IEEE Committee on Earth Observation » GEOSS http://www.ieee-earth.org Engineering For Humanity Through GEOSS Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:10:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 GEO Architecture and Data Committee Meeting http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/geo-architecture-and-data-committee-meeting http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/geo-architecture-and-data-committee-meeting#comments Sat, 05 Jun 2010 01:19:19 +0000 francoise http://www.ieee-earth.org/?p=1755 The GEO Architecture and Data Committee (ADC) will meet in Ankara, Turkey.

]]> http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/geo-architecture-and-data-committee-meeting/feed 0 Health and Environment Community of Practice Workshop http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/health-and-environment-community-of-practice-workshop http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/health-and-environment-community-of-practice-workshop#comments Sat, 05 Jun 2010 00:25:03 +0000 francoise http://www.ieee-earth.org/?p=1732 A GEO Health and Environment CoP workshop is to be held on 27-28 (and possibly 29) July, 2010, hosted by the French space agency, CNES.
This workshop will focus on involving new members and developing new areas of activities including vibrio diseases, dengue fever, plague and others to be proposed. It will also seek to further develop existing GEO tasks, including health information systems, warning and prediction systems and end-to-end projects including malaria, meningitis and Lyme disease, following up the discussions that are taking place now in Pretoria at the GEO Work Plan Symposium. The outcomes of the workshop will contribute to developing the Health showcase at the GEO 2010 Ministerial Summit.

]]> http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/health-and-environment-community-of-practice-workshop/feed 0 Standard and Interoperability Forum http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/standard-and-interoperability-forum http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/standard-and-interoperability-forum#comments Sat, 05 Jun 2010 01:22:40 +0000 francoise http://www.ieee-earth.org/?p=1758 The Standard and Interopreability Forum (SIF) will meet in Ankara, Turkey following the ADC meeting.

]]> http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/standard-and-interoperability-forum/feed 0 GEOSS Workshop XXXIVb – GEOSS for Decision Makers in the Black Sea area, a workshop of the EnviroGRIDS project http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/geoss-workshop-xxxivb-geoss-for-decision-makers-in-the-black-sea-area-a-workshop-of-the-envirogrids-project http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/geoss-workshop-xxxivb-geoss-for-decision-makers-in-the-black-sea-area-a-workshop-of-the-envirogrids-project#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:09:27 +0000 francoise http://www.ieee-earth.org/?p=1608

The Black Sea Catchment is internationally known as one of ecologically unsustainable development and inadequate resource management, which has led to severe environmental, social and economic problems. The enviroGRIDS project addresses these issues by taking advantage of emerging information technologies that are revolutionizing the way we are able to observe our planet.

The workshop will be a set of high level presentations (half day) to introduce GEOSS and interoperability concepts to senior decision makers in the Black Sea region.

]]> http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/geoss-workshop-xxxivb-geoss-for-decision-makers-in-the-black-sea-area-a-workshop-of-the-envirogrids-project/feed 0 GEOSS Workshop XXXV – Polar Climate and Data Management http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/geoss-workshop-xxxv-arctic-climate-and-data-stewardship http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/geoss-workshop-xxxv-arctic-climate-and-data-stewardship#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:17:58 +0000 francoise http://www.ieee-earth.org/?p=1580 This one day workshop is focused on the role of data management and stewardship for Polar Climate Science within the context of GEOSS. The workshop took place just after the IPY Oslo Science Conference.

]]> http://www.ieee-earth.org/events/geoss-workshop-xxxv-arctic-climate-and-data-stewardship/feed 0 National Academies Program Officer http://www.ieee-earth.org/news/national-academies-program-officer http://www.ieee-earth.org/news/national-academies-program-officer#comments Thu, 14 Jan 2010 03:50:31 +0000 francoise http://www.ieee-earth.org/?p=1569 Oceans-1The Division of Earth and Life studies at the National Academies is looking for a Program Officer to work for the Oceans Studies Board (OSB)  in Washington D.C., USA. More information

]]> http://www.ieee-earth.org/news/national-academies-program-officer/feed 0 GEO looking for Disaster SBA contractor http://www.ieee-earth.org/news/geo-looking-for-disaster-sba-contractor http://www.ieee-earth.org/news/geo-looking-for-disaster-sba-contractor#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:32:23 +0000 francoise http://www.ieee-earth.org/?p=1375 The GEO Secretariat is seeking a contractor for short-term support for its work in Societal Benefit Area of Disasters. Deadline for the application is January 15, 2010. For more information see Contractor for Disasters SBA or go to the GEO web site . ]]> http://www.ieee-earth.org/news/geo-looking-for-disaster-sba-contractor/feed 0 Water For The World http://www.ieee-earth.org/projects/water-for-the-world http://www.ieee-earth.org/projects/water-for-the-world#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:29:03 +0000 Francoise Pearlman http://www.ieee-earth.org/?p=961 “Time is running out, water is running out,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the international business CEOs and civil society leaders in Davos, Switzerland, adding that the world needed to adapt to this reality.

