement, 3) very high resolution ocean surface winds for maritime and marine
aviation safety, and 4) vessel detection for safety and fisheries regulatory
enforcement; ocean color data for harmful algal bloom analyses in support of
public health and public safety; sea-surface temperatures and sea-surface
heights for evaluating critical climatic conditions and trends relevant to the
United States, such as El Niño – Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
events and subsequent impacts on weather and the imposition of fishery
regulatory restrictions; the determination of ocean bathymetry from altimetry
for ocean modeling in support of climate variability/change analyses, tsunami
predictions, and safe navigation; altimetry sea-surface heights and
scatterometry ocean surface winds for the determination of ocean surface
currents in support of search and rescue, oil spill drift models, and early
detection of ENSO changes, directly impacting energy and commodity futures
markets; ocean color and sea-surface temperature for fisheries management,
by-catch reduction, and protected species efforts; altimetry for global
mean sea level rise for coastal zone management; and sea-surface temperature
analyses for heat stress and bleaching alerts to coral reef managers.
These contributions and others provide the basis for a national backbone
of satellite ocean remote sensing for the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing
System (IOOS), which is being implemented to specifically address and serve
the national and societal needs for:
- Detecting and forecasting oceanic components of climate variability,
- Facilitating safe and efficient marine operations,
- Ensuring national security,
- Managing resources for sustainable use,
- Preserving and restoring healthy marine ecosystems,
- Mitigating natural hazards, and
- Ensuring public health.
In turn, IOOS serves as the U.S. contribution to the Global Ocean Observing
System (GOOS), which has the stated objective of addressing societal needs to:
- Manage and restore healthy coastal ecosystems and living resources,
- Enable safer and more cost-effective marine operations,
- Forecast and mitigate the effects of storms,
- Detect and predict the effects of climate change, and
- Protect public health, by providing data, products, and services that directly support:
- Intergovernmental conventions;
- Government agencies, regulators, public health, certification agencies;
- Environmental management, wildlife protection, amenities, marine parks;
- Operating agencies, services, safety, navigation, ports, pilotage, search, rescue;
- Small companies; fish farming; trawler skippers, hotel owners, recreation managers;
- Large companies, offshore oil and gas, survey companies, shipping lines,
fisheries, dredging, construction;
- The single user, tourist, yachtsman, surfer, fisherman, scuba diver;
- Scientific researchers in public and private institutions.
In turn, GOOS is the ocean component of the overarching Global Earth Observation
System of Systems (GEOSS), a collaborative effort between 33 nations to blend
existing and new software and hardware into a compatible state to provide satellite
and in-situ data and information at no cost to the user. GEOSS identifies
its societal outcomes and benefits as:
- Disaster reduction,
- Integrated water resource management,
- Ocean and marine resource monitoring and management,
- Weather and air quality monitoring,
- Forecasting and advisories,
- Biodiversity conservation,
- Sustainable land use and management,
- Public understanding of environmental factors affecting human health and well being,
- Better development of energy resources, and adaptation to climate variability and change.
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