CONTACT: Patricia Viets, NOAA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(30l) 457-5005 6/1/95
The United States and Japan are culminating a two-year effort that will facilitate the exchange of environmental data critical to predicting and preparing for such natural disasters as the Kobe earthquake.
The Global Observation Information Network (GOIN) bridges the Pacific Ocean by enabling researchers and policy makers from either country to access data from the other by computer. A wide range of environmental data from various agencies in both countries is being exchanged, contributing to the foundation for a Global Information Infrastructure and to global-scale environmental data access and exchange.
GOIN users will have access to space-derived and in-situ data such as oceanographic and deep sea data sets; ionospheric sounding data, which provide a look at the atmosphere and climate change; space weather forecasting data, which provide information on solar influences on the atmosphere and near space; and Landsat data and topographic data, which are critical elements for better understanding global environmental change.
"Through the GOIN initiative, we have already succeeded in helping scientists in Japan and the United States access and use Earth observation data more quickly and easily via electronic networks," said D. James Baker, under secretary of Commerce for oceans and atmosphere. "Although our approach has been to improve scientific access and exchange in government-sponsored research, the benefits and applications of the GOIN initiative go far beyond that group to the broad Earth science community, educators, environmental regulators and environmental policy makers. This is truly an attempt to leverage our national resources to improve international environmental understanding."
The GOIN network is a result of the Common Agenda for Cooperation in Global Perspectives. In April 1993 the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Japan initiated the United States-Japan Framework for a New Economic Partnership. More recently, the G-7 industrialized nations recommended adoption of environmental information initiatives like GOIN when they met in Brussels in February 1995. In the United States the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is leading the GOIN effort; in Japan the Science and Technology Agency is leading the effort.
In addition to NOAA, participating U.S. agencies include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, Department of State, Environmental Protection Agency, United States Geological Survey, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and the Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.
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Note to Editors, Producers: On Tuesday, June 6, a two-part demonstration will be held to illustrate how data are being shared across the Pacific. Reporters are welcome to attend.
Part 1: A VIP demonstration will feature dignitaries in Washington and Tokyo exchanging statements and information at a jointly televised event. Attendees at the Washington site will include Japanese Ambassador to the United States Takakazu Kuriyama; Assistant to the President for Science and Technology Policy Dr. John H. Gibbons; Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Timothy Wirth; and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Dr. D. James Baker. The event will take place on June 6 from 7:30 a.m. until 8:10 a.m. in the Old Executive Office Building, White House Briefing Room 450. Any reporter who wishes to cover this event should provide his or her name, date of birth, and social security number to Pat Viets at 301-4357-5005 or FAX: 301-457-5006, by June 5.
Part 2: A technical workshop will feature demonstrations by various agencies. "A Demonstration to Mark a New Era in International Environmental Data Exchange, Communication and Cooperation" will be held on June 6, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Silver Spring Metro Center, Auditorium and Science and Education Center, Annex to Building #4, 1301 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Md. Any reporter who wishes to cover this event should sign in at the guard's desk at the Silver Spring complex.