GEO 2007 Work PlanMASTER
Water Task WA-06-07
Task Number
/ CapacityBuilding Program for Water Resource ManagementWA-06-07 / Initiate capacity building programs to develop tools for using Earth Observation data in support of water management, and to show the value of Earth observations generally in water resource management. The program will be initiated in Latin America and will then be extended to Asia and Africa. Linkages with existing efforts of GEO Members and Participating Organisations will be made.
Area
Water
Relevant Committee
CBC
Description of the Work to be Performed
Develop a proposal, along the lines of ESA/UNESCO TIGER programme, focused on the use of Earth observation data for water resources management (surface waters, groundwater)
- Identify data and general support from the Space agencies
- Identify a coordinating agency to organize calls for proposals and securing reviews and monitoring of the Proposals
- Identify further funding sources (space agencies, UN, …)
Issue a call for proposals to the research and development community.
The program will be initiated in Latin America and will then be extended to Asia and Africa. Linkages with existing efforts of GEO Members and Participating Organisations will be made.
Output & DeliverablesA full proposal for a capacity building program to develop tools for using Earth observation data in support of water management.
Calendar (incl. milestones)
August 2008: A full proposal for a capacity building program to develop tools for using Earth observation data in support of water management.
November 2008: A meeting (or meetings) will be held with potential donors in WashingtonDC.
Financial Contributions (from GEO Operations Budget)
None
Actual Project Costs
NASA has committed some financial support to a coordinator for the development of the Latin America capacity builing activity.
Agencies contributed support for representatives to attend the workshop in Bueos Aires on November 16 and 17, 2006.
Current Status
Sep 06: See GEO Member Potential Contributions Reported to date.
Mar 07: A small workshop was held in Buenos Aires on November 16 and 17 after the CEOS plenary to discuss a capacity building initiative for Latin America. GEO and IGWCO are looking,in addition to CONAE, to NASA and other space agencies (NOAA, CSA, ESA, JAXA, INPE, EUMETSAT) and other related organizations and programs (IAI, IRI, WMO, UNESCO, World Bank) for assistance to implement this recommendation.
Mar 07: During the quarter serval inputs have been received for the proposal and the concept was presented and discussed at the Third Integrated Global Water Cycle Observing Strategy (IGWCO) Theme planning meeting in Washington, DC.
Nov 07: NASA has developed a capacity building activity that shares NASA expertise with water projects in Latin America. In the preliminary stages this project appears to be focusing its efforts in the La PlataRiver Basin.
Feb 08:
- NASA has developed an inventory of their activities and products that could support capacity building in Latin America.
- The Task lead met with representatives of CONAE to reaffirm their interest in coordinating the implementation of a CapacityBuilding program.
- A preliminary draft of the program proposal has been prepared and is being circulated to the authors for their comments and additions before being circulated to CBC members for comment.
- The plan for the Latin America CB activity has been reviewed at the GEWEX Scientific Science Group meeting in Buenos Aires on February 4, 2008.
- March 2008:
Potential opportunites for exmapding capacity building activities in Latin America were discussed at the fourth IGWCO planning meeting. At that meeting NASA reported that its contirbutions will include: - Build and extend the Central American “SERVIR” (visualization and monitoring using Earth science data) for hydrologic applications (e.g., flood warning) to East Africa and possibly other parts of the world. Other important hydrologic projects include the hydrologic data integration and assimilation systems of the ‘Land Information System’ (LIS).
- support to CPTEC-INPE (Centre for Weather Forecasts and Climate Studies, National Institute for Space Research) in Brazil to extend the NOAA and NASA North American Land Data Assimilation to the South American Land Data Assimilation System to help improve Latin American weather & climate forecasting. This activity includes development and application of NASA Earth science ancillary data sets for atmospheric forcing and land surface data modelling inputs and the training of CPTEC personnel.
- support to the La Plata Basin Regional Hydrology Project and its goal to use Earth science climate and water resources information to extend the capacity building in South America. This includes: 1) workshop support and the training of students; 2) assistance with access and application of NASA satellite and modelling products; and 3) travel support to meetings including visits to the US. This project also works with the Inter-America Institute (IA) to extend capacity building.
