Valuables
VALUABLES is a collaboration with NASA to measure how satellite information benefits people and the environment when we use it to make decisions. So from our video you could learn more about its activities to support the Earth science community in quantifying the societal value of its work.
Challenge
Did you know that satellite information is often used to make decisions that help people and save your money? But quite often they neglect this info. And that’s the problem. Our main task in Valuables project was to explain how the society could benefit from using the satellite data in the case of harmful algal bloom at a lake.
Solution
An abstract info sometimes is very hard to comprehend. That’s why we decided
to take the harmful situation at the lake to showcase it. New satellite data showed officials that a harmful algal bloom was forming. They announced that the lake wasn’t safe for swimming. Therefore, these measures prevented people and pets from getting sick. But let’s imagine the alternative scenario if these officials didn’t have the satellite data. So they wouldn’t have closed the lake, and people would’ve gotten sick. The difference between these two outcomes allows us to calculate the benefit of the satellite data. Which, in this case, includes the healthcare costs and missed work days this community avoided.
