U.S.-China Data Sharing for Disaster

Management

Fernando R. Echavarria, Ph.D. Office of Space & Advanced Technology

US DOS, OES/SAT Washington, NAS, August 25, 2014

Introduction

• The governments of the U.S. and People’s Republic of China have a track record of collaboration on disasters, and data sharing.

• The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, in China’s Sichuan Province, is an example of an event where Earth observation data was shared for purposes of natural disaster response. Some of the US data was declassified for the humanitarian effort.

• There exists BOTH bilateral and multilateral processes where collaboration can continue.

Sichuan Earthquake, China, May 12, 2008, 2:28 PM

SOURCE: M. Hamburger, 2011

Wenchuan, China earthquake (12 May 2008)

• M 7.9, depth 19 km; 30.986°N, 103.364°E • At least 69,195 people killed, with 18,392 missing

and presumed dead • At least 5 million people left homeless and 15

million people evacuated from their homes • Estimated at least $86B (USD) damage total • Landslide-dams endangered >700,000 people • Fault slip of up to 9 meters at Beichuan, the city

destroyed and re-located due to the earthquake

SOURCE: Kenneth W. Hudnut, Ph.D., Geophysicist, USGS (ESC), hudnut@usgs.gov

Wenchuan, 2008 to support Jing Liu-Zeng and Peizhen Zhang

Liu-Zeng et al. (EPSL, 2009)

USGS attempted to identify faults & possible surface fault rupture, e.g., at Yingxiu (located, oriented and studied many images).

China requested imagery acquisition through the International Charter, supported by USGS in coordination with DoS.

Example – Yingxiu, China

SOURCE: K. Hudnut, 2014

Sharing with the PRC

• Government of Peoples Republic of China requests satellite imagery from US Embassy Beijing on 13 May, 2008.

• INR/HIU sent 48 NGA imagery derived products, 23 images, and six spreadsheets of data (geo-referenced, damage classifications) to the Chinese government through US Embassy and to Embassy of the PRC in Washington.

• INR/GGI/HIU provided commercial imagery to the PRC via the NextView license.

Earthquake Damage Assessment

SOURCE: DOS-INR- Humanitarian Information Unit (HIU)

UNCLASSIFIED

UNCLASSIFIED

PRC Embassy in D.C. letter to US DOS, 23 May 2008

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“Your immediate technical support and assistance in providing satellite imagery and products has been very valuable to our rescue, relief and reconstruction efforts.”

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Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST) letter to DOS 28, May 2008

“ …The U.S. DOS immediately provided China with satellite images, data and other technical assistance to quake-striken areas through coordinating relevant departments …, which had been a great help for our rescue and relief efforts. “

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The Group on Earth Observations GEO is an Intergovernmental Organization and has +90 Members and 76 Participating Organizations, including: UN Organizations and Programs, such as FAO, IOC, ISDR, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFCCC, UNITAR/UNOSAT,

UNOOSA,WMO other leading international Organizations in different domains, such as CEOS, ESA, EUMETSAT, FDSN,

IAG, ICSU, OGC

© GEO Secretariat

Pooling Satellite imagery and terrestrial in-situ data for earthquake and volcano studies. There are 3 different level of sites: • Supersite all data • Event Supersite all data in case of large scale event • Natural Laboratories Global Network of Natural Laboratories. Providing online access to historic multi-sensor SAR data sets (digital heritage of Earth Observation for geohazards).

50.000 ESA SAR scenes in the Cloud (ESA Virtual Archive) (ESA processed data & repatriated data with a recent upload of up to 2500 products a day) 1 Million ERS/Envisat frames, under investigation.

Supersites and National Laboratories (SNL) Strategic Goal & definition

• Seismic, GPS • SAR • (gas, gravity change)

2012-2015 Work Plan DI-01

C2 C3 C4 C1 C5

The strategy: data sharing and coordination

• Data sharing: – Seismic – GPS – Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) – (optical satellite imagery)

• Coordination: – between in-situ and SAR data provider synergy – Combine different SAR satellites (high-and low resolution) – Fill in-situ monitoring gaps with satellite observations

Space geodesy

Open data access better science

International collaboration improved geohazard monitoring

Combine in-situ and satellite data for earthquake and volcano studies

http://supersites.earthobservations.org

Today: Geohazard Supersites

- Earthquake Supersites: Istanbul, Los Angeles, Vancouver/Seattle, Tokyo-Mt.Fuji - Volcano Supersites: Hawaii, Mt, Etna, Vesuvius/Campi Flegreii - Event Supersites: 2010 Haiti, 2011 Japan and Turkey earthquakes

International Charter Space and Major Disasters

International Charter – Space and Major Disasters

A voluntary partnership of 23 space agencies/ e.o. providers joined to share assets/data for disaster

management (2000).