Underscoring that water scarcity posed a grave threat to economic growth, human rights and national security, the United Nations has said that the issue needs to be placed high on the global agenda.

Can we have an impact?

IEEE created “Water for the World” to tackle issues of water availability in developing countries. Availability means new (and plentiful) water; it means good quality water; and it means efficient reuse of water. An international panel was convened to prioritize actions and develop demonstration pilot programs. The Pilots had to be

  • Realizable within one year Scalable
  • Sustainable
  • Reusable
  • Repeatable
  • Fundable

IEEE has identified several projects for initial consideration in the program:

  • Cisterns for Rainwater Harvesting in India; replacing the local intermittent ponds
  • Protecting drinking water in Ghana
  • Improving drinking water quality in Bangladesh

Cisterns for Rainwater Harvesting in India; replacing the local intermittent ponds

ghanaSemi-arid areas are at the mercy of rain for agriculture production. Low annual rainfall with very high co-efficient of variation and its unfavourable erratic distribution over the growing season results in subsistence type of rain fed farming. Rainfall, when accumulated, can result in a large enough volume of water to have a significant impact on subsistence farming. This pilot project will create a means to capture and store rainwater for later use in irrigating staple food crops at the project site in village Melva of Jodhpur district of India. This will result in increased production of pearl millet and pulses by 300-350%. Villagers from Melva will participate in planning and in building the required cistern and tank and in preparing the surfaces for harvesting rainwater. MGCS, Jodhpur and local industry will build a training facility to support long-term sustainability. The experiences will be shared with nearby villages, thereby enabling them to repeat the project.

Protecting drinking water in Ghana

ghana2Ghana has acute water security and governance problems, which translates into inefficient water services and poor maintenance. Environmental issues of water pollution due to illegal activities and increasing drought are significant and seasonal shortage of water leads, for example, to temporary closure of some schools and other facilities in the country. A particular case of high treatment cost due to pollution from human activities and urban water shortage is the Weija Dam that supplies western Accra’s population.

The main cause of the Weija Dam problem is encroachment into the catchment with informal housing, agriculture, fishing and other land-based economic activities, the eviction of which will cost estimated $3 million to effect by the government. The pilot project will provide improved information to government and utility decision makers by organizing the spatial data sets for telling the real story. The output of the project will be used for a multi-party conference on how to most effectively improve water governance and water security systems associated with the Weija Dam. The Pilot project outcomes will then be extended to other regions of Ghana.

Improving drinking water quality in Bangladesh

bangledeshArsenic contamination of groundwater has been an emerging global challenge for safe drinking water management. Arsenic is a carcinogen which can cause various kinds of cancers and cardiovascular, neurological and other diseases. Approximately, 30-60 million people may be at the risk of drinking arsenic contaminated water in Bangladesh. About 46% of the installed arsenic safe water technologies were not functioning due to the problems related to its designs, and/or operation and maintenance problems.

The pilot project will develop an appropriate system for safe drinking water supply among 14,000 of the poorest rural populations in 80% arsenic contaminated Muladi sub-district. The challenges are to: (i) provide safe drinking water among selected priority 14000 people in one/first year based on development of community water technologies from surface-water, groundwater and/or rainwater sources and (ii) develop an empowered women based network for operations of the system and also for community health education about safe drinking water. Longer term, the project objective is to develop and promote a continuing drinking water development mechanism for poor communities by linking the project to an existing networking institution.

]]> http://www.ieee-earth.org/projects/water-for-the-world/feed 0 Health and Environment Workshop http://www.ieee-earth.org/news/health-and-environment-workshop http://www.ieee-earth.org/news/health-and-environment-workshop#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:27:11 +0000 Francoise Pearlman http://www.ieee-earth.org/?p=536 healthIEEE and other organizations sponsored a Health and Environment (H&E) workshop in Geneva in July, 2009. Proceedings of the workshop summarize the outcomes, which include launch of a GEO health and environment community of practice, recommendation for a H&E information infrastructure and approaches for pilot projects using health and environmental information for disease early warning and mitigation.

]]> http://www.ieee-earth.org/news/health-and-environment-workshop/feed 0 Committees of GEO Meet in Melbourne Australia http://www.ieee-earth.org/news/committees-of-geo-meet-in-melbourne-australia http://www.ieee-earth.org/news/committees-of-geo-meet-in-melbourne-australia#comments Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:19:56 +0000 Francoise Pearlman http://www.ieee-earth.org/geoss/committees-of-geo-meet-in-melbourne-australia melbourneThe Committees of GEO are meeting in Melbourne, Australia the week of September 14, 2009 to address progress as GEOSS matures into an operational information system. The work plan updates for 2009-11 will have expanded tasks focused on system implementation and improved utility. The evolution toward an open and coordinated data policy is being considered as recommendations for the 2010 ministerial summit are developing.

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