The Economics and Social Benefits of NOAA Data and Products

NOAA's environmental observations, analyses, data products, and services provide valuable information that is routinely used in decision-making by consumers, industries, and policymakers. For instance, NOAA weather and climate data are used in countless industries, including agriculture, utilities, transportation, construction, engineering, health care, insurance, manufacturing, education, and tourism. In fact, the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that at least one-third of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product is weather and climate sensitive.

As NOAA continues to use increasingly sophisticated data observing systems and scientific analyses, the value of environmental data for general and specific decision-making purposes will also be enhanced. However, in order to make optimal use of these data and demonstrate their relevance to users, NOAA must improve its ability to articulate the socioeconomic value of agency data products and services.

NOAA Economics Web Site Initiative: NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) has championed the development and coordination of an economic web site initiative for NOAA's Climate Goal. After a number of briefings and positive feedback from across the agency, this initiative is now being developed in conjunction with NOAA's Office of Program Planning and Integration (PPI) to fully integrate the Web Site across NOAA's other Mission Goals (i.e., Weather & Water, Ecosystems, and Commerce & Transportation). This Web Site presents a centralized, organized, and searchable source of information pertaining to the economic value and real-world application of NOAA's data products in decision-making, as well as the economic costs of extreme events on the environment and society. The information provided in this Web Site is synthesized from over 180 sources of peer-reviewed literature and organized under each mission goal by NOAA data users (e.g., business sectors, general public, Federal agencies); environmental extreme events (e.g., hurricanes, space weather, drought, coral bleaching); and NOAA observing systems (e.g., land, marine, satellite, upper air). Fundamentally, the Web Site is intended for a general audience and provides a clear, accurate, citable, but not overly academic explanation of NOAA's value to society. Users of this Web Site include the general public, Media, educators, Congressional staffers and NOAA personnel.

Overview and Structure:

• 214 (102 unique) topic overview narratives, which provide a socioeconomic perspective on the value of NOAA data and products to society, as used in business, personal and policy decision-making, etc.
• 188 sources of peer-reviewed literature, 73% of which are hyperlinked directly to the literature
• 124 economic benefit summaries
• 185 economic cost/extreme event impact summaries
• 720 data user application examples
• Hundreds of external hyperlinks to NOAA data sets/products & internal hyperlinks interconnecting many NOAA program missions and responsibilities

All of the information listed above is organized by the NOAA Missions Goals. The pages within this Web Site are interlinked by hundreds of "keywords". One of the great challenges is to keep this information up-to-date and relevant by keeping track of new activities and advances made by NOAA. To accomplish this, a "Submit Content" link is available throughout the site, in which NOAA personnel are encouraged to use in suggesting edits or providing new information (i.e., additions/edits to economic benefit summaries, extreme event impact summaries, data user application examples, general subject overviews, or bibliographic references to relevant literature). Terms of reference for content submission are available on the Submit Content Form. NOAA's Social Science Committee (SSC) endorses this Web Site initiative across the NOAA Mission Goal structure.

This effort complements a "One-NOAA" approach in organizing the value NOAA provides to the American people via hundreds of internally and externally linked web pages. For example, while reading about NOAA's value to agriculture decision-making there are also hyperlinks to other related topics such as the impacts of extreme heat waves or drought; specific "Climate Normals" data; and the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) portal.

What's Next?: The information throughout this Web Site has been vetted by NOAA personnel to reflect both the accomplishments and challenges under the purview of NOAA's mission. This initiative is an ongoing and aggregative effort, which will be continually updated. NOAA's collective input is necessary to develop a genuinely comprehensive and interwoven socioeconomic footprint of NOAA's value to our Nation.