- The continued development of NASA remote sensing and modelling is providing a capability to provide a ‘water data platform’ to help address numerous water resources issues of the hydrologic cycle and the extreme events of drought and floods.
Feb 08:
ITC has coordinated the TIGERCapacityBuilding Facility and will
offer the expertise and training materials gained. ITC will offer the open source GIS system ILWIS (IntegratedLand andWater Information System) and will further develop tools and materialsthat can be used by GEONETcast.
Mar 2008:
The British National Space Centre has received funding
to develop and promote both service and some of the transferable knowledge
about ICEDS (the Integrated CEOS European Data Server -
URL: ICEDS is an open access Open Geospatial Consortium web-GIS server which will make data accessible for users in developing countries and could be include joint projects. ICEDS serves both map images through the Web Map Service (WMS) standard,
and actual raster data extracts through the Web Coverage Service (WCS)
standard. Hence SRTM data are available as colourised hill-shaded images
from the WMS or as GeoTIFF DEM extracts from the WCS.
Apr 2008:
The Asian Pacific Network is now funding some demonstration capacity building projects in southeast Asia as part of the Asian Water Cycle Initiative. A review of the status of these AsianCapacityBuilding activities was undertaken at the AWCI workshop in Tokyo in April 2008.
The Task lead met with representatives from US GEO and Canadian GEO in April 2008 to discuss ways in which those countries could more directly support CapacityBuilding activities in the water sector through the emerging GEOSS in the Americas programme. The proposal for capacity building in Latin America will be revised to reflect these changes.
Coordination with other tasks of committees
DI-07-01, Flood Risk Management
GEO Member Potential Contributions Reported to date
Argentina:
CONAE, the Argentinean Space Agency, hosted the regional capacity building workshop that resulted in this recommendation. Together with IGWCO, CONAE has indicated a willingness to lead in the further development of this concept by hosting a workshop in Buenos Aires in November 2006 to develop a full capacity building proposal for Latin America.
Italy
(ASI). One of the principal aims of the hyper-spectral mission is the monitoring of internal water and coastal areas for the water management. Our direct collaboration with the Argentinean Space Agency (CONAE), in particular with the Gulich Institute, will contribute to the definition and development of tools for using satellite data in Latin American for water management
Germany
1)WTZ Space Coordinator for South America;
2) Remote sensing in exploration for water resources. (BGR)
IGWCO
06 Jul 07: Discussions were held representatives from NOAA, NASA and INPE about participation in this CapacityBuilding process. NOAA has promised to contribute a concept for an advanced Training Facility in South America. NOAA has also sponsored work by the Hydrology Prediction Center of San Diego for a flash flood warning system that has been tested in Central America and is now available for application in other countries.
06 Jul 07: The IGWCO held a small meeting with representatives of CONAE, other space agencies, and critical partners in the water management field in Latin America on November 16 and 17, 2006 to scope out a framework for a program whereby scientists and water management practioners could interact in a more meaningful way with the data services and experts in space agencies. Participants included several space agencies and international organizations. The proposal emerging from this workshop, if implemented, will address the intent of this task.
USA:
The USA has contributed through the NOAA Climate Program Office and the Climate Prediction Program for the Americas (CPPA) which sponsored a workshop in Guaymas, Mexico in May 2006, to integrate climate science with regional planning and policy activities—in particular, water management, drought management, ecosystem resources, and public health. NOAA has also undertaken the North American Monsoon Experiment (NAME) that continues to do research in north-western Mexico and to promote associated capacity building activities. The International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) has undertaken capacity building activities in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) regional program to enhance the capacities in the region and to establish Climate Risk Management work. These include research projects in the regions to promote the use of climate information in water management and training courses for regional water resource experts and regional climate outlook forums. More information on these activities is available at: and
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are donating wall-to-wall coverage of Landsat 7 SLC-off gap-filled imagery of Central America acquired mostly between late 2005 and early 2006 for use in planning sustainable development. The imagery has been loaded into the Regional Visualization and Monitoring System (SERVIR), which is located at the WaterCentre for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC) in the City of Knowledge, Panama. The satellite data are available to the public at no charge via the SERVIR webpage (
Japan:
JAXA, through its support to the IGWCO Sercreatriat will assist in the development of this proposal.
