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Socioeconomic Benefits from Applications
of Earth Satellite Observations:
How to Quantify Benefits?
Environmental Evaluators Network
2011 Forum
Lawrence Friedl
Applied Sciences Program
NASA Earth Science Division
23-June-2011
Discovering and Demonstrating Innovative and
Practical Applications of Earth Science
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NASA and Earth Science
Earth Science Division
NASA is primarily focused on
research and development.
The NASA Earth Science Division
supports research on the Earth
system and its processes.
Primary efforts are to characterize,
understand, and improve predictions
of the Earth system.
In the course of performing its
research, NASA collects
observations and generates new
scientific knowledge that can be
applied to meet organizations’
decision-making activities.
The Applied
Technology
Sciences Program
funds
projects that
Missions
enable practical
and innovative
Research
uses of Earth
science data by
Data Systems
public
and private
organizations.
Applications
Applied Sciences Program
Program Strategy & Goals
Goal 1: Enhance Applications Research
Advance the use of NASA Earth science in policy
making, resource management and planning,
and disaster response. Conduct applied research
to generate innovative applications.
Goal 2: Increase Collaboration
Pursue partnerships to leverage resources and
risks and extend the program’s reach and impact.
Goal 3: Accelerate Applications
Enable identification of applications early in
satellite mission lifecycle and facilitate effective
ways to integrate end-user needs into satellite
mission planning.
Outcomes are
manifest in
organizations’
enhanced policy
and management
decisions.
Impacts are the
resulting
socioeconomic
benefits from the
improved decisions.
http://AppliedSciences.NASA.gov
Applied Sciences Program
Applications Areas (USGEO 9 SBAs)
Emphasis in
4 Applications Areas
Health
and Air Quality
Water
Resources
Seek opportunities to expand to
5 additional areas
Agriculture
Energy
Disasters
Weather
Climate
Oceans
Ecosystems
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Applied Sciences Program
Project Examples
Global active fire locations from MODIS Fire/Thermal
Anomalies product are process in rapid response.
SMS/text messages sent out to emails & cell phones with
key info (fire coordinates, time, distance to reference
point). For example, park managers use alerts to reduce
illegal clearing and respond to wildfires.
August 2010: Transitioned to UN FAO for on-going
operational support.
System Configuration
Projects developed and demonstrated reliable detection of
volcanic ash clouds using Aura/OMI SO2 data and other
NASA Earth science satellite sensors. Proven utility led to
its operational use by NOAA to formulate Volcanic Ash
Advisories. Products used extensively in Iceland volcano
eruption in April 2010.
15-apr-2010
OMI SO2 – Iceland Volcano
February 2011: The NASA satellite data were used to
produce volcanic ash advisories for aviators across the
Gulf of Mexico due to the Feb.1 eruption of the
Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico.
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Applied Sciences Program
Performance, Evaluation, and Impacts
● Substantive projects and successes in applications; yet inability to
substantiate the socioeconomic benefits & impacts
● Strategically important for Earth science community to have
skills & abilities (or know how to access them) to document impacts
- Need across regions, sectors, topics, data types, etc.
● Part of effort is bridging the social sciences & economic fields with
the Earth science and physical science fields.
In 2010, the Program began an initiative to conduct impact
analyses and substantiate the socioeconomic benefits of selected
projects applying Earth observations in decision-making activities.
- Impact analyses of projects
- Creation of case studies across application topics
- Workshops to connect Earth scientists with social scientists & economists.
Applied Sciences Program
Impact Analyses
General Approach
The analysis used an adapted expected value of information (VI) methodology to
assess the benefits. The value of information is a function of the benefits that result
from a decision with information compared to the decision that would have been
made without the information.
Before
Characterize project
and decision making.
Design analysis and
assess information
and available data.
Collect data on
impact metrics
prior to inclusion of
Earth obs. info
Compare “before” &
“after”, control for
random variation, and
identify impacts
Identify impact
metrics (e.g., number
of malaria cases per
thousand)
After
Collect data on
impact metrics after
inclusion of Earth
observations info
Using this approach, the value of information provided by a project would be:
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Value of Earth obs. info = (Outcome with information – Outcome without information)
Applied Sciences Program
Impact Analyses
Program initiated an effort to calculate the societal benefit of the
use of NASA Earth science products for decision support.
