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NARSTO Workshop on Innovative Methods for Emission Inventory Development and Evaluation University of Texas, Austin October 14-17, 2003 |
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Networked Environmental Information System for Global Emissions Inventories (NEISGEI)
Brooke L. Hemming, US EPA/ORD
Stefan Falke, Washington University, St. Louis
Terry Keating, US EPA/Office of Air and Radiation
NEISGEI is an international program designed to serve the growing need for improved emissions inventory information by the international community for the assessment of regional and global air pollutant flows. The program strategy involves the development and implementation of new information technologies to facilitate data sharing and analysis among the members of the proposed international emissions inventory community. We seek to maximize the ability to access and compare data produced by different organizations, to understand the differences, and to identify and fill in the gaps. This is made possible — without having to change current practices in emission inventory development methods and reporting formats — by using the very newest methods being researched and developed by the computer sciences research community. This program will serve emissions inventory developers and users operating at all geo-spatial scales, from urban to regional to hemispheric and global scales.
The program goals include:
- Improved interaction within the international community of emissions inventory developers;
- The application of state-of-the-art and emerging information technologies to develop an Internetbased “distributed” database network with a portal for access to emissions inventory and complementary data sets for air quality analysis;
- Recruitment of inventory data providers from across geo-spatial scales, local to global; identification of regions for which data is missing;
- Facilitation of technology cooperation and assistance with air quality managers and researchers in these regions;
- Development of interoperable software tools designed to make maximum use of the distributed database network.
We are inviting governmental, non-governmental, and scientific organizations that are capable of providing expertise and possible funding to join with us in the formation of this consortium.
The EPA has partnered with participants in the US National Science Foundation Digital Government Research who will develop the technological infrastructure needed to create the NEISGEI network. Projects that will build the IT infrastructure for data-sharing at the district, regional and international scales are underway, and will be described in greater detail in subsequent talks in this session:
- Development of a North American emissions inventory under the auspices of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation
- Development of a national forest fire emissions inventory, in conjunction with the US Forest Service and the US Department of Interior
- Development of a California state-level network of county emissions inventories that will link local air quality management districts with the California Air Resources Board, and the EPA.
For more information, see our website: http://www.neisgei.org