Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
attention to new analytic and statistical methods, the building blocks of infor-
matics and backbones of data-mining; to address emerging modeling issues; and
to bridge methodologic gaps.
Many of the issues being addressed by EPA are in the context of environ-
mental factors whose effects are best characterized in terms of changing expo-
sures, accumulating amounts of materials, and changing health and environ-
mental conditions. Given the high levels of spatial and temporal variability of
those factors, it is often critical to have and maintain long-term records of multi-
ple parameters. Making data and samples accessible to future researchers is cen-
tral to ensuring that the understanding of environmental phenomena continues to
grow and evolve with the science. It is also important to develop sample ar-
chives where materials are appropriately stored and to have good metadata for
analysis or reanalysis at a later date.
Long-term monitoring is essential for tracking changes in ecosystems and
populations to identify, at the earliest stage, emerging changes and challenges.
Without long-term data, it is difficult to know whether current variations fall
within the normal range of variation or are truly unprecedented. It is also essen-
tial for knowing whether EPA's management interventions are having their in-
tended effect. Monitoring is a fundamental component of hypothesis-testing. All
management interventions are based on explicit or implicit hypotheses that jus-
tify them and explain why they should yield the desired results. A hypothesis
may focus on physical and biologic processes or on expected human behavioral
responses. If it is made explicit and monitoring is designed specifically to test it,
both the value of the monitoring and the details of its design will be clarified,
and the importance of the monitoring will be evident.
Finding: It is difficult to understand the overall state of the environment unless
one knows what it has been in the past, and how it is changing over time. Typi-
cally this can only be achieved by examining high-quality time series of key
indicators of environmental quality and performance. Currently at EPA, there
are few long-term monitoring programs, let alone programs that are systematic
and rigorous.
Recommendation 5: The committee recommends that EPA invest substan-
tial effort to generate broader, deeper, and sustained support for long-term
monitoring of key indicators of environmental quality and performance.
INNOVATION
To understand future environmental health problems and provide solu-
tions, EPA will depend on innovations across different media (air, land, and
water). EPA has an important role in addressing capacity and opportunities for
innovation by providing information, technical assistance, platforms for infor-
mation exchange, demonstration activities, and economic incentives and disin-
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