Initial analysis focused on two projects:
Malaria Early Warning Project: The Malaria Early Warning System (MEWS)
amalgamates information from a wide variety of sources to support malaria
prevention.
The project integrated NASA TRMM, Aqua, Landsat, and other satellite
observations of precipitation, temperature, and other environmental variables into
MEWS for Africa to improve malaria prevention and reduce morbidity and mortality.
BlueSky Project: BlueSky is a model framework developed by the U.S. Forest
Service to predict the smoke effects from wildfires, prescribed burns, and
agricultural burns.
The project integrated NASA MODIS and other remote sensing data into program
to improve the timeliness and accuracy of BlueSky to support decisions on
allowances of prescribed burns, analyze smoke emissions transport, and minimize
smoke impacts on local communities.
Value of Information and
Socioeconomic Benefits Workshop (2010)
Summary
Topics & Organizations
Workshop to Examine Analytic Methods for
Determining the Value of Information
- Supports efforts in Earth observations
community to quantify societal benefits
from use and application of Earth obs.
data in decision making
- Earth Obs in Environmental Regulation: The
Case of Land Use and Pollution (USGS)
Commissioned by ESD Applied Sciences
Organized and Hosted by:
Dr. Molly Macauley
Resources for the Future (RFF)
- Earth Obs. and Rift Valley Fever Vectors
(Georgetown Univ.)
10 invited papers and discussants
- Consumer Choice and Advertising (UMd)
Publication planned for single volume on
developments in value of information
research and applications
- Malaria Diagnostics (Harvard)
- Land Cover & Climate Change Mitigation
(International Institute of Applied Systems
Analysis)
- Information and Catastrophe (RFF)
- Public Health Information (Wharton/U.Penn)
- Earth Observations and Weather Index
Insurance (Columbia)
June 28-29, 2010 at RFF in Washington, DC
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Applied Sciences Program
Performance, Evaluation, and Impacts
Familiarity with Terms
Economics & Policy Analysts
- Shadow Price
Remote Sensing & Earth Science
- Orthorectification
- Discount Rate
- Synthetic Aperture
- Marginal Utility
- Nearest Neighbor
- Cobb Douglas Function
- Kriging
- Revealed Preference
- Supervised Classification
- Bayesian Inference
- Passive Microwave
- Price Elasticity
- OPeNDAP
- Pre-Post Analysis
- Spectroradiometer
Terms shared by both (though meanings may differ)
- Lagrangian function
- Probability density functions
- Markov Processes
- Sensitivity Analysis
- Monte Carlo
- Regression and R-squared
Applied Sciences Program
Performance, Evaluation, and Impacts
Familiarity with Terms
Economics & Policy Analysts
- Shadow Price
Remote Sensing & Earth Science
- Orthorectification
- Discount Rate
- Synthetic Aperture
- Marginal Utility
- Nearest Neighbor
- Cobb Douglas Function
- Kriging
- Revealed Preference
- Supervised Classification
- Bayesian Inference
- Passive Microwave
- Price Elasticity
- OPeNDAP
- Pre-Post Analysis
- Spectroradiometer
We shouldn’t expect either field to become expert in the other.
We do need to find ways to make connections. Desire is that Earth
science people will know people to contact in other fields to do an
evaluation and an analysis of socioeconomic benefits.
Earth Science & Evaluation
Assessment of Need & Opportunity
● Need in Earth science community for guidance and examples on
use of analytic techniques and methodologies
● Need for development of case studies and body of literature across
different sectors, types of decision making, and applications topics
For example, techniques to articulate benefits of Earth science for improved
volcanic ash advisories is likely different than for reservoir management or
fisheries.
- Depending on the decision making, the technique and measure may need
to address efficiency, productivity, cost, effectiveness, or other metric.
● Also need for good ‘stories’ and human interest anecdotes
- Relate the data products to individuals (direct or indirect)
Next Steps
• NASA and ESIP would like to continue to work with EEN
• Possible evaluation workshop in the context of the
environmental application of Earth science data
 for ESIP community
 for NASA-funded Earth science project teams
• Training opportunities on analytic techniques for
evaluation, impact analyses,
• EEN participation in ESIP Winter meeting in Washington
DC, January 2012
NASA Earth Science
Applied Sciences Program
Lawrence Friedl, Program Director
202.358.1599
[email protected]