AQ & GEOSS Session during ISRSE May 2009

Session Announcement. Air Quality and GEOSS: Status, Issues and Panel Discussion

Session Chairs: Rudy Husar, Washington University, St. Louis, Lawrence Friedl, NASA

The evolving Global Earth Observing Sysytem of Systems (GEOSS) infrastructure facilitates the sharing and integration of atmospheric composition observations and models relevant to societal benefit areas (SBAs) such as air quality, chemical climate and atmospheric disasters. Connecting observations and SBAs through GEOSS is particularly timely because:

1. Satellite observations and models of the global and local atmosphere constitute rich and under-utilized resources;
2. Multiple SBAs are actively seeking input from observations and models to improve decision-making;
3. Connecting observations/models to SBA decision makers is currently hampered by the fragmentation of resources and activities.

Topics for papers for this cross-disciplinary session may include: Observations and models of atmospheric composition; Analysis tools, methods and products; Decision-support for health, disaster and other applications; Methods of sharing satellite, surface observations and models through infrastructure, interoperability, catalogs, portals; Community support for communication, cooperation and coordination; Communities of practice. Papers indicating desire to participate in the voluntary GEOSS process and contributing data and other services to the shared resources will be particularly welcomed.

Presentations

• (Ask Lawrence for the session intro slides; discussion questions)

• John White, EPA, USA: AIRNow-International: The future of the US real-time air quality reporting and forecasting program and GEOSS participation (.ppt)
  • White: paper submitted to ISRSE (.doc)
• Bill Hudspeth, University of New Mexico, USA: Delivery of Forecasted Atmospheric Atmospheric Ozone & Dust for a Public Health Decision-Support System
• David McCabe, EPA, USA: The GEO Air Quality Community of Practice: From Observations to Decision Support (.ppt)
  • McCabe et al.: paper submitted to ISRSE (.doc)
• Erin Robinson, Washington Univ., USA: Enhancing Data Discovery, Understanding and Usage through an Air Quality Metadata System (.ppt)
  • Robinson et al.: paper submitted to ISRSE (.doc)

Discussion

Lawrence Friedl, NASA moderated the discussion. The session was attended by 40-50 participants.

Topics discussed:

• Lawrence Friedl, NASA posed a provocative question to the : Lets suppose that NASA is willing to fund AQ-GEOSS international, collaborative activities participation. What would you suggest to do? Ideas?
• Yasjka Meijer, ESA Remarked that there are a number of ISRSE sessions that are 'European', where both the presentations and participants are largely from Europe. Conversely, the presentations in this AQ-GEOSS session was N. American. Why? What can be done about it?
• Unknown participant: Metadata are crucial in connecting data systems and communities. More work to be done on metadata.
• Vasile Craciunescu, Romanian Met. Admin., Has surface AQ monitoring data for Bucharest, would like to incorporate it into GEOSS. Needs instructions for standards, tools, methods for integration.
• Lawrence reiterated that NASA is interested in fostering Communities of Practice (CoP) with emphasis on non-U.S. participation. What should such a CoP do? Ideas:
  • Robin Smith, from JRC, Italy. Use social networking, e.g. Facebook Group, Youtube channel, wiki, blogs...
  • David McCabe, EPA. Produce a newsletter.

Hence, a key function of a community of practice for GEOSS would be:

1. Connecting participants through social networks
2. Connecting Data Systems through data and metadata standards
3. Sharing tools and methods for finding, accessing and using Earth observations.

• AIRNow is a good example of decision support. Gary Foley of EPA suggested that AIRNow push further, for example by creating applications for cell phones that provide users with real-time real-location AQ information. (This is a pilot project that has been investigated for the US and is awaiting a funding opportunity within EPA.)

• • Many initiatives and programs are underway in Europe. Are these folks communicating with one another? How do we (US AQ Community of Practice - ESIP/GEOSS) find these organizations or communities and engage them? Enabling this communication is a central motivation for activating an Air Quality Community of Practice for GEOSS.