The Charter’s Purpose

• International agreement among space agencies to provide space-based data and information to support relief efforts in the event of emergencies caused by major disasters – Disaster response – Multi-satellite data acquisition planning

• Fast data turn-around – priority acquisition – Archive retrievals and spacecraft tasking – Data processing at pre-determined level – Space agency contribution in image/data – Space agency initiative for value-added-data fusion

CSA Canada

NOAA USGS USA

CONAE Argentina

CNES France

ESA DMC Europe

ISRO India

JAXA Japan

Charter Member Agencies

CNSA China

CNSA = China National Space Administration

Post-Earthquake joint research CEA-USGS Under terms of the Sino-US Earthquake Studies Protocol, USGS scientists led by Dr. Walter Mooney met with CEA colleagues to study the surface rupture & impacts together and jointly conducted a bi-lateral science workshop in April 2011, three years after the earthquake, to commemorate the earthquake and to collaborate on research.

China Scholarship Council sponsored grad student Tao Chen as visiting scientist 2011-2012 to study data analysis and processing methods for airborne LiDAR with Dr. Ken Hudnut.

Subsequently, USGS experts have been invited for CEA-sponsored visits to CEA in Beijing to conduct collaborative research and assist CEA in developing in-country capability to perform airborne LiDAR on active faults in China, as pioneered in the US with the initial ‘B4’ LiDAR scan of the San Andreas fault in 2005. CEA envisions acquisition of such data to be eventually comparable to the US NSF-funded GeoEarthScope LiDAR data, so as to systematically improve their fault activity assessments nationwide throughout China.

Joint papers have been published in 2009-2014, and Tao Chen was awarded his Ph.D.

CEA-USGS published papers Liu-Zeng, J., Z. Zhang, L. Wen, P. Tapponier, J. Sun, X. Xing, G. Hu, Q. Xu, L. Zeng, L. Ding, C. Ji, K. W. Hudnut, J. van der Woerd, Co-seismic ruptures of the 12 May 2008, Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake, Sichuan: East–west crustal shortening on oblique, parallel thrusts along the eastern edge of Tibet, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. (2009), doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2009.07.017 Liu-Zeng, Jing, J. Sun, P. Wang, K. W. Hudnut, C. Ji, Z. Zhang, Q. Xu, and L. Wen, Surface ruptures on the transverse Xiaoyudong fault: A significant segment boundary breached during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, China, Tectonophysics, v. 580, pp. 218-241 (2012) [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2012.09.024] Chen, T., Z. Peizhen, J. Liu-Zeng, Y. Li, Z. Ren, K. W. Hudnut, Quantitative study of tectonic geomorphology along the Haiyuan fault based on airborne LiDAR, Chinese Science Bulletin (in Chinese and English), v. 59, No. 14, pp. 1293-1304, doi 10.1007/s11434-014-0199-4 (2014) [selected by editor as cover article] =>> [http://csb.scichina.com:8080/kxtb/CN/volumn/volumn_6861.shtml]

SOURCE: Kenneth W. Hudnut, Ph.D., Geophysicist, USGS (ESC), hudnut@usgs.gov

Bilateral Cooperation • The governments of the US and People’s Republic of

China meet every two years for a JCM under the joint Science & Technology agreement. (next 9/14/2014)

• Every other year they meet under the Executive Secretaries Meeting (ESM). (Last 10/31/2014)

• In 2008 the ESM focused on disaster management held at USGS, Menlo Park, CA, (10/17/2018). – US-China Workshop on DM- “Earthquake & Landslide

Hazards: Preparedness,Response and Reconstruction.” 50 scientists on each side attended and presented 25 papers.

– Chinese agencies attending included Ministries of: FA, Science & Technology, Transport, Land & Resources, Health, Education, CAS, CEA, State Oceanic Administration, CMA.

• USGS has a protocol with the Chinese Earthquake

Administration.

Conclusion

• The governments of the US and People’s Republic of China have a track record of collaboration on disasters.

• The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (in Sichuan) is an example of an event where US and China shared Earth observation data. Some of this data was de-classified for the humanitarian effort.

• There exists bilateral and multilateral processes where collaboration continues: – Multilaterally through through GEO and the International

Charter where CNSA is a member. – Bilaterally there is a JCM and an ESM where working

groups look for areas of S &T collaboration beyond disasters where data sharing can continue to occur.

– Bilateral agency to agency agreements (USGS and China Earthquake Administration-CEA have a protocol).