Building the Integrated Global Air Emissions Network

 Sue Stendebach
Moderator: Sue Stendebach (EPA and NSF; sstendeb@nsf.gov)
The need for an internationally integrated network to report, access, query, analyze and map all air emissions data has been increasing dramatically, as more international agreements to reduce such emissions become ratified, as developing countries increase development, and as global transport of these emissions continues at an ever-growing pace. Analyses of these emissions are critical to ensure global sustainability. No network currently exists that can facilitate coordination and cooperation among nations and sectors.
Working with NSF’s Digital Government Research Program, several academic researchers, in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are interested in pursuing research to create an international network that would incorporate existing inventories – regardless of data set formats – and develop technology to vertically integrate existing and new emissions data, with interoperable GIS and other analytical capability. Such a network would be fully interoperable -- scalable, flexible and open. High resolution GIS data descriptions and interfaces will be sought.
To facilitate informed research, EPA plans to forge a consortium of inventory developers from all geospatial scales. International participation would include not only other nations and sectors, but also international organizations, such as the World Bank, United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Development Programme, and US AID.
Successful research will then expand to incorporation of other environmental media.
This Birds of a Feather session is intended to generate discussion of potential research projects to explore development of the network described above.