Returns & Benefits
Science Returns and Societal Benefits
Activities are underway in each of the twelve applications of national priority. For instance, in the area of community preparedness for disaster management, NASA satellite missions make significant contributions in the area of hurricane and flood prediction. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) combines satellite-derived estimates of precipitation from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), with winds from QuikSCAT. Doing so substantially improves the accuracy of forecasts for landfall, track and intensity of hurricanes, and increases the lead-time for warnings for both hurricanes and floods. More accurate forecasts, in turn, enable improved decision-making leading to more enhanced community preparedness for these types of events.
The potential socioeconomic benefits of many of these applications are significant. For instance, by minimizing unnecessary emergency evacuation measures, improved hurricane forecasts save as much as $40 million for the United States for each event. Similarly, improved weather forecasting can save as much $8 million for individual energy companies by enabling utilities to better plan for anticipated energy requirements.
For agricultural efficiency, NASA is working with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to explore the benefit of predictions of El Niño and La Niña events for management of our nation's farmlands. Systems used to monitor and assess the health and condition of crops and forests around the globe are being improved. The value to our agriculture industry of a "perfect" El Niño forecast is reported to be $320 million per year.
To compete in the global economy of the 21st Century, the U.S. requires a healthy and vibrant aviation infrastructure. NASA works in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the NOAA to ensure a safe, secure, efficient, and environmentally friendly air transportation system for the American public through enhancements to aviation weather forecasting. Weather is a contributing factor in approximately 30% of all aviation accidents and accounts for over 60% of all delays experienced in the air transportation system. Incorporating new, more frequent, and more precise NASA satellite observations into weather forecasts leads to more accurate, dependable, and useful forecasts of threats to aviation including icing, turbulence, convection, and volcanic ash.
Examples of other NASA contributions include recovery support to events such as September 11, Hurricane Katrina, Montana wildfires, Hawaiian tsunamis, the eruption of Mount Etna, lost aircraft in Montana and California, and floods on the Mississippi River. These capabilities have provided critical damage assessments and determination of secondary impacts valuable to decision makers.