The Full Picture

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tant international contribution, and the constellation is evolving and

expanding to provide even more coverage. The UK played an impor-

tant role in providing images to the civil authorities in the aftermath

of the tsunami in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

An area in which the UK is particularly active is that of operational

services for climate research and weather forecasting. Severe weather

events impact on us all, and significant direct economic and social

benefits can be associated with improved weather forecasting capa-

bilities. These benefits contributed to many of the GEOSS SBAs, such

as civil security, civil aviation, transport, health etc. Environmental

satellites contribute substantially to the weather forecasting system

and provide vital data for the weather prediction models. The UK

Met Office leads in the area of operational forecasting through the

exploitation of Earth observation data.

The UK is now contributing to the planning and implementation

of a tsunami warning system for the Northeast Atlantic and

Mediterranean. A multi-hazard approach is being adopted to make

efficient use of the common infrastructure, and information needed

to issue warnings of storm surges, extreme wave condi-

tions and sea level rise. In a related initiative, the UK is

leading an activity on developing guidelines that

promote awareness and mitigation of marine-related

hazards and risks in integrated coastal area management.

We hope that this article helps to paint a picture of

the types of activities that the UK is involved in, which

contribute to GEO/GEOSS. The UK also plays a proac-

tive role in the Committee on Earth Observation

Satellites (CEOS), which is currently positioning itself

in becoming the Earth observation space coordinating

body. There are many other activities within the UK that

also contribute in other areas defined within the SBAs,

and UK scientists and industrialists will continue to

work in the international fora to support and develop

new technology and scientific techniques that further

our understanding of our Earth’s processes and

climate change.

The power of nature, in this case a tsunami, cannot be underestimated

Photo: NERC

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