Portugal:
Portugal is also starting a related project with Peru, Bolivia and Chile in association with Spain and UK.
Netherlands
- ITC in the Netherlands and Universidad Mayor de San Simón (UMSS) and Centro de Levantamientos Aeroespaciales y Aplicaciones SIG para el Manejo de los Recursos Naturales (CLAS) in Bolivia conduct a joint education programme on GEO-INFORMATION SCIENCE AND EARTH OBSERVATION.
- ITC and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) conduct a joint education programme on GEO-INFORMATION SCIENCE AND EARTH OBSERVATION.
Both activities can be integrated into the GEO capacity building program in Latin America.
Satellite hydrological monitoring system operational in the Yellow River
A Dutch Consortium, consisting UNESCO-IHE and EARS, has implemented a satellite based drought monitoring and flow forecasting system in the YellowRiver basin. The Energy and Water Balance Monitoring System (EWBMS) generates daily temperature, radiation, (actual) evapotranspiration and rainfall fields at 5 km resolution. A dedicated Large Scale Hydrological Model (LSHM) simulates runoff and river flow using the EWBMS data fields as input. The Upper Reach of the Yellow River is largely over 3000 meter. Here also snow storage and snow melt are taken into account.
The EWBMS is also used for agricultural water demand assessment and crop yield forecasting. The system is based on geostationary meteorological satellites, and can be applied worldwide. After successful implementation in the Yellow river, new implementation projects are planned with the Yangtze and Niger river basin authorities.
Relevant EC Projects
RTD I-3, Twinlatin, IVL, Swedish Environmental Research Institute,
Task Participants
Type / Representing / Organisation / Name / EmailAddressLead (POC) / IGOS-P / IGWCO / Richard Lawford /
Lead / Tunisia /
Contributor / Argentina / CONAE / Ana Medico /
Contributor / Argentina / Servicio de Hidrografía Naval (SHN) / Manuel Hipólito Picasso /
Contributor / CEOS / EUMETSAT / GordonBridge /
Contributor / CEOS / WGISS / Ivan Petiteville /
Contributor / CEOS / WGISS / Chuang Liu /
Contributor / Germany / DLR DFD-BI / Klaus-Dieter Reiniger /
Contributor / Germany / Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe / Michael Kosinowski /
Contributor / Germany / Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe / Wilhelm Struckmeier /
Contributor / Greece / National Observatory of Athens - Institute of Environment Research and Sustainable Development(IERSD) / Antonis Koussis /
Contributor / Greece / National Observatory of Athens - Institute of Environment Research and Sustainable Development(IERSD) / Anastasia Kotronnarou /
Contributor / Italy / Italian Space Agency (ASI) / Cristina Ananasso /
Contributor / Japan / JAXA: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency / Chu Ishida /
Contributor / Japan / JAXA:Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency / Kazuo UMEZAWA /
Contributor / Netherlands / Environmental Analysis and Remote Sensing Ltd, EARS / Andries Rosema /
Contributor / Netherlands / ITC / Z. Su /
Contributor / Netherlands / ITC / Chris Mannaerts /
Contributor / Niger / Issoufou Wata /
Contributor / Norway / Norwegian Institute for Water Research / Dominique Durand /
Contributor / Portugal / Instituto Superior Tecnico (ICIST) / Luis Alves /
Contributor / Portugal / University of Minho / José Vieira /
Contributor / Portugal / CVRM / Luis Ribeiro /
Contributor / Portugal / IST MARETEC / Pedro Pina /
Contributor / USA / NASA / Ted Engmann /
Contributor / USA / NASA / David Toll /
Contributor / USA / NOAA / Curt Barrett /
Contributor / USA / NOAA / Chet Koblinsky /
Contributor / USA / NASA / Ted Engman /
Contributor / USA / NASA / Luis DeGoncalves, /
Contributor / USA / NASA / David Toll /