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U.S. Hosts 'Earth Observation Summit'
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Representatives of 35
countries and 22 multilateral organizations met at the State Department
Thursday to start work on integrating systems to monitor the weather,
oceans, land use and climate change.
Known as the Earth Observation System, it would make better use of data
which scientists now collect piecemeal and could save billions of dollars
a year by helping farmers, weather forecasters and people who prepare for
natural disasters, the organizers said.
"Such a system would bring together national and multinational surface,
airborne and space-based measurements of the earth into a cooperative
network of systems," said Secretary of State Colin Powell (news
- web
sites).
"An integrated Earth Observation System would vastly increase our store
of knowledge and leverage billions of dollars of worldwide investment," he
added.
The organizers said better forecasting of the Pacific Ocean weather
phenomenon known as El Nino are already saving farmers at least $450
million to $550 million a year.
If weather forecasts were more accurate by just one degree Fahrenheit,
the savings in electricity costs would be at least $1 billion a year, they
added.
The meeting is expected to approve a declaration in which the countries
and organizations make a commitment to cooperate in the project and to set
up a working group to prepare a 10-year implementation plan.
James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental
Quality, said that integrating the national systems for earth observation
would be like finding the missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
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