Robotic monitors of the state of the planet, sounds good

CATHARINE COOPER

Imagine a series of small robotic sensors circumventing the globe,

floating above and below the earth’s surface, quiet sentinels

collecting and recording information about the state of the planet.

Imagine this information -- temperatures, gases, composition,

particulates and more -- freely shared with all the countries of the

world. Imagine an international body, monitoring change and creating

policies directed to the protection of this place we call home.

Such is the dream of Charles Kennel, Director of Scripps Institute

of Oceanography and Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences at University

of California, San Diego. As a participant in the birthing of The

International Group for Earth Observations (GEO), Kennel has been

instrumental in taking steps to fulfill his dream. GEO, comprised of

participants in the Earth Observations Summit, held in Washington,

D.C. in 2003 and was established to prepare a 10-year implementation

plan for a coordinated, comprehensive, and sustained Earth

observation system.

The need and desire for such a monitoring system is clear; we

stand in an unprecedented position of both being able to observe our

planet from afar, i.e., space, and have gathered enough information

to note changes of global import. Dust storms in the Sahara fertilize

the soil in South America. The most polluted air turns up over the

uninhabited South Atlantic. Smoke from raging wildfires affect plant

growth great distances from the original source. Ocean pollutants and

fish kills affect broader pictures of aquatic health. Gaia is in

fact, intricately linked on her surface, under her waters and in her

atmosphere. As our population expands and our footprint broadens, the

affect of man exponentially increases. A systematic measuring program

provides the development of an integrated picture, upon which

educated decisions can be made.

How valuable could this information be? Edward Tufte, in his book,

Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative,

investigates the decision to launch the Challenger Space Shuttle. He

illustrates that all the information needed to make a no-go decision

was available, but not presented at the same time in the same room.

Gaps in the information led to erroneous conclusions. The same type

of misinformation happens in an analysis of environmental issues

facing us today.

The issue of global warming is one of the most telling. Between

1970 and 1974 scientists determined that industrial compounds known

as chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs, could cause depletion of the ozone

layer of the stratosphere. It wasn’t until almost a decade later, in

1985, when the first “ozone hole” was detected in springtime

Antarctica. Scientists were able to monitor the “hole” using the

Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite, and collected comprehensive

evidence that the loss of ozone was of human origin.

While the source of CFCs is not limited to any one country, it is

also true, that no country acting alone, can fix the problem. The

Montreal Protocol, and ensuing amendments, signed by 148 of the

world’s nations, effectively banned the production of CFCs. It was a

start.

The consequences of ozone depletion are daunting and appear to be

as widespread. Reduction in the total ozone allows a heavier dose of

ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth’s surface, with potentially

serious effects on skin and eyes and the immune systems of people

everywhere. Increased ultraviolet radiation also harms phytoplankton,

those minute, floating organisms that live near the sea surface and

are the primary food source of all life in the oceans.

Kennel writes, “For better or worse, we stand on the brink of two

unprecedented developments in human history: (1) the ability to alter

the natural environment on a global scale, and (2) the capacity to

detect and track the course of these changes and thus understand and

respond to them. The former can happen without much forethought. The

latter cannot.”

On June 19, NASA will launch Aura, a next generation

Earth-observing satellite. Aura will carry four instruments each

designed to survey different aspects of Earth’s atmosphere to provide

an unprecedented and complete picture of its composition. Aura will

survey the atmosphere from the troposphere, our local neighborhood,

through the stratosphere and the ozone layer. Aura joins her sister

satellites, Terra, which monitors the land, and Aqua, which observes

the Earth’s water cycle.

Argo, a sea-based research program of Scripps, deploys a global

array of 3,000 floats, which gather subsurface ocean data to improve

understanding of the climate system and climate change. Funded by 18

countries, these measuring devices cycle to about 2,000 meters over

10 days, collecting and transmitting data under and on the surface of

the sea.

GEO currently consists of 47 members and 29 participant

international organizations, with its own ultimate goal of the

inclusion of every nation. Imagine a network of those small robots,

transmitting from every corner of the globe, providing the necessary

information to both analyze the state of our world and create

strategies to affectively enhance all of our lives. Imagine what it

could mean.

* CATHARINE COOPER loves wild places. She can be reached at

[email protected].