Officials want to wire earth for continuous readout of vital signs

  • 18/04/2005

Imagine the planet wired for a nearly continuous readout on its vital signs, shared by all. That's the essence of a White House plan announced. The new "Strategic Plan for the U.S. Integrated Earth Observation System" envisions linking nearly 60 nations within a decade to gather and share information from satellites, ocean buoys, weather stations and other surface and airborne instruments. "Whether it's agriculture, or land use, or water planning, or transportation, or energy, there's a lot of data about the environment that has to be collected," said John Marburger III, President Bush's top science adviser.