Technology, USGS and the President’s 2011 Fiscal Budget

ZDNet dug into the president’s budget looking for where the emphasis will be for technology expenditures. Some of the highlights that they found that were somewhat related to geospatial technology spending were as follows:

• The National Science Foundation is getting $766 million for a “cross-agency sustainability research effort focused on renewable energy technologies and complex environmental- and climate-system processes.
• Support for the modernization of the U.S. electric grid.
• NASA’s budget will increase for funding to science, exploration and aeronautics and space research technology.

The USGS budget of $1.1 Billion has several areas where geospatial technology might be leveraged:

• Climate Change Adaptation - $11.0 million - Management and policy decisions made in response to climate change impact
• WaterSMART - $9.0 Million - The information will provide tools to address a new set of water resource challenges, including aging infrastructure, rapid population growth, depletion of groundwater resources, water quality impairments associated with land uses, and climate variability.
• Increasing Resilience to Natural Hazards -  $4.0 million - The USGS Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project in Southern California will continue to support emergency planning by developing earthquake early warning capabilities and conducting impact analysis of environmental, human-health and ecosystem responses to earthquakes and other hazards. This project will be expanded into the coastal communities of Alaska, and the USGS will invest in earthquake, tsunami and volcano science to support community planning in the Pacific Northwest.
• Landsat Data Continuity Mission - $13.4 Million - The USGS will accommodate ground-system requirement changes for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission associated with moving the Operational Land Imager to a free-flying satellite and the addition of a Thermal Infrared Sensor on board the spacecraft.
• Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning - $4.0 million - USGS mapping, monitoring and research provide information to assess the status and vulnerability of ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources.