BREAKOUT SESSIONS & WORKSHOPS

Draft Recommendations

Community Energy and Environment Decision-making:  Seeing the Big Picture with Remote Sensing and Satellites

Description:

Advanced technologies have given us the ability to view and monitor the Earth and its systems.  We can see changes in how land is used in a metropolitan area, the location of toxic algal blooms in lakes, the heat and smoke from forest fires, and the location of the best available solar and wind resources.  This information can be extremely valuable to community planners, resource managers, emergency response teams, and international development staff.  However, we cannot always easily connect the many technical sources of information with solutions to problems and the policies that address them.  Much of our environmental and Earth monitoring information does not get used routinely by community decision-makers.

Desktop computer capacity, distributed data systems and the Internet have given community planners and others involved in community development the technical ability to view this data.  Yet, there is still a missing link:  a suite of tools and projects to effectively translate these complex datasets into information usable by community decision-makers.  Currently, pilot projects funded by NASA, the United Nations, and others have begun developing these skills and tools.  These pilot programs have documented a real demand for this information from communities; yet, there has been little comprehensive discussion about how to work together to convert these data into knowledge that is useful for communities around the world. 

Purpose and Goals:

The purpose and goal of this session is to develop a plan to increase the accessibility and use of remote sensing and satellite imagery by local communities for making decisions and establishing policy.  The focus is on decisions related to sustainable environmental and energy issues.  This workshop will bring together people working in communities on energy and environment issues and scientists who develop remote sensing data for a dialogue about needs and priority subjects.  The goal will be to develop recommendations and a plan of action, including a list of potential participants and supporters to implement these actions over the next 1-5 years. 

Desired Outcomes:                          

The most important outcome will be team building among the participants that will be useful in further implementation.  The document outcomes from this session will include:

• Recommendations                  
• Action Plan for Implementation                  
• List of participants and supporters

Presenters:

• Mike McGuire, Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education               
• Timothy Gubbels, NASA HQ            
• Louise Meyer, Solar Household Energy, Inc.               
• Darwin Curtis, Solar Household Energy, Inc.               
• Ray Hoff, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Session Format:

The session would be interactive in order to maximize input and results.  However, it would start with a brief review of remote sensing technology to establish a common base of knowledge.  Existing programs and a detailed case study would provide a basis for discussion.

09:00-09:15 am  Introductions and Review of Purpose -- Jill Engel-Cox

09:15-10:00 am  Short Presentations on Available Technologies and Successful Applications

• NASA Applications and Resources
  -- Timothy Gubbels, NASA               
• Urban Landuse Planning in Baltimore County
  -- Mike McGuire, Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, University of Maryland, Baltimore County               
• International Development using Satellite Solar Resource Data
  -- Louise Meyer & Darwin Curtis, Solar Household Energy, Inc.               
• Detecting Urban Air Pollution from Space
  -- Ray Hoff, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

09:45-11:30 am  Facilitated Discussion with three outputs

• Prioritized list of key community issues and their data needs: U.S. and International                  
• Recommendations for actions and tools to meet these needs                  
• List of potential partners and supporters

11:30-11:50 am  Development of outline for breakout session report -- All

11:50-Noon  Final comments and end for lunch -- All

Resources:

We have listed here some examples of information sources and community projects for remote sensing.  This list is not meant to be comprehensive or to endorse any source or approach.  We hope that it will spark ideas and increase awareness of the possibilities.

A Few Sources of Remote Sensing Earth Observing Information

• NOAA Operational Significant Event Imagery â€“ This website includes daily and archived images of interesting events, from forest fires to hurricanes, observable by a wide range of satellites.
  http://www.osei.noaa.gov/   
• NASA Visible Earth â€“ A searchable directory of images and visualizations from various satellites.
  http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/    
• NASA Earth Observatory â€“ Interesting images with more detailed explanation of both events and new technologies.
  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/   
• Earth Explorer â€“ Allows you to select and preview Landsat images by location.  Log on as guest to see the preview images, or register to purchase high-resolution images.
  http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/EarthExplorer/   
• Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer â€“ MISR is a new satellite that uses nine cameras to study particulates in the air, clouds, and land cover.  They have a gallery of interesting images.
  http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/ 

Examples of Community Uses of Remote Sensing Information

• NASA MidAtlantic Regional Application Center â€“ Landuse and other mapping in the Mid-Atlantic region, including cities and communities. 
  http://www.geog.umd.edu/resac/index.html   
• Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management â€“ Use of Landsat satellite data and aerial photography to develop landuse maps for community planning.
  http://www.co.ba.md.us/p.cfm/agencies/deprm/ep_maps.cfm    
• Solar Household Energy, Inc. â€“ Use of NASA solar energy resource data for international development.
  http://www.she-inc.org/
  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/  (Click on “Power to the Peopleâ€� article)
  http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/sse/ (surface meteorology and solar energy data)   
• Jefferson Parish Water Data â€“ This project has daily monitoring, including satellite imagery, of the mouth of the Mississippi River where it enters the Gulf of Mexico.
  http://www.jeffparish.net/pages/index.cfm?DocID=1228
  http://www.esl.lsu.edu/research/empact.html

Other Interesting Sites and Source of Information

• Naval Research Laboratory â€“ Real-time combined data on global air pollution.  Not everything is here, but the datasets are combined through a model that provides insights into how pollution is transported long distances and can impact local air quality.
  http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/aerosol/   
• SPOT Image Corporation â€“ Private provider of high-resolution geographic images for applications.  They have a large catalog of images available for online viewing.
  http://www.spot.com/
  http://sirius.spotimage.fr/anglais/welcome.htm

Session Organizer:

Jill Engel-Cox
Battelle Memorial Institute

Dr. Ray Hoff
Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Questions? conference@NCSEonline.org