Emily Smail, Ph.D.

Executive Director, GEO Blue Planet Initiative

University of Maryland Earth Science Interdisciplinary Center

NOAA/NESDIS Center for Satellite Application and Research

1st Operational

Satellite Oceanography

Symposium

June 20, 2019

College Park, MD

Who is GEO Blue Planet?

Global network of ocean and coastal-observers, social scientists and end-user representatives from a variety of stakeholder groups

Secretariat

• Advance and exploit synergies among the many observational programmes devoted to ocean and coastal waters

• Improve engagement with a variety of stakeholders for enhancing the timeliness, quality and range of services delivered

• Raise awareness of the societal benefits of ocean observations at the public and policy levels.

GEO Blue Planet’s Mission

What does GEO Blue Planet Do?

GEO Blue Planet promotes, partners and leads activities that support the initiative’s mission.

Cross-Cutting Thematic

What does GEO Blue Planet Do?

Information Needs

Information Needs

• Type of data/product/tool needed

• Required geographic coverage

• Required temporal resolution

• Required spatial resolution

• Desired processing and visualization

Data Provider Expectations

Information Needs

Reality

• These are the decision I need to make

• Can ocean observation data help me?

• Longer textObservations

• Publications on value of coastal and ocean observations

• GIS based web catalogue of ocean observing, measurement and forecasting benefits

• Mapping the ocean and coastal observation and services “oceanscape”

• How accurate are the satellite products in my region?

• I know data is out there but I can’t find it.

• Which product should I use?

• The data is difficult to download and use.

Data and Products

Stakeholder questions and feedback

Data and Products – GEO Knowledge Hub Concept

GEO Work ProgrammeCommunity

Knowledge Identification

Knowledge Collection

Mediation

Ingestion

GEOSS Platform

connection

Discover, Learn, Reuse

DMPs Status Report

Knowledge Building

Users and Community

Findable

Accessible

Interoperable

Reusable

Data and Products – GEO Knowledge Hub Concept

• Coral Reef Knowledge Hub

• Fisheries Knowledge Hub

• SDG 14 Knowledge Hub

GEO Blue Planet Knowledge Hubs

Data and Products

Supporting development of methodology for and available data for SDG indicator 14.1.1

Data and Products

Supporting development of methodology for and available data for SDG indicator 14.1.1

Producing a white paper for UN Environment in collaboration with IEEE/OES, WWF and other partners on a concept for a global monitoring platform for marine litter

https://form.jotform.com/91395440653157

Provide a publicly available monitoring and forecasting system for oil spills and sargassum based on publicly available data (e.g. satellite data and in situ data from countries with open data sharing policies).

Decision Support Tools

Multi-hazard information & forecasting system for the Wider Caribbean

Provide coastal flood forecasts from the present up to 180 hours into the future at a 3-hour interval, with the forecasts being updated once every 6 hours

Decision Support Tools

Wave-driven Flood-forecasting of Reef-lined Coasts Early warning system (WaveFORCE)

Demo: on 8th of December 2008, Kwajalein Atoll experienced a severe flood event

Decision Support Tools

Wave-driven Flood-forecasting of Reef-lined Coasts Early warning system (WaveFORCE)

Decision Support Tools

What makes them operational?

• Hosting and maintenance –industry or university partner v.s. operational agency

• Routine and sustained – what does this mean?

https://geoblueplanet.org

@geoblueplanet

Emily.Smail@noaa.gov

Thank you