Create a National Environmental Data Index

Create a National Environmental Data Index             

Finding Out Which Way the Wind Blows (and the Rain Falls, and the Earth
Quakes)

Imagine this:  A prospective homebuyer is looking for a location for her
home. She goes to an information kiosk at her library, where she gets a
printout of statistical probabilities of floods, earthquakes, and major
storms in various geographic areas. She is particularly pleased to note
the information provided about relative heat, humidity, and pollen
counts, since she suffers from various allergies.

Environmental data and related information are created by several
federal agencies. For example, the Department of the Interior has
databases developed from biological surveys; the Environmental
Protection Agency collects information through the Environmental
Monitoring and Assessment Program; the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration collects satellite data; and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collects vast quantities of
oceanographic, atmospheric, and geophysical data. The data collected
from these various systems are usually acquired for a particular
purpose, but frequently have multiple uses, such as the use of weather
data to investigate global climate change.

Innovative use of these available environmental data through integrated
data analysis and interpretation can be facilitated by knowing what
information is available and the source. There are many potential
government and nongovernment users of these databases in addition to the
agency collecting the data. Among these users are the general public,
the business community, the international scientific community, and
researchers and government policymakers concerned about the global
environment.

The nation's investment in environmental data collection is very high.
For example, NOAA spends approximately $350 million a year to support
its satellite observing systems.[1] Similar high-dollar amounts are
invested in the satellite observing systems of other agencies, as well
as those on the ground and at sea.

Need for Change

In spite of the amount of dollars invested in the observing systems, it
is difficult for a user to find out what data exist, where they are
located, and how to gain access. For example, ocean temperature data are
critical to the study of climate, but there is no central focal point
where researchers can determine where the primary data are located and
where related data reside for correlation. At least 4 agencies and 10
data centers are involved in holding and archiving environmental
data.[2] One report concluded: "Scientists face major obstacles in
finding out what data are available."[3] Additionally, most data have
been collected without the benefit of data standards and existing data
may be of poor or unknown quality.[4] NOAA is the major holder of
federal environmental data. Its weather satellites, for example, have
collected over 150 terabytes (150,000,000,000,000) of data.[5]

Since most agencies are currently developing separate indexes of their
data holdings, integrating the information into a common index of
systems should avoid duplication and not be difficult. This common index
would provide a comprehensive mechanism to integrate the individual
agency data holdings into a cohesive system in the future. By using
electronic data interchange, users requiring the data would benefit from
easy location and access to the data. The index would allow citizens,
industry, and academia to locate and access needed information.

The creation of a unified environmental data index--an environmental
data "yellow pages"--will result in substantial progress toward making
environmental data acquired by the government available to the many
users that require or desire the data.

Endnotes

1. Telephone interview with T. McGunigall, Program Manager,
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite and Polar Satellite
Systems, NOAA Systems Program, August 17, 1993.

2. Telephone interview with W. Turnbull, Executive Officer,
Environmental Information Services, National Environmental Satellite
Data Information Service, NOAA, August 17, 1993.

3. National Research Council, Committee on Geophysical Data and
Committee on Geosciences, Environment and Resources, Solving the Global
Change Puzzle: A U.S. Strategy for Managing Data and Information
(Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1991), p.  24.

4. Ibid., p. 4.

5. Telephone interview with W. Turnbull.