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13 October 2004
Humanitarian Aid a Growing Application for "Digital Diplomacy"
Satellite imagery has key role in U.S. foreign policy
Washington -- The State Department is using remote sensing technology on board satellites in an increasing number of nonmilitary applications to support U.S. foreign policy objectives, and humanitarian assistance may be one of the fastest-growing applications.
This is part two of a two-part article on the Department of State's use of satellite imagery in humanitarian efforts.
Satellites, the associated computing technology and software, and application of the data produced have evolved considerably since the age was launched with Sputnik 1 in 1957. The first generations were devoted to military and intelligence purposes, but in 1972, Landsat 1 made satellite imagery of the Earth's surface available to the public for the first time.
Since then, satellite imagery has revolutionized the study of the natural environment and global hazards, agriculture, energy use, public health and international policy. A growing number of satellites orbit the planet, and an increasing number of commercial vendors sell satellite images for a variety of purposes.
But one of the greatest changes in the way satellite imagery is used has arisen from its availability to the public.
eDIPLOMACY
Applying technology to Department of State user needs around the world is the job of eDiplomacy in the State Department Bureau of Resource Management. Carol Christian, an astronomer with a background in imaging and geographic information systems, is also a science and technology policy fellow on detail to the State Department from the Hubble Space Telescope.
"The purpose of eDiplomacy is to bring user needs into an environment where we can discuss what technologies can meet those needs and increase productivity," said Christian, who is involved in several ongoing projects, including using geographic information for sustainable development.
"My role is to try to ferret out opportunities where imaging can be useful. Some humanitarian organizations already know about imaging, but many of the [embassy] posts do not. The idea is to promote the technology so it becomes more useful," she said.
One step in that direction is a Web site Christian created called the DOS [Department of State] Satellite Image of the Week, published twice a month on the first and third Friday. The project's purpose, according to the Web site's About the Image of the Week section, "is to share the exquisite nature of imagery and to publicize the accessibility of unclassified satellite imaging for Department of State and USAID."
The DOS Image of the Week showcases current State Department work, suggests uses of satellite imagery for diplomatic and foreign policy purposes, and encourages ideas about innovative uses for satellite imagery.
For one interagency project, called Populations at Risk Information, "the idea is to understand which technologies are needed to determine where populations are -- in particular, migratory populations -- and when they are at risk and how to mitigate the risk from a humanitarian standpoint," the astronomer said.
Christian recently participated in a pilot project in Chengdu, China, in which the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research provided training in satellite imagery technology and Christian made a presentation. "Now," she said, "they're starting to use satellite imagery in everyday work," such as studying China's urban development problems and other issues.
She also recently met with a group at the American embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, about using satellite imagery and geographic information systems to prevent trafficking in wildlife and poaching.
"I find and talk to people about how they can use imaging and let them know that they can get images and maps from the analysts here," Christian said. "In the long term, I try to push forward geographic information system software so [potential users] can ultimately make their own maps and do their own analysis."
OFFICE OF THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ADVISER
John Kelmelis, chief scientist for geography at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), is on detail to the State Department Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to work on Earth science issues. His office at USGS is responsible for Landsat flight operations and maintenance, and manages ground data reception, processing, archiving, and product generation and distribution.
The Landsat archive of digital satellite data is housed at the USGS Earth Resources Observation System (EROS) Data Center in South Dakota, which is also the home of international training and processing for a project called the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET).
FEWS NET, an activity funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), collaborates with international, national and regional partners. It began in Africa using satellite imagery and other data to help African countries and regional organizations with food security. Professionals in the United States and Africa monitor remote-sensing data and ground-based meteorological, crop and rangeland conditions for early indications of potential threats to food security.
"FEWS NET started in Africa," Kelmelis said, "and now it's starting to work in Afghanistan, Central and South America and Haiti, and they're experimenting in other places."
The approach, he said, combines weather data with soil data to determine soil moisture, and then combines soil moisture with elevation data and area maps. Finally, a computer model is applied to the data to estimate how crops and livestock will fare in the coming season.
"When you combine remote sensing with an understanding of the scientific processes and an understanding of the community's cultural traits," Kelmelis said, "you can estimate what you will need to respond to a disaster and what you will need to help prevent the disaster, which is even more important."
In building these skills in Africa, Africans become less dependent on aid from donor states in the face of disaster. "It's working with the African people to develop ways for them to respond," he said.
Africans are trained at the EROS Data Center, and Americans and other partners work in Africa. FEWS NET is "very much an international activity," Kelmelis said, "funded primarily by USAID to carry out the mission of the U.S. government using U.S. and indigenous technical and intellectual assets."
Lack of training can be a barrier, said the USGS scientist, "but a bigger barrier is the digital divide, which is a lack of continuously available power and communication systems." One example of working around this problem, he said, is a FEWS NET project to map potential flood areas before flooding occurs.
"When a flood threatens an area, those who provide the warning call or visit the community and say, look at map number 4, that's the area that will be inundated. And the community moves people out of that area," Kelmelis said.
What is nice about the system, he said, is that "the indigenous people and international partners who have to respond have developed the process and helped make the maps, so they understand the validity of the data. It's their product. And it's not a one-way street; we learn a lot about the physical and cultural geography of the area from their experience and understanding."
DIGITAL DIPLOMACY
At the State Department's Humanitarian Information Unit (HIU), analyst Noam Unger explained the changes that were necessary to make the evolution to digital diplomacy possible.
The 2-year-old HIU is a U.S. government interagency center within the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research that identifies, collects, analyzes and disseminates unclassified information that is critical to U.S. government decision makers and partners responding to humanitarian emergencies around the world.
"Twenty years ago," Unger said, "had the U.S. government had the technological capacity and the channels to use unclassified satellite images, we would have done it. Today, new channels have been created.
"Creation of the HIU and a larger degree of interagency cooperation is an innovation in the way we work. That's an organizational innovation in addition to the technological innovation, and they've happened side by side and have met in a nice marriage."
The HIU is staffed with analysts from agencies that include the State Department, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Defense.
Each participating agency "has its own job to do," said HIU geospatial analyst David Springer. "But what we do is take what they all know and bring it together in a picture that can be used to help everybody. That's what I see as our role."
Advances in space and geographic information technology over the past 30 years, the evolution of laws that govern the use of high-resolution satellite images, and the growth of the Internet all have made possible the use of remote sensing for humanitarian purposes, and for informing U.S. foreign policy at the State Department.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
