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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, December 28, 2003

COMMENTARY
Data help preserve Earth's balance

By Allen Clark

From ancient days till now, Hawaiians have cherished and nurtured the 'aina, the relationship between themselves, the land and their environment. They have always known that a balance among these elements was critical to their survival and that of their children.

As remote as it may seem, the famous "Blue Marble" photograph of the Earth, taken Dec. 7, 1972, by Apollo 17 astronauts on their way to the moon, has led to technology that can help protect this delicate balance.

That one photo launched hundreds of orbiting satellites and three decades of manned space flight, all to gain a better understanding of the interaction of people, land and environment through the use of remote sensing — imagery taken from afar that today is able to detect minute details in Earth's land, air and water.

As Lt. Gov. "Duke" Aiona noted in his opening remarks to more than 500 delegates from 54 nations and 387 institutions and agencies, it was only fitting that the 30th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment was held in Hawai'i.

Last month's conference, hosted by the East-West Center and Pacific Disaster Center to draw more attention in the Asia-Pacific region, marked a major change in the highly scientific and technical presentations. This year's discussions also looked at the application of remotely sensed data to real people with real problems.

Two very recent examples that were discussed extensively at the conference hold urgent importance to Hawai'i: the wildfires of California, and Hurricane Isabel, which recently struck the eastern states.

The application of remotely sensed data was critical to assisting firefighters. The real-time coverage of the fires was critical for making decisions regarding the allocation of firefighters and their equipment, for the development and implementation of evacuation plans for homeowners in the area, for monitoring and providing escape routes for firefighters in case fires changed direction or intensity, and for keeping the public informed.

The data already are being applied to overall damage assessment and to determine areas of increased risk for landslides, which have occurred as a result of the loss of ground cover.

Similarly, Hurricane Isabel was tracked by newly deployed and existing satellites that allowed for more accurate monitoring and prediction of the storm's track and the internal structure of the storm.

This new capability extends the warning time by six to eight hours, allowing for more effective evacuation and fewer lives lost.

In Hawai'i, remotely sensed satellite data are now routinely and broadly applied by both government and industry.

The information is used in coastal zone management to determine the distribution and health of coral reefs, land-use planning, monitoring of invasive plant species, tracking the spread of infectious diseases (most recently during the dengue fever outbreak), studying the distribution of air pollution from the volcanoes of the Big Island, risk and vulnerability assessments, tsunami modeling, and as education tools in our schools and universities.

Coffee growers in Hawai'i are testing the next generation of unmanned aerial vehicles, flown by remote control from the ground, to remotely sense the health of coffee crops and to detect "sick" vegetation.

Another major shift in the application of remotely sensed information is to that of studying the 'aina of the world in a holistic manner. The data have now reached a point in both coverage and availability that, like so many facets of life, they have undergone globalization with amazing results.

Scientists now have common data sets that cover the Earth — not the two-dimensional photo data of just a few years ago but satellite technology that measures attributes below (earthquake faults, sea-floor changes), within (ocean bioproductivity, temperature, currents) and above ("greenhouse" gases, the ozone hole and global dust storms) the Earth's surface, doing so over time and providing a common four-dimensional view of the world.

The increasing number of cooperative studies with authors from multiple nations and institutions is particularly symbolic of the impact of today's "global database."

A second major shift is the application of remotely sensed data to responsible and sustainable development. Through this information, it is possible to graphically show governments and local populations how their actions have affected, or may affect, themselves and the 'aina of their neighbors — for example, deforestation, flooding, wildfires, acid rain, urbanization, infrastructure development, loss of habitat, and a host of other actions by society.

Furthermore, remotely sensed data, once the exclusive domain of those with large computers and sophisticated software, are now available to planners and decision-makers in local communities.

The 30th remote-sensing conference was a major success because it demonstrated that whether directly sensed by the individual and his or her community, or remotely sensed by satellites in space, the recognition and understanding of the world 'aina will best be achieved by a blend of common sense and technological capability.

Balancing the relationship among people, their land and their environment has become a platform for international cooperation at